Orbis Electric has announced the Cooling Engine, a thermal infrastructure platform aimed at supporting the energy and efficiency demands of high-density artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. This platform is designed to double the cooling capacity of legacy coolant distribution units (CDUs) while occupying half the physical footprint, according to Orbis Electric. The product specifically targets hyperscale, AI cluster, and edge data center applications.
The Cooling Engine features a rare-earth-free axial-flux motor-pump system operating bidirectionally without mechanical switching. Orbis Electric says this design allows the system to recover energy typically wasted during cooling—a process it calls ‘virtual generation’—and repurpose that energy within the facility. The company reports that the system achieves wire-to-fluid efficiency of 80 to 90 percent, enabling support for rack densities exceeding 200 kW.
Powered by Orbis Electric’s HaloDrive platform—a patented, propulsion-grade axial-flux motor-pump rated at 96 percent efficiency and compatible with 800 V-class power distribution—the Cooling Engine integrates motor, pump, and heat-to-power recovery into a modular, row-end unit. Orbis Electric claims it can deliver as much as $3 million in annual value per 20 MW data hall through increased rack density, reduced operating costs, and up to 40 percent savings in power and maintenance.
The platform’s technical capabilities include fluid-agnostic operation, N+1 redundancy, direct-to-chip cooling compatibility, and adherence to Open Compute Project (OCP) CDU initiative guidelines. Orbis Electric further reports the system can cut chiller energy consumption by up to 80 percent, lower carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent compared to traditional liquid cooling, and reduce water use by 75 to 80 percent per 20 MW facility. The use of ferrite-based materials mitigates exposure to rare-earth supply chain volatility.
In describing the technical innovation, Marcus Hays, founder and CEO of Orbis Electric, said, “The Cooling Engine extracts that energy, reuses it and even stores it—turning cooling from a cost center into a power source that captures recurring revenue.”
Chance Claxton, co-founder and COO, noted, “By ensuring every watt of chip power is translated to usable compute, we’re turning what has historically been a sunk cost into a new source of recoverable energy—giving data centers a way to scale faster and run greener.”
Orbis Electric is inviting AI infrastructure and data center operators to participate in pilot deployments of the Cooling Engine platform.
Source: Orbis Electric
