Data centers typically are high-density enclosed spaces that produce and distribute a significant amount of heat in a small area. This is due to the fact that the power they require to operate is dissipated into the air as heat. This heat needs to be removed or the temperature within the data center will rise, and if the temperature rises enough, the equipment can be seriously impacted. Long-term results end in equipment failure.
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Traditional comfort cooling systems often cannot remove enough heat and there is a critical need to house dedicated units with precision cooling capabilities. But not just any cooling system will do the trick. There are many things to consider when designing an HVACD system for a data center that ensures it maintains a regulated temperature, is sustainable, and continues to help the data center perform its functions optimally.
The HVACD system is managed by the air conditioning system, which is influenced by 5 main factors:
The type of IT equipment has a huge bearing on the choice of cooling infrastructure. There are two types of common servers used: 1.) rack-mount servers, and 2.) blade servers. Both have their benefits and limitations.
Rack-Mounted Servers
Rack-mounted servers are contained in a horizontal case “1U to 5U” in height. ‘U’ is a measurement of rack height that equals 1.75” (44.45 mm).
Limitations: Communications have to travel to the top of rack or edge network device before it can travel back.
Blade Servers
Blade servers are plug-and-play processing units with shared power feeds, power supplies, fans, cabling and storage.
Limitations: Blade servers can raise power densities above 15 kW per rack, dramatically increasing data center heat levels.
The flow of air through the servers is important for effective heat dissipation. It is affected by many variables, including: The cabinet and door construction, cabinet size, and thermal dissipation of any other components within the cabinet.
For example, the flow of air may be obstructed when one server is positioned so that its hot exhaust air is directed into the intake air of another server, thus preheating the intake air of the second server.
HVACD equipment location and system design is also important. ASHRAE recommends laying out equipment racks according to the Hot Aisle–Cold Aisle layout, which means aligning IT equipment racks in rows, such that the cabinet fronts face the cool aisle, and exhaust is directed to the hot aisle.
This type of design minimizes hot and cold air mixing and maximizes the heat dissipation.
The most common design configuration is the underfloor supply system that relies on a raised floor with air conditioning equipment’s Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC units) located around the perimeter of the room.
This model on the following page has the following functionalities:
Temperature and humidity sensors should be installed to monitor the temperature and humidity of the server room or data center to prevent server damage.
The placement of racks is very important. If you set up your room in the wrong layout, i.e. all racks facing the same direction, the hot air from the back of one rack will be sucked into the front of the racks in the next row, causing it to overheat and eventually fail.
In-row cooling utilizes cooling units to be mounted directly within the rows of racks between cabinets. This configuration ensures localized cooling directly to the front of each rack and provides a very high heat dissipation capability.
When used in conjunction with containment systems, this arrangement is capable of providing at least 20 kW to 30 kW of cooling per cabinet.
Disadvantages include: Reduced reliability due to a number of potential failure points and access to a cooling unit is limited due to its location between cabinets.
Since data centers operate every day and all day, the cooling system must be designed to accommodate continuous heat extraction and consider redundancy into the design to continue the facility’s operation during a failure event.
Provisions for servicing and maintenance should be included in the design phase of the project, including:
Is the data center cooled using direct expansion (DX) units or chilled water?
As with all things the budget often will dictate the cooling solution adopted.
From an operational cost, the chilled water option is much more cost effective.
From a capital expenditure point of view, the DX solution will often be the recommended option, unless you just physically don’t have enough space to fit all the IT into the available space.
The data center is a big consumer of energy both for driving the IT equipment and also for the cooling system. The energy bill is often the major part of the overall operating costs.
While the energy consumed by data processing equipment is fairly constant year-round, there are some simple steps that can achieve more efficient cooling and lower the power consumption which include:
Due to a greater demand for green and smart technologies, major innovations are finally taking place in the HVACD industry. Air conditioning has gone digital.
This digital technology not only makes air conditioning much more energy efficient, but it also makes air conditioning work better. It is able to keep the indoor environment, particularly in data centers, at a comfortable temperature, allowing for open air flows, without compromising performance and operability.
Air2O’s hybrid cooling technology can be applied within Data Centers/Server Rooms around the world, providing significant energy savings. Its ACSESS™ Control System uses smart technology, combining outdoor conditions and the established comfort zone to instantly select the most efficient cooling strategy, thus assuring the highest equipment efficiency.
As ambient conditions or comfort zone inputs change, the system will recalculate and choose the best available cooling strategy. Depending on the equipment, these strategies can include fresh air cooling (economizer), direct evaporative, indirect evaporative, IDEC, and/or DX standard air conditioning.
Data centers typically are high-density enclosed spaces that produce and distribute a significant amount of heat in a small area. This is due to the fact that the power they require to operate is dissipated into the air as heat. This heat needs to be removed or the temperature within the data center will rise, and if the temperature rises enough, the equipment can be seriously impacted. Long-term results end in equipment failure.
Traditional comfort cooling systems often cannot remove enough heat and there is a critical need to house dedicated units with precision cooling capabilities. But not just any cooling system will do the trick. There are many things to consider when designing an HVAC system for a data center that ensures it maintains a regulated temperature, is sustainable, and continues to help the data center perform its functions optimally.
The HVAC system is managed by the air conditioning system, which is influenced by 5 main factors:
The type of IT equipment has a huge bearing on the choice of cooling infrastructure. There are two types of common servers used: 1.) rack-mount servers, and 2.) blade servers. Both have their benefits and limitations.
Rack-Mounted Servers
Rack-mounted servers are contained in a horizontal case “1U to 5U” in height. ‘U’ is a measurement of rack height that equals 1.75” (44.45 mm).
Limitations: Communications have to travel to the top of rack or edge network device before it can travel back.
Blade Servers
Blade servers are plug-and-play processing units with shared power feeds, power supplies, fans, cabling and storage.
Limitations: Blade servers can raise power densities above 15 kW per rack, dramatically increasing data center heat levels.
The flow of air through the servers is important for effective heat dissipation. It is affected by many variables, including: The cabinet and door construction, cabinet size, and thermal dissipation of any other components within the cabinet.
For example, the flow of air may be obstructed when one server is positioned so that its hot exhaust air is directed into the intake air of another server, thus preheating the intake air of the second server.
HVAC equipment location and system design is also important. ASHRAE recommends laying out equipment racks according to the Hot Aisle–Cold Aisle layout, which means aligning IT equipment racks in rows, such that the cabinet fronts face the cool aisle, and exhaust is directed to the hot aisle.
This type of design minimizes hot and cold air mixing and maximizes the heat dissipation.
The most common design configuration is the underfloor supply system that relies on a raised floor with air conditioning equipment’s Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC units) located around the perimeter of the room.
This model on the following page has the following functionalities:
Temperature and humidity sensors should be installed to monitor the temperature and humidity of the server room or data center to prevent server damage.
The placement of racks is very important. If you set up your room in the wrong layout, i.e. all racks facing the same direction, the hot air from the back of one rack will be sucked into the front of the racks in the next row, causing it to overheat and eventually fail.
In-row cooling utilizes cooling units to be mounted directly within the rows of racks between cabinets. This configuration ensures localized cooling directly to the front of each rack and provides a very high heat dissipation capability.
When used in conjunction with containment systems, this arrangement is capable of providing at least 20 kW to 30 kW of cooling per cabinet.
Disadvantages include: Reduced reliability due to a number of potential failure points and access to a cooling unit is limited due to its location between cabinets.
Since data centers operate every day and all day, the cooling system must be designed to accommodate continuous heat extraction and consider redundancy into the design to continue the facility’s operation during a failure event.
Provisions for servicing and maintenance should be included in the design phase of the project, including:
Is the data center cooled using direct expansion (DX) units or chilled water?
The company is the world’s best row level chilled water precision air conditioner supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
As with all things the budget often will dictate the cooling solution adopted.
From an operational cost, the chilled water option is much more cost effective.
From a capital expenditure point of view, the DX solution will often be the recommended option, unless you just physically don’t have enough space to fit all the IT into the available space.
The data center is a big consumer of energy both for driving the IT equipment and also for the cooling system. The energy bill is often the major part of the overall operating costs.
While the energy consumed by data processing equipment is fairly constant year-round, there are some simple steps that can achieve more efficient cooling and lower the power consumption which include:
Due to a greater demand for green and smart technologies, major innovations are finally taking place in the HVAC industry. Air conditioning has gone digital.
This digital technology not only makes air conditioning much more energy efficient, but it also makes air conditioning work better. It is able to keep the indoor environment, particularly in data centers, at a comfortable temperature, allowing for open air flows, without compromising performance and operability.
Air2O’s hybrid cooling technology can be applied within Data Centers/Server Rooms around the world, providing significant energy savings. Its ACSESS™ Control System uses smart technology, combining outdoor conditions and the established comfort zone to instantly select the most efficient cooling strategy, thus assuring the highest equipment efficiency.
As ambient conditions or comfort zone inputs change, the system will recalculate and choose the best available cooling strategy. Depending on the equipment, these strategies can include fresh air cooling (economizer), direct evaporative, indirect evaporative, IDEC, and/or DX standard air conditioning.
In today’s networked environment, server rooms are one of the indispensable parts of modern businesses. Even SMEs with more than a few workstations typically need a server, whether housed in a room or a closet.
And one thing that all servers generate is heat – lots and lots of it. These critical but fragile network equipment need lots of cooling and heat management in order to function efficiently and reliably. In this guide, we tackle everything you need to know about server room cooling, to ensure seamless operation of your office workstations, and by extension, your business.
A server room is a dedicated space designed to house computer servers and networking equipment. These rooms play a crucial role in IT infrastructure, since they contain the servers that are the backbone of the business or company’s network operations.
Server rooms vary in size – small businesses may make do with a dedicated server or two housed in a closet, but larger businesses and commercial operations typically require a dedicated server room with industrial-grade protection. Some of the largest server rooms in the world, more formally known as data centers, are actually housed in impregnable bunker-like shelters to protect them from temperature extremes and humidity, with some even being housed underwater for maximum cooling!
One thing that all server rooms have in common is that they must be optimized for temperature, humidity, and airflow control to maintain peak server performance and prevent hardware failures. In other words: they must be constantly air conditioned.
Maintaining proper temperature, humidity and ventilation is critical to ensuring the longevity and efficiency of server equipment. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) provides guidelines for data centers and server rooms, based on ASHRAE TC 9.9, “Equipment Thermal Guidelines
for Data Processing Environments”.
These standards include:
????️ Temperature Range
ASHRAE recommends that server rooms operate between 64.4°F and 80.6°F (18°C to 27°C).
❄️Optimal Temperature
The ideal temperature for most server rooms is around 72°F to 75°F (22°C to 24°C).
???? Humidity Levels
ASHRAE suggests maintaining relative humidity between 40% and 60% to prevent electrostatic discharge (low humidity) and condensation (high humidity).
♨️ Airflow and Ventilation:
Proper airflow must be maintained to prevent hot spots, and cold aisle/hot aisle configurations are recommended.
While ASHRAE governs the temperature and humidity control for servers, there are other regulatory and industry standards for server rooms:
Energy efficiency standards: Some regions also have their own local energy regulations that affect cooling systems, such as SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) ratings.
There are various cooling methods to maintain the optimal temperature and humidity levels in a server room:
CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) Units: These function like standard air conditioners but with more precision cooling capabilities. They are also known as “room-based cooling”.
CRAH (Computer Room Air Handling) Units: These use chilled water systems to cool the air and are more energy-efficient for larger server rooms.
Both types must comply with Department of Energy (DOE) energy conservation standards 10 CFR 431.92.
These cooling units are placed between server racks to provide targeted cooling. They are designed for high-density server configurations.
According to the DOE, they are more efficient than room-based cooling since airflow paths are shorter, increasing efficiency and reducing power required.
Uses liquid-cooled heat exchangers to remove excess heat directly from servers. They are more efficient for high-performance computing environments.
The National Renewal Energy Laboratory states that liquid cooling is more efficient because the heat capacity of liquids is orders of magnitude greater than air-based cooling.
A layout that positions server racks to direct hot air away from cold intake areas. This setup helps improve cooling efficiency and reduces energy costs by 10-35% according to the DOE.
Proper ventilation ensures hot air is removed efficiently. Additional exhaust fans may be used for small server rooms with limited airflow.
For smaller businesses with only a single server, server closets are relatively simpler to cool. Heat dissipation can be managed using a portable AC dedicated for the purpose, such as these examples:
Kwikool KIB Iceberg Series 60,000 BTU Portable Separated Air Cooling System
KwiKool’s Iceberg Series line of portable coolers is an ideal solution for server and IDF rooms. It offers a separated air system which helps to recirculate cooled air while expelling hot air.
This 60,000 BTU (5 ton) model uses single phase, 230 volt electricity and is 27.325″w x 51″d x 53″h, with a recommended circuit breaker size of 50 amps. It is powerful enough to cool effectively either as a primary or backup air conditioning source. The condenser on the KIB utilizes THD, KwiKool’s exclusive Twin Hyperdrive Technology which produces a high volume of air without belts and eliminates all of the maintenance associated with belts.
Standard features include three fan speeds, a 5-gallon condensate tank with overflow float switch for manual emptying as well as an internal high lift condensate pump for direct drain option, auto-speed which automatically sets the fan speed based on the heat load demand, filter dryer for moisture protection. The Iceberg Series also includes dual top ducting and Kwikool’s Exclusive I/O Integral Condenser that allows for a separate exhaust outlet and cooling source inlet. With the unique dual system, the cold air created is then pushed out into the server room and recirculated within the room, not removed.
Daikin FTXM24WVJU9 / RXM24WVJU9 BTU Class 22.0 SEER2 Wall Mounted Atmosphera Series Single Zone Mini Split System
The streamlined, wall-mounted mini split delivers 21,600 BTUs cooling and 24,000 BTUs heating. With 12.0 EER2, 22.0 SEER2, and 10.0 HSPF2 ratings, this system ensures year-round server room cooling and compliance with DOE regulations. It uses the new R32 refrigerant.
The inverter technology in the Daikin Atmosphera system optimizes compressor speed, reducing energy consumption and temperature fluctuations. This ensures consistent cooling for your server with minimal power fluctuations. Cooling capabilities can be further extended to -4°F with a wind baffle and dipswitch adjustments.
The system uses hybrid cooling that efficiently reduces humidity without overcooling. This maintains dehumidification for the server room after reaching the target temperature. It also boasts built-in WiFi, allowing you to control your system remotely with ease.
1. Use Temperature and Humidity Sensors
Real-time monitoring ensures quick response to temperature fluctuations.
2. Redundant Cooling Systems
Having backup cooling prevents downtime in case of failures.
3. Seal Unused Rack Spaces
This stops hot air from recirculating into cooler areas of the room.
4. Regular Maintenance
Ensure filters, ducts, and cooling units operate at peak efficiency through periodic cleaning, or replacement if needed.
5. Consider Modular Data Centers
These pre-designed modules come with their own cooling systems, and are scalable and efficient for growing IT needs.
Proper server room cooling is essential to prevent overheating, equipment damage, and data loss. By following ASHRAE standards, utilizing efficient cooling solutions, and ensuring compliance with regulations, businesses can maintain a reliable and efficient IT infrastructure. Whether opting for traditional air conditioning, liquid cooling, or advanced airflow management, investing in the right cooling strategy will prolong the lifespan of servers and improve overall performance.
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