New Future Facilities White Paper Provides Path to Increased Data Center Cooling Efficiency
Cooling efficiency represents a major opportunity to increase the energy efficiency of data centers, says a new white paper from Future Facilities, developers of 6SigmaDC computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software for data centers.
London, November 11th 2008 – “Optimizing data center airflow can pay good dividends and lead to significant financial savings and reduced risk” says Hassan Moezzi, CEO, Future Facilities Limited and author of new White Paper describing a three step process called Cooling Path Management. “Advice from our white paper can be implemented quickly so you can take advantage of the increased efficiency.”
Cooling Path Management (CPM) is a simulation-based process which can be applied at any stage of the facility lifecycle, from design to upgrade. CPM has a direct effect upon equipment resilience and energy efficiency and enables PUE to be calculated, as well operational costs and ROI obtained for every design or layout change to the data center.
Nearly 40% of data center energy is expended on cooling equipment, a number which is split roughly 50:50 between fans and the chilled water system. It is agreed that good airflow management is essential as a foundation for optimized cooling system efficiency which enables power savings to be made throughout the system.
Airflow management is the process ensuring that sufficient cool air is delivered to the IT equipment to ensure reliable operation without the risk of hotspots emerging. This is achieved by separating cooled air circulated by computer room air handling units (CRAH) from warm air exhausted by the IT load. It also entails minimizing vortices in the airflow path, and reducing bypass circulation (i.e, cool air which returns to the chiller without touching the load) and recirculation of warm air directly to the IT load.
When airflow is managed correctly, hot and cool air do not mix and as a consequence the overall airflow within raised floor or white space is reduced. In turn this leads to a reduction in fan power requirements; higher return air temperatures which increase chiller efficiency and therefore reduce power requirements; and the ability to allow higher chiller set points and therefore reduced chilled water system power.
The potential savings are significant; a 50% reduction in airflow amounts to an 8x reduction in fan power while a 5°C increase in water temperature decreases chiller power by 20%. However, there are also significant challenges in achieving these savings which may be introduced, for example, by the way that design capacities are provisioned. “Data center designers and specifiers have a tendency to approximate power and cooling requirements. Kilowatts per rack position is a typical measure which is convenient but which completely overlooks the unique thermal signature of IT equipment and cabinets.”
Efficiency also varies according to the equipment deployed in the room largely because the cooling supply is static while the IT load and therefore the cooling requirement is dynamic. This effect can be exaggerated as the thermal footprint of successive generations of servers and storage equipment changes and evolves. The simple message is that static cooling supply may never match a dynamic cooling requirement and in some legacy designs up to 67% of supply air will bypass the load.
“If we want to alter outcomes,” says Moezzi “we need to change the way that we do things. We need a new approach which will predict the thermal impact of specific IT equipment, inside the rack, inside the room and on facility efficiency. We need to evaluate the implications of change before any installation work is undertaken and therefore any risk incurred.”
The enabling technology for this new approach is the Virtual Facility©, a fully detailed 3D simulation of the actual facility developed using Future Facilities’ 6SigmaDC software suite. The Virtual Facility© incorporates the physical characteristics of the room, the cooling system and the IT layout. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) it fully captures the space, power and cooling behavior. Its powerful visualization capability helps bridge communications gaps between facility stakeholders including IT and facilities management, engineering and equipment vendors. It enables an holistic design for cooling system efficiency and a simulation-based and therefore predictive approach to operations management.
Cooling Path Management is a three step, simulation-based process which follows the airflow every step of the way from the CRAH to load and back, systematically identifying and fixing cooling breakdowns and inefficiencies.
To learn more about how 6SigmaDC can help you increase efficiency in your facilities, please stop by at the Future Facilities stand at the forthcoming DatacenterDynamics London 2008 event, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on the 11th and 12 November. To request a copy of the whitepaper, simply send an email to info@futurefacilities.com .
About Future Facilities
Future Facilities (www.futurefacilities.com) is a leading provider of powerful design, optimization and management software for mission critical facilities and data centers. The company’s solutions are applied to ensure all capacity, efficiency and reliability criteria are met throughout all phases of the facility lifecycle.
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