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New Research on Heat Pump Testing Methods

As part of his ongoing sabbatical research in Germany, Dr. Hamza Salih Erden started the second year of his research activities in February 2026 at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und ‑prüfung, BAM) in Berlin.

Research activities on heat pump testing were initially launched during the TÜBİTAK 2219 International Research Fellowship Program at RWTH Aachen University, hosted by the E.ON Energy Research Center – Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate (EBC). Within this framework, involvement was established through a project funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), focusing on the validation of advanced, load‑based testing methodologies for hydronic heat pumps, in collaboration with RWTH Aachen University and BAM.

These activities have been further strengthened through the Horizon Europe project HPT (Heat Pump Testing), which officially started in April 2026. Within the scope of HPT, research activities at BAM concentrate on the development, experimental validation, and support of standardisation processes for improved heat pump testing methods. The project contributes to more representative, robust, and reproducible performance assessment frameworks for heat pumps at the European level.

While collaboration with EBC at RWTH Aachen University continues as a follow‑up to the TÜBİTAK 2219 project, the primary focus of the current research stay abroad is now at BAM, where the Horizon Europe HPT project provides the main research framework.

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Conference Presentation at E2DC Workshop / e-Energy 2025

We are excited to announce that our paper titled “Carbon-Aware Workload Management in Data Centers: A Multi-Energy Integration Approach” was presented at the Energy Efficient Data Centers Workshop, co-located with the 16th ACM International Conference on Future and Sustainable Energy Systems (e-Energy ’25) in Rotterdam.

Authored by Beltus Wiysobunri Nkwawir, M. Ozgur Kayalica, Denizhan Guven, A. Can Duman, and Hamza Salih Erden, the study introduces a carbon-aware energy management model that leverages multi-energy integration—including PV, batteries, thermal storage, CHP, and district heating—to reduce emissions in data center operations.

Tested on a 1 MW hypothetical data center in Istanbul, the proposed MILP-based model achieved up to 35% CO₂ emission reduction and 44% energy cost savings, showcasing the feasibility of sustainable, low-carbon data center designs.

You can access the paper by following the link.

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Sabbatical Research at RWTH Aachen University

In February 2025, Dr. Hamza Salih Erden began his sabbatical research at RWTH Aachen University, hosted by Prof. Rita Streblow at the E.ON Energy Research Center – Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate.

The project funded by the TÜBİTAK 2219 International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program is titled “Optimal design and operation of grid-integrated energy infrastructure for cost-effective and low-carbon data centers” and aims to develop an optimization framework for sizing and operating energy infrastructure components—such as cooling systems, energy storage, and renewables—in data centers. By minimizing both operational costs and carbon emissions, the study addresses the growing environmental and economic challenges in the sector.

The research continues through February 2026, contributing to the advancement of sustainable, smart energy systems for critical digital infrastructure.

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Passive Cooling and Heat Recovery in Data Centers

We are pleased to share that our recent article titled “Effective energy use and passive cooling in data centers using heat pipes and PCM-integrated TEG systems” has been published in the Journal of Energy Storage.

Led by Dr. Murat Emre Demir, the study introduces a novel passive cooling system that combines thermoelectric generators (TEGs), phase change materials (PCMs), and heat pipes to improve energy use in data centers. Applied to a 25 kW server rack, the conceptual system generates 125 W of power, delivers 67.8 °C hot water, and achieves 80% energy and 33% exergy efficiency with minimal reliance on active cooling systems such as CRAC units. The study also introduces a new performance metric—the Exergy Reuse Factor (ExRF)—to evaluate the quality of recovered heat.

A single 42 U rack layout of the proposed system

This research was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Istanbul Technical University under project no. MGA-2022-43743.

The full article is available in the Journal of Energy Storage and at ResearchGate.

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Monitoring Server States with Infrared Images

Beltus Nkwawir Wiysobunri, a PhD student in our group, has published an article titled “CNN-based server state monitoring and fault diagnosis using infrared thermal images” in the journal Soft Computing.

Design workflow of the proposed methodology to classify server operational states using infrared thermal images

The study, co-authored with his advisors Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hamza Salih Erden and Prof. Dr. Behçcet Uğur Töreyin, presents a deep learning-based method for diagnosing server operation states in high-performance computing data centers. Using infrared thermal images, the proposed method can automatically detect issues such as fan failures, CPU load levels, and server entrance blockages with an impressive accuracy of 99.60%.

This work is based on Beltus’s master’s research and demonstrates the potential of intelligent, non-contact methods to improve data center reliability and efficiency.

Full article is available at Springer Link and at ResearchGate

Congratulations to Beltus for this achievement!

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Research Highlighted at Sectoral Conference

The Thermal Systems in Cloud Infrastructure research group from Istanbul Technical University Informatics Institute actively participated in the Data Center Ankara 2024 Conference on February 27, showcasing graduate-level research addressing pressing issues in data center thermal and energy management.

The group engaged with conference attendees through posters and a dedicated stand, where they presented their innovative approaches and ongoing studies. This platform allowed graduate researchers to share their contributions with industry professionals and academics, fostering meaningful discussions and potential collaborations.

As part of the event, Dr. Hamza Salih Erden delivered an invited talk titled “Research Activities on Data Center Thermal and Energy Challenges.” The talk explored the operational challenges faced by modern data centers, the latest industry advancements, and the group’s initiatives to develop energy management systems that optimize data centers as critical assets for both owners and energy grids.

You can watch the talk here.

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Navigating Challenges: A Focus on Data Center Thermal and Energy Issues

On December 5th, 2023, members and alumni of the “Thermal Systems in Cloud Infrastructure” research group attended Data Center Istanbul, a sectoral conference, where Dr. Hamza Salih Erden gave an invited speech titled “Research Activities on the Data Center Thermal and Energy Challenges”. He presented highlights of past and ongoing research conducted in his research group at the Informatics Institute and future research directions. He shared ongoing efforts to create an energy management system for optimizing data centers as assets for owners and energy grids.

Dr. Hamza Salih Erden gave an invited talk at Data Center Istanbul on “Research Activities on Data Center Thermal and Energy Challenges.”

The group members enjoyed the hospitality of the organization committee, speeches by the stakeholders of the industry, networking opportunities with the participating company representatives and guests.

Group picture of “Thermal Systems in Cloud Infrastructure” researchers at Data Center Istanbul 2023.

Video recording of the session can be accessed below (in Turkish).

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Preliminary Results of Data Center Demand Response Study Presented at SEST 2023

Our research group members attended International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST 2023) between September 4-6 in Muğla at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. Beltus Nkwawir presented the preliminary results of the TÜBİTAK project in the session “Demand Side Management” chaired by Dr. Hamza Salih Erden. The conference paper Beltus presented is titled “Data Center Energy Optimization under Different Dynamic Pricing Schemes”. The study explores the cost-saving potential of data centers utilizing energy optimization under a demand response program with various existing electricity tariffs in Turkey and others that are not available. You can access the paper by following the link.

Beltus appears at the podium during SEST2023 presenting his paper.
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Conference Paper on Thermal Energy Storage for Data Centers Presented at the ASHRAE Annual Conference

ASHRAE Annual Conference 2023 took place between June 24-28 in Tampa, FL, USA. Dr. Erden attended the conference and presented the conference paper titled “Investigations on the Cost-Effective Design and Operation of Water-Based Thermal Energy Storage Systems for Data Centers” co-authored by Amir Abdolhosseinzadeh, Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate at Boğaziçi University. Funded by the TÜBİTAK project, the study explores the cost-saving potential of thermal energy storage systems (i.e., water tanks), which are primarily designed as emergency cooling systems in data centers. While investigating the dynamic behavior of the data center cooling infrastructure and controls based on thermodynamic models, the work proposes an optimization framework to minimize the total cost of ownership of the system while ensuring a feasible design and operation. As a corresponding member of the Technical Committee 9.9: Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment, Dr. Erden attended in-person meetings of the Technical Committee aside from the wide variety of technical sessions.

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Call for Applications: STAR Internship Positions for Undergraduate Students

STAR Internship positions are available as part of our TÜBİTAK 3501 Career Project titled “Modeling and Optimization of Grid-Integrated Energy Systems for the Demand-Side Management of Data Centers” (VERİ MERKEZLERİNİN TALEP TARAFI YÖNETİMİ IÇİN ŞEBEKEYLE ENTEGRE ENERJİ SİSTEMLERİNİN MODELLEME VE OPTİMİZASYONU).

This is an open call for Mechanical and Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Students interested in getting involved with state-of-the-art research in our group and modeling thermal systems in the data center infrastructure. You can submit your applications through the STAR Internship Program website until the deadline on April 22nd, 2022. If you would like to know more about the project and our group, please feel free to contact us.