Data Center Cooling – 3 Straightforward Tips
Data center cooling can be responsible for 30% of a data centers running costs. Improving data center cooling can range from the use of cooling liquids, layout, economizing your cool air input and increasing the general running temperature and humidity of your center. Data centers are predicted to increase 4 fold by the 2020, slashing costs in this area is highly important.
Here are the top 3 tips to reduce your data center cooling requirements
Data center cooling tips
1. Hot-cold aisles are essentially a layout designed used to segregate areas of hot and cold air. Facing server exhausts and outlet points back to back creates a hot aisle. The use of curtains or metal cabinets can help to further direct the flow towards the cooling systems, and prevents flow over into cool air aisles. Placing units in direct line with cool aisles can help to push the cold air where it is needed. This whole system puts less strain on cooling systems allowing them to work at higher temperatures, encouraging cost and energy saving.
2. Economizing your cooling system can vary from retrofitting air-conditioning units with free cooling coils to utilizing outside air temperatures and pushing air through the center. Cooling coils can be installed and work to draw cool outside air through the air-conditioning unit when the air temperature drops below a certain point. Utilizing fan speeds and reducing them were possible can compound this effect. Energy efficient air-condition units can help reduce costs by 45%. Draw cool outside air into your center and distribute through a means of fans and dampers, to further reduce the need for air-conditioning units. Install grommets around the building to prevent any cool air leakages to the alternate environments.
3. Data center cooling liquids are an alternative technology that could become the salvation of data centers. It involves the use of non-conductive liquid to pass through the server’s compartments, cooling the system and keeping heat in whilst recycling it. The effective nature of the system does allow for the use of rainwater and can generate heat to be passed onto other areas. The liquid works more effectively then air because of its natural convection capabilities and will reduce, even eradicate the need for cooling systems within data centers.
Utilizing cooler outside temperatures can have greater focus on the location and therefore utilization can be strongly dependent on geographical location and prevailing weather patterns. Use of data center cooling liquids may overcome this but it is important for something to be done as data centers grow annually by 15%!