Schroff UK has developed a range of modular standard components to create cold, or hot, aisle contained areas between rows of server housings. Significantly improving the thermal efficiency within data centres, the range of doors and top cover mounted sealing panels can be fitted to any new or existing cabinet installation, irrespective of the rack manufacturer.

The principle is that creating physically segregated hot and cold aisles prevents the input and output air mixing, enabling the input to be at a temperature of 20 to 23°C, rather than the traditional 13 to 15°C. Accordingly, for some 90% of the time in the UK, the cooling air will be hotter than the external air, enabling air to air heat exchangers to be used on the input, primarily to control the humidity of the internal air and to maintain a closed loop, dust-free internal environment. On the output side, since it cannot recirculate back through the servers, the temperature of the exhaust air can be up to 40°C. Additional benefits include a uniform input temperature irrespective of the position of the server in the rack and lower airflow requirements; the higher output temperatures enable evaporative cooling to be used, again reducing energy consumption.