The Data Center Frontier Show

Engineering a Cool Revolution: Shumate’s HDAC Design Tackles AI-Era Density


Listen Later

As artificial intelligence surges across the digital infrastructure landscape, its impacts are increasingly physical. Higher densities, hotter chips, and exponentially rising energy demands are pressuring data center operators to rethink the fundamentals, and especially cooling.

That’s where Shumate Engineering steps in, with a patent-pending system called Hybrid Dry Adiabatic Cooling (HDAC) that reimagines how chilled water loops are deployed in high-density environments.

In this episode of The Data Center Frontier Show, Shumate founder Daren Shumate and Director of Mission Critical Services Stephen Spinazzola detailed the journey behind HDAC, from conceptual spark to real-world validation, and laid out why this system could become a cornerstone for sustainable AI infrastructure.

“Shumate Engineering is really my project to design the kind of firm I always wanted to work for: where engineers take responsibility early and are empowered to innovate,” said Shumate. “HDAC was born from that mindset.”

Two Temperatures, One Loop: Rethinking the Cooling Stack

The challenge HDAC aims to solve is deceptively simple: how do you cool legacy air-cooled equipment and next-gen liquid-cooled racks, simultaneously and efficiently?

Shumate’s answer is a closed-loop system with two distinct temperature taps:

  • 68°F water for traditional air-cooled systems.
  • 90°F water for direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
  • Both flows draw from a single loop fed by a hybrid adiabatic cooler, a dry cooler with “trim” evaporative functionality when conditions demand it. During cooler months or off-peak hours, the system economizes fully; during warmer conditions, it modulates to maintain optimal output.

    “This isn’t magic; it’s just applying known products in a smarter sequence,” said Spinazzola. “One loop, two outputs, no waste.”

    The system is fully modular, relies on conventional chillers and pumps, and is compatible with heat exchangers for immersion or CDU-style deployment. And according to Spinazzola, “we can make 90°F water just about anywhere” as long as the local wet bulb temperature stays below 83°F, a threshold met in most of North America.

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    The Data Center Frontier ShowBy Endeavor Business Media

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    9 ratings


    More shows like The Data Center Frontier Show

    View all
    Energy Gang by Wood Mackenzie

    Energy Gang

    1,251 Listeners

    Odd Lots by Bloomberg

    Odd Lots

    1,780 Listeners

    Columbia Energy Exchange by Columbia University

    Columbia Energy Exchange

    391 Listeners

    Currents by Norton Rose Fulbright

    Currents

    123 Listeners

    Interchange Recharged by Wood Mackenzie

    Interchange Recharged

    503 Listeners

    datacenterHawk by datacenterHawk

    datacenterHawk

    21 Listeners

    Redefining Energy by Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid

    Redefining Energy

    129 Listeners

    Switched On by Bloomberg

    Switched On

    98 Listeners

    Not Your Father’s Data Center by Compass Datacenters

    Not Your Father’s Data Center

    3 Listeners

    Barron's Streetwise by Barron's

    Barron's Streetwise

    1,542 Listeners

    Inside Data Centre Podcast by Andy Davis

    Inside Data Centre Podcast

    7 Listeners

    The Green Blueprint by Latitude Media

    The Green Blueprint

    207 Listeners

    Catalyst with Shayle Kann by Latitude Media

    Catalyst with Shayle Kann

    262 Listeners

    DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show by DatacenterDynamics

    DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show

    2 Listeners

    Data Center Revolution by Kirk Offel

    Data Center Revolution

    16 Listeners