Edge & Colocation · Retrofit Liquid

Liquid cooling in buildings that were never plumbed for it.

AI workloads have pushed past 150 kW of heat per rack into edge sites and colocation halls built around a ~15–20 kW air-cooling limit, and rack-class rear doors already carry 75 kW on their own. With cooling consuming 25–40% of facility energy, operators are adding liquid one rack at a time — which puts a premium on couplings a generalist technician can break dry, one-handed, at 2 a.m.

Compact edge data room with a liquid-cooled rack and quick disconnect service lines

Operations Reality

The person holding the coupling is not a fluid engineer.

Edge and colocation maintenance is done by small teams covering many sites, so every connection has to forgive: single-hand push-to-connect operation, dry-break valves that seal both sides at separation, and red-supply / blue-return coding that survives a tired swap. A spill budget measured in hundredths of a milliliter — 0.020 to 0.070 ml per disconnect by OCP size — is what keeps a raised floor and the tray below it dry.

Retrofit discipline shows up in the envelope too: couplings keep the OCP 1U, 44.45 mm height profile so existing racks and cable management stay untouched, and seals qualified from -40 to +120°C tolerate unheated rooms, transport and storage from -40 to +75°C before the hardware is even racked.

150+ kW — heat per rack entering edge and colo halls
75 kW — what a rack-class liquid cooling door already carries
25–40% — share of facility energy consumed by cooling today

Remote-Service Interface Table

Specified for sites you cannot staff like a hyperscale hall.

The rows below are what make a coupling safe in the hands of a rotating, multi-site maintenance crew.

Parameter	Value	Why it matters off the main campus
Disconnect effort	single-hand push-to-connect, no tools	any technician on shift can service a tray
Spill at disconnect	dry-break, 0.020 – 0.070 ml class @0 psi	raised floors and live gear below stay dry
Color coding	red supply / blue return	reverse-installation control without training decks
Seal qualification	EPDM -40 to +120°C	unheated edge rooms and winter transport
Storage & transport	-40 to +75°C	hardware survives the warehouse before the rack
Pressure floors	100 psi working / 300 psi burst	OCP minimums, verified per batch
Cycle rating	5000 mates minimum	a decade of preventive-maintenance windows
Height envelope	1U · 44.45 mm	retrofit into existing racks and cable plans
Flow classes	0.55 – 4.7 GPM (UQD02–08)	node drops through rack-manifold sizing
Cleanliness	ISO 4406 18/16/13 target	loops filled once, then serviced rarely
Batch documentation	100% leak test report per batch	evidence for commissioning and MSA files
Commercial terms	MOQ 50 · 15 days standard · FOB / CIF / DDP	phased releases matched to site rollouts

Colocation Deployment Checklist

Tick these before coolant enters the white space.

Two lists — one for the fit-out team, one for the operations team. Both map to numbers we can document per batch.

Fit-out checks

1Density plan — racks planned past 150 kW need liquid paths rated for 200+ kW service, not adapted air thinking.DENSITY

2Flow sizing — budget about 1.2 L/min per kW; an 80 kW rack circulates roughly 96 L/min through its manifolds.1.2 L/min/kW

3Envelope check — couplings hold the 1U, 44.45 mm profile so rails, cable trays and doors stay as-built.1U / 44.45 mm

4Pressure floors — 100 psi working and 300 psi burst as OCP minimums, with per-batch pressure records on file.100 / 300 PSI

5Cleanliness target — fill against the ISO 4406 18/16/13 code so the first fill is the only fill.18/16/13

Operations checks

1One-hand rule — any serviceable connection must disconnect single-handed and drip-free, without tools.SERVICE

2Spill budget — dry-break separation holds a 0.020–0.070 ml class budget per disconnect by size.DRY-BREAK

3Color discipline — red supply, blue return on every set, checked at every swap.RED / BLUE

4No report, no install — batches without their leak-test file do not enter customer space.HARD STOP

5Spares per site — kits broken out per coupling size, MOQ from 50 pieces, 15-day replenishment.MOQ 50 / 15 D

FAQ

Edge and colo questions, answered with numbers.

We operate the hall but do not engineer the servers — who designs the loop?

Your rack integrator or CDU vendor owns the loop design; DryLink supplies the couplings and manifolds to their drawing. We support the fit with a written DFM review inside 48 hours and interface gauging against the OCP UQD envelope.

Can generalist site staff really disconnect these one-handed?

Yes. UQD hand-push pairs connect and disconnect with one hand and no tools, and the dry-break valves seal both sides at separation — within a 0.020–0.070 ml spill budget per disconnect, by OCP size class.

Is the MOQ workable when one site only needs a few dozen sets?

MOQ starts at 50 pieces and can be spread across a multi-site rollout with phased deliveries. Standard sets ship in 15 days per release, quoted FOB, CIF or DDP to each site.

Retrofitting liquid into live halls? Start with the connections.

Couplings and manifolds for edge and colocation quoted within 48 hours — MOQ from 50 pieces, phased site deliveries, FOB · CIF · DDP.

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