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Fin Farrelly, product planning manager at Airedale, on how the right choice of cooling system will save you energy costs
A data centre’s life support is power and its appetite is insatiable. The average UK data centre has a carbon footprint equivalent to the city of Leicester and annual energy costs that in the five years to 2011 are set to more than double to €11 million.1 Uptime is so critical to a data centre that it needs to utilise the most energy efficient products in order to satisfy its hunger for power.
Keeping pace with technological improvements whilst keeping a lid on the rising costs of finite power supplies is a serious challenge for data centre managers. Processing technology is becoming smaller, faster and hotter, eating away at the IT budget. Since over 20% of upfront data centre spend is on cooling,2 choosing the right cooling system frees up your energy budget giving you more to spend on computer power.
Bringing out the best efficiency
Checking out the credentials of a cooling product by comparing efficiency benchmarks and looking at the product’s high-tech components, is a start. But what really makes components work efficiently is how they are applied and engineered. The new range of LogiCool high density solutions which includes the high efficiency OnRak rear door heat exchanger developed by Airedale in partnership with Prism, is an example.
The compact 32kW OnRak is designed with low air flow resistance to accommodate high efficiency EC axial fans. Most servers are under utilised, operating at only 5 -15% of the time. The EC motor significantly reduces power consumption when operating at part load and gives the OnRak an EER of 166 (n+1).
Integrated, free-cooling solutions
Integration is also the key to maximising efficiency of the cooling product itself. Using advanced cooling technology and control logic, different cooling products can be designed to work together across a common controls platform and match exactly the required cooling requirements. This intelligent, optimised solution offers significant savings in energy costs.
For example the OnRak, already an efficient product can be integrated with the 20/40kW LogiCool air cooled free-cooling chiller. Free-cooling operates with as little as 1°C differential between ambient and return fluid temperatures so the continuous operation and high temperatures of a server environment in relation to cooler outdoor air, allow the LogiCool chiller to operate in free-cooling mode most of the time. Offering simultaneous mechanical / free-cooling to achieve 0 – 100% free-cooling, the LogiCool chiller typically saves more than 45% of the energy consumed by a conventional chiller.3
Breadth of product and flexibility
The greater the manufacturer’s breadth and flexibility of intelligent cooling systems, the more potential there is for optimising cooling efficiency across the data centre. Our wide portfolio of expandable products can be linked together or in many cases with other manufacturers’ products, across one or more sites using BMS software and sophisticated controls solutions.
Where traditional room cooling is inadequate, the OnRak can be fitted directly to the rack with minimal impingement into the aisle. While the OnRak maintains temperature within higher density racks, Airedale SmartCool airside system precisely cools other heat loads and maintains room temperature and humidity. Like the OnRak, much of the SmartCool’s efficiency and built-in redundancy is attributable to the way efficient components and advanced technology are applied.
Resilience driving down whole life costs
The OnRak offers optional n+1 fan configuration in which each of its four fans operates at 75%. If one fan fails, the other three fans speed up to 100% to maintain cooling performance. Optional redundancy features also include UPS and dual power supply.
Quality of manufacture; the redundancy designed into the product; the availability of the product and the after-sales support provided by a UK manufacturer are all key to driving down whole life costs and maintaining uptime.
1 The Board Group 2007
2 IBM
3 Based on Met. Office average ambient figures for London, UK at 10/15ºC, 20% ethylene glycol
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