Optimization of Outside Air Cooling in Data Centers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niru Kumari ◽  
Rocky Shih ◽  
Alan McReynolds ◽  
Ratnesh Sharma ◽  
Tom Christian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Operation Time ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Free Cooling ◽  
Operational Envelope ◽  
Homogeneous Data ◽  
Temperature And Flow Fields

Airside economizers in data centers introducing outside air directly in cold aisles or at CRAC level have been considered recently to reduce overall energy to cool IT equipment. However, such designs limit the operational envelope of free cooling based on the required supply air temperature to the IT equipment. More studies are required to optimize airside economizer layouts to increase the operation time and hence, increase the energy savings. This paper presents a case study of different outside air delivery configurations including outside air introduced in cold aisles, in plenum close to CRAC units’ supply side, at return side of CRAC units and in hot aisles. The temperature and flow fields are studied numerically and are compared to each other. Mixing of the cooler outside air with the hot air is studied to determine optimal local distribution of the outside air in a non-homogeneous data center to maximize natural cooling. The paper also quantifies the annual average performance of the outside air infrastructure to include the effects of the seasonal variations in the ambient temperature.

scholarly journals 403 Case Study of Measures for Energy Savings of Air-Conditioning Systems in Data Centers

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011.21 (0) ◽  
pp. 248-251
Author(s):  
Ari YOSHII ◽  
Yosuke UDAGAWA ◽  
Masahide YANAGI ◽  
Shisei WARAGAI ◽  
Keigo MATSUO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Air Conditioning Systems

High-Density Computing: Efficient Versus Conventional Design

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Comperchio ◽  
Sameer Behere
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Efficient Resource ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
Using Data

Data centers are expensive to build and operate. Large data centers cost $9–13/W to build [1] and can consume more than forty times, and up to over two hundred times, the amount of energy and resources consumed by a typical building [2], [3]. Therefore, space and energy considerations need to be accounted for when evaluating competing designs for high-performance computing (HPC) installations. This paper describes the results of an incremental cost and energy savings analysis conducted using data collected from a real-world case study to evaluate the impacts of efficient resource planning and implementing a total cost of ownership (TCO) model in the analysis of IT equipment and systems. The analysis presented demonstrates the advantages of using the latest technologies and IT strategies when planning the growth of new HPC installations at an enterprise level. The data also indicates an efficient design can significantly reduce the space, power, and cooling requirements of the HPC deployment while maintaining the performance and reliability criteria.

Qualitative Study of Cumulative Corrosion Damage of IT Equipment in a Data Center Utilizing Air-Side Economizer

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Oluwaseun Awe ◽  
Pavan Agarwal ◽  
Iziren Akhigbe ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Evaporative Cooling ◽  
Corrosion Damage ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Single Server ◽  
Severity Level ◽  
Particulate Contamination

Deployment of air-side economizers in data centers is rapidly gaining acceptance to reduce the cost of energy by reducing the hours of operation of CRAC units. Use of air-side economizers has the associated risk of introducing gaseous and particulate contamination into data centers, thus, degrading the reliability of Information Technology (IT) equipment. Sulfur-bearing gaseous contamination is of concern because it attacks the copper and silver metallization of the electronic components causing electrical opens and/or shorts. Particulate contamination with low deliquescence relative humidity is of concern because it becomes wet and therefore electrically conductive under normal data center relative humidity conditions. IT equipment manufacturers guarantee the reliability of their equipment operating in environment within ISA 71.04-2013 severity level G1 and within the ASHRAE recommended temperature-relative humidity envelope. The challenge is to determine the reliability degrading effect of contamination severity levels higher than G1 and the temperature and humidity allowable ranges A1–A3 well outside the recommended range. This paper is a first attempt at addressing this challenge by studying the cumulative corrosion damage to IT equipment operated in an experimental data center located in Dallas, known to have contaminated air with ISA 71.04-2013 severity level G2. The data center is cooled using an air-side economizer. This study serves several purposes including: the correlation of equipment reliability to levels of airborne corrosive contaminants and the study of the degree of reliability degradation when the equipment is operated, outside the recommended envelope, in the allowable temperature-relative humidity range in geographies with high levels of gaseous and particulate contamination. The operating and external conditions of a modular data center, located in a Dallas industrial area, using air-side economizer is described. The reliability degradation of servers exposed to outside air via an airside economizer was determined qualitatively examining the corrosion of components in the servers and comparing the results to the corrosion of components in a non-operating server stored in a protective environment. The corrosion-related reliability of the servers over almost the life of the product was related to continuous temperature and relative humidity for the duration of the experiment. This work provides guidance for data center administration for similar environment. From an industry perspective, it should be noted that in the four years of operation in the hot and humid Dallas climate using only evaporative cooling or fresh air cooling, we have not seen a single server failure in our research pod. That performance should highlight an opportunity for significant energy savings for data center operators in a much broader geographic area than currently envisioned with evaporative cooling.

Impact of Cold Aisle Containment on Thermal Performance of Data Center

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharathkrishnan Muralidharan ◽  
Saurabh K. Shrivastava ◽  
Mahmoud Ibrahim ◽  
Sami A. Alkharabsheh ◽  
Bahgat G. Sammakia
Keyword(s):  
Data Center ◽  
Heat Load ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Air Conditioner ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Cold Aisle Containment

The use of air containment systems has been a growing trend in the data center industry and is an important energy saving strategy for data center optimization. Cold Aisle Containment (CAC) is one of the most effective passive cooling solutions for high density heat load applications. Cold Aisle Containment provides a physical separation between the cold air and the hot exhaust air by enclosing the cold aisle, preventing hot air recirculation and cold air bypass. This separation provides uniform inlet air temperatures to the servers, which can further contribute to overall data center efficiency. This paper includes the thermal test data for a data center lab with and without a CAC set up. The paper quantifies the thermal impact of implementing a CAC system over an open Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle (HA/CA) arrangement for three different cabinet heat load conditions at two different CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) return air set point conditions. It studies the advantages of CAC over standard HA/CA arrangement. A case study has been presented showing a cooling energy savings of 22% with the use of a CAC system over a standard HA/CA arrangement.

Energy Savings Through Hot and Cold Aisle Containment Configurations for Air Cooled Servers in Data Centers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Schmidt ◽  
Aparna Vallury ◽  
Madhusudan Iyengar
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Green Technologies ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Type Data ◽  
Cold Aisle Containment

The increased focus on green technologies and energy efficiency coupled with the insatiable desire of IT equipment customers for more performance has driven manufacturers to deploy energy efficient technologies in the data centers. This paper describes a technique to achieve significant energy savings by preventing the cold and hot air streams within the data center from mixing. More specifically, techniques will be described that will separate the cool supply air to the server racks and exhaust hot air that returns to the air conditioning units. This separation can be achieved by three types of containment systems — cold aisle containment, hot aisle containment, and server rack exhaust chimneys. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique will be outlined. To show the potential for energy efficiency improvements a case study in deploying a cold aisle containment solution for a 8944 ft2 data center will be presented. This study will show that 59% of the energy required for the computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units used in a traditional open type data center could be saved.

Case Study for Energy-Efficiency of Liquid-Cooled Data Centers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Rivera-Lopez ◽  
Mark Kimber
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Typical Data ◽  
Thermal Solution ◽  
Multiple Measurements ◽  
Power Usage Effectiveness ◽  
Computer Board

The thermal management of existing data centers is centered on forced convection using air as the transport fluid. A large portion of the energy required for typical data centers is used in maintaining reasonable operating temperatures, and many have looked to liquid cooling as a promising solution to increased energy efficiency. The current work is a case study of making this transition for a single computer board. The energy savings potential is quantified and the removal of heat via liquid cooling is characterized from the chip level to the environment. A thermal solution model is developed and validated through experimentation. The experiment consists of a rack-mounted computer board to simulate a server and cold plates attached at several key locations for cooling. Multiple measurements are made to determine the amount of heat removed and power consumed in the process. The results from this study show that liquid-cooling presents an improved thermal solution to data centers and the energy savings potential is large, which improves the power usage effectiveness since power is mostly used in data processing rather than server cooling.

Employing Thermal Zones for Energy Optimization in Data Centers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srinivas Yarlanki ◽  
Rajarshi Das ◽  
Hendrik Hamann ◽  
Vanessa Lopez ◽  
Andrew Stepanchuk
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Cooling Power ◽  
Joint Management

Energy consumption has become a critical issue for data centers, triggered by the rise in energy costs, volatility in the supply and demand of energy and the wide spread proliferation of power-hungry information technology (IT) equipment. Since nearly half the energy consumed in a data center (DC) goes towards cooling, much of the efforts in minimizing energy consumption in DCs have focused on improving the efficiency of cooling strategies by optimally provisioning the cooling power to match the heat dissipation in the entire DC. However, at a more granular level within the DC, the large range of heat densities of today’s IT equipment makes this task of provisioning cooling power at the level of individual computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units much more challenging. In this work, we employ utility functions to present a principled and flexible method for determining the optimal settings of CRACs for joint management of power and temperature objectives at a more granular level within a DC. Such provisioning of cooling power to match the heat generated at a local level requires the knowledge of thermal zones — the region of DC space cooled by a specific CRAC. We show how thermal zones can be constructed for arbitrary settings of CRACs using the potential flow theory. As a case study, we apply our methodology in a 10,000 sq. ft commercial DC using actual measured conditions and evaluate the usefulness of the method by quantifying possible energy savings in this DC.

Design Considerations Relating to Non-Thermal Aspects of Oil Immersion Cooling

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Syed Haider I. Rizvi ◽  
Indu Sravani Kota ◽  
Sahithi Reddy Nagilla ◽  
Dhaval Thakkar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Center ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Mineral Oil ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Cooling Fluid ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Oil Immersion

Full submersion of servers in dielectric oils offers an opportunity for significant cooling energy savings and increased power densities for data centers. The enhanced thermal properties of oil can lead to considerable savings in both the upfront and operating costs over traditional air cooling methods. Despite recent findings showing the improved cooling efficiency and cost savings of oil as a cooling fluid, this technique is still not widely adopted. Many uncertainties and concerns persist regarding the non-thermal aspects of an oil immersion cooled data center. This paper presents useful information regarding a variety of factors related to the operation of an oil cooled data center. Pertinent material property considerations such as the chemistry, flammability, material compatibility, human health effects, and sustainability of mineral oil are discussed. A general introduction as to the chemical composition and production of mineral oil is provided. A discussion of the trade-offs in thermal performance and cost of the mineral oil is presented. The dielectric nature of oils is critical to their success as a cooling fluid for electronic applications. Factors such as temperature, voltage, and age that affect this property are reviewed. Flammability of oils is a valid concern when immersing costly IT equipment and the pertinent concerns of this aspect are reviewed. The evaporation loss of oil is also mentioned as refueling and safety are important parameters in the establishment of any facility. Leeching of materials, especially plastics, is a reoccurring concern expressed regarding mineral oil immersed IT equipment. Mineral oils are by-products of petroleum refining processes and as such may bring forth sustainability concerns associated with their use and disposal. The long term stability and performance of key physical and material parameters of oils used in applications such as high voltage power are typically monitored. The similarity and implications of the longevity of oils, when used for data center applications, will be examined. Other issues related to the design, operation, and serviceability of submerged IT equipment and racks will also be addressed. Switching to an oil immersion cooled data center typically brings about several designs and operational changes compared to a typical air-cooled approach. A critical element of oil cooling often cited by opponents of the technology is the issue of serviceability of IT equipment. This paper will discuss some of the additional features a data center may need in place to help alleviate these concerns, as well as, best practices based on experience and observations by the authors. This paper also includes Cup Burner Experiment as per ISO 14520/NFPA 2001 standard to determine the minimum design concentration of fire extinguishing agent for the class B hazard of heavy mineral oil and the class C hazard of electronic equipment as a part of the safety concerns for oil cooled data centers. The visual observations of the servers after immersion in oil for 8 months are also explained for a better view of the system related issues. The discussion presented here is based primarily on literature gathered on the subject and quantifiable data gathered by the authors.

Literal Media Ecology: Crisis in the Conditions of Production

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 486-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett R. Caraway
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Contemporary Media ◽  
Matter Energy

This article outlines a socio-political theory appropriate for the study of the ecological repercussions of contemporary media technologies. More specifically, this approach provides a means of assessing the material impacts of media technologies and the representations of capitalist ecological crises. This approach builds on the work of ecological economists, ecosocialist scholars, and Marx’s writings on the conditions of production to argue that capitalism necessarily results in ecological destabilization. Taking Apple’s 2016 Environmental Responsibility Report as a case study, the article uses the theory to analyze Apple’s responses to ecological crises. The article asserts that Apple’s reactions are emblematic of the capitalist compulsion for increasing rates of productivity. However, unless the matter/energy savings achieved through higher rates of productivity surpass the overall increase in the flow of matter/energy in production, ecological crises will continue. Ultimately, capital accumulation ensures continued ecological destabilization.

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