Case Studies - Cooling the Server Room
Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. The company is the world’s leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on its technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. At the heart of their facility in Felixstowe is a server room which provides essential support to this business
The server room has an installed capacity of 25kW with plans for further expansion. Split air conditioners provided the cooling but this expansion required further capacity.
Modern servers and IT equipment is quite robust and can typically operate at between 10 and 35°C with no real constraints on relative humidity.
A free air system with evaporative cooling can provide 100% temperature compliance against all international standards for server rooms and data centres.
Two side discharge EcoCoolers with balanced extraction provide a cross flow ventilation scheme. The room is arranged with cold and hot aisles. A control system monitors both the cold and hot aisle temperatures to ensure compliant conditions. The controls are linked to the fire alarm system to initiate a system stop in an alarm condition. An in duct water sensor is fitted to give complete protection.
(Alan Beresford MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ECOCOOLING
is on the CIBSE steering committee for the design of data center Cooling)
