Liquid cooling technology available for base stations

Nokia has made commercially available its Liquid Cooling AirScale solution, designed to make radio networks more sustainable and cost-efficient by reducing the energy required to cool a base station.

Nokia claims cooling system energy consumption can be reduced up to 90% and base station CO₂ emissions up to 80% compared to traditional active air-cooling systems. Commercial products will be available from Q3 2022. Nokia also announced that AT&T is piloting a solution in a trial in Philadelphia, USA.

Nokia’s liquid-cooled AirScale baseband solution can accommodate any liquid-cooled common or capacity plug-in unit and supports all radio access technologies from 2G to 5G. It is also almost completely silent and maintenance-free, whereas more traditional air-cooling systems are typically noisy and require regular maintenance.

Liquid is more efficient in the transmission and transfer of heat. Nokia’s solution carries the captured waste heat produced by the base station during operation, which can then be circulated and reused for other purposes; for example, it can be redirected to a building’s heating system for free, at a price or even traded.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/canjoena