Embracing sustainability emerges as a paramount strategy for both businesses and governmental entities, exerting significant influence on the future landscape. Thermal management systems, responsible for extracting heat from data centers, wield substantial potential in enhancing the carbon footprint of these facilities. This is particularly crucial, given that around 25-35% of energy consumption in many data centers is linked to air conditioning.
Direct Effects of Chilled Water Systems
Chilled water systems prove effective in mitigating direct emissions for several reasons. Firstly, they boast a limited refrigerant charge per kilowatt (kW) of cooling, reducing environmental impact. In certain scenarios, refrigerants may not be necessary, particularly in data centers situated in cold climates where heat disperses through dry coolers or cooling towers. In contrast, alternative cooling systems, like forced air HVAC systems, would demand refrigerants, resulting in a higher refrigerant charge per kW of cooling.
In a chilled water system, refrigerants are contained within chiller units, offering a comprehensive and ready-to-use refrigerant circuit. Rigorous testing, both at the factory and on-site post-installation, is standard practice to detect and prevent leakages, minimizing the risk of refrigerant losses. Monitoring systems are commonly employed to promptly identify refrigerant leaks during operation, enabling timely intervention to prevent extensive leakage.
Additionally, chilled water systems offer safety advantages and cost-effectiveness when compared to alternative refrigerant cooling systems, such as forced air HVAC systems. The latter could introduce flammable refrigerants into data halls, posing a substantial risk of combustion and necessitating expensive safety monitoring devices. This underscores the inherent safety and economic benefits of chilled water systems in diverse applications.
Indirect Effects of a Chilled Water System
An important indirect consequence of a cooling system is associated with electricity consumption. The primary metric used to assess the efficiency of cooling systems is partial power usage effectiveness (pPUE). pPUE is calculated as the ratio of the combined energy used by the IT load and the cooling system to the energy used solely by the IT load. A lower pPUE value indicates a more efficient cooling system. For instance, a pPUE of 1 signifies a data center where every watt of energy is utilized by IT equipment, and the cooling system consumes no energy.
Modern chilled water systems, including those supported by Vertiv, have the potential to achieve pPUE values below 1.1 in cities like London. This is accomplished through optimization strategies outlined in the following section, showcasing the advancements in cooling system efficiency and their positive impact on overall energy consumption and sustainability.
Benefits of Chilled Water Systems
Chilled water systems are poised to become a predominant global cooling technology in the data center sector in the coming years, driven by numerous advantages.
– Sustainability:
In response to a new era in the data center industry emphasizing sustainability, chilled water systems are at the forefront by incorporating low-GWP refrigerants in chiller units. This proactive approach improves overall system efficiency and reduces energy consumption. By adopting cutting-edge technologies and optimizing the entire chilled water system, these systems can achieve remarkable partial power usage effectiveness (pPUE) values below 1.1.
– Design Considerations:
Given the flammability of many new refrigerants, careful design considerations are crucial, especially when refrigerants are used within the white space or in direct contact with the air delivered to IT equipment. Chilled water systems offer an excellent solution as they are typically installed externally, ensuring that any flammable refrigerants are kept outside the data center, enhancing safety measures.
– Flexibility:
Chilled water systems provide flexibility in terms of the positioning of outdoor cooling units. Their adaptive nature eliminates the need for a fixed configuration, and there are minimal physical limits (aside from pump size) for the proximity of the units. This flexibility enhances the overall design and layout options for data center operators.
– Continuity:
Addressing potential power loss scenarios, chilled water systems offer a unique solution by incorporating auxiliary cold-water storage tanks. These tanks significantly increase a data center’s thermal reserve, ensuring continued cooling during power outages. The use of cold water tanks, with lower initial costs compared to other approaches, allows for precise calculations of the system’s cooling maintenance duration during an outage.
– High-Density Support:
Liquid cooling is recognized as one of the most efficient methods for achieving high-density cooling, particularly for rapidly expanding business applications in data centers. Chilled water systems simplify the integration of liquid cooling into existing air-cooled facilities, providing greater flexibility to accommodate diverse indoor units for various applications and IT densities.
In summary, the comprehensive benefits of chilled water systems, spanning sustainability, design safety, flexibility, continuity, and high-density support, position them as a leading choice for global cooling technologies in the evolving landscape of data centers.
Looking to the Future – Liquid Cooling
Businesses spanning various industries are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence and other processing-intensive applications to gain a competitive edge. These applications demand high-density computational platforms, presenting a dynamic thermal challenge for data centers.
For some of the fastest-growing business applications requiring high rack densities, there are currently no energy-efficient alternatives to liquid cooling. Introducing liquid cooling into air-cooled data centers necessitates meticulous planning and engineering. However, the existing technologies and best practices are readily available, enabling a successful and minimally disruptive deployment.
When incorporating high-density racks, it becomes essential to ascertain the specific heat load each system will manage, the required cooling capacity, the portion of capacity to be displaced by the liquid cooling system, and the remaining air-cooling capacity needed. Technologies such as rear-door heat exchangers, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and immersion cooling are considerations when deploying a liquid cooling system.
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