Cooling efficiency may be a top priority for today's data center operators. Increased data center densities enable operators to...
Cooling
efficiency may be a top priority for today's data center operators. Increased
data center densities enable operators to deliver more processing power within
the same amount of space to satisfy the stress of cloud and hyper-scale
environments. As more power is consumed per rack, however, heat becomes an
enormous problem, and traditional computer room air con (CRAC) units are unable
to stay up.
Most
modern data centers have adopted some kind of aisle-containment solution to
attenuate the blending of hot and cold air. With cold-aisle containment, racks
are positioned in rows with their fronts facing the aisle, which is enclosed to
contain the cold intake air. Hot air from the rear of the equipment is
exhausted into the space , which becomes an outsized hot-air plenum.
A
hot-aisle containment system mirrors this approach - the rears of the racks
face the aisle, which contains the recent air and exhausts it into a drop
ceiling void, return system or computer room air handler (CRAH). Hot-aisle
containment is more efficient than cold-aisle containment because it leverages
the very fact that hot air rises. It also creates a easier environment for data
center staff and non-racked equipment.
Either
way, aisle containment makes it possible to line cooling systems to a better
temperature while still maintaining a secure operating temperature for the
equipment. It also minimizes the danger of hot spots, and reduces the necessity
for humidification and dehumidification. All of this reduces costs by reducing
power consumption.
However,
aisle-containment with a CRAC unit isn't as efficient as in-row cooling.
because the name implies, in-row cooling places a cooling unit directly within
the row of racks. The unit could also be suspended from the ceiling, placed on
top of a cupboard or mounted on the ground . Because the cooling unit is closer
to the equipment, the cold air doesn't need to travel as far and warmth are
often dissipated faster. In-row cooling are often wont to supplement room
cooling, or installed during a closed-loop arrangement with a cold-aisle
containment enclosure.
In-row
cooling units may use refrigerant or chilled water, and incorporate fans to
distribute the cold air. State-of-the-art units have built-in intelligence,
varying cooling capacity and fan speeds consistent with the load.
There
are several obvious used cases for in-row cooling. it's going to be used for a
lab environment within a knowledge center, or to supply more efficient cooling
for a customer during a co-location facility. In-row cooling is additionally
ideal for very dense environments, particularly people who use power-hungry GPU
clusters for machine learning and other AI applications.
In-row
cooling units should be designed to satisfy customer demand for higher capacity
to deal with today's heat loads. These units must fit comfortably in any data
center environment for delivering maximum cooling capacity.
Marcus
Doran is VP and head at Rahi Systems Europe. He has over 20 years of experience
in data center segment. He has extensive experience in data center
infrastructure solutions contributing well-established relationships with the
purchasers across the Northern European region.
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