Computer Room Cooling Systems

Effective environmental control improves the overall function and reliability of a computer room. With PTS as part of the development process from planning through implementation and maintenance, your computer room cooling system is guaranteed to run at peak efficiency.

In order to avoid expensive and unnecessary downtime, a computer room cooling system must have precise control over temperature, relative humidity, airflow, and airborne contaminants. Poor ambient conditions, such as prolonged operation at high temperatures and variations in humidity, take a toll on computer equipment. Rapid temperature swings can also have a negative effect on hardware operation. This is one of the reasons hardware is left powered up, even when not processing data.

In addition to regulating temperature and humidity using the cooling system, it is important to ensure temperature control by:

• Installing moderate- to high-efficiency air filters to eliminate airborne dust,
• Creating an effective vapor barrier to protect against seasonal humidity changes,
• Balancing outside air intake to limit the latent load brought into the computer room,
• Installing adequate heat rejection equipment to effectively remove the heat load from the computer room,
• Utilize a hot aisle / cold aisle equipment layout strategy to provide efficient cooling,
• Minimize air mixing by using blanking plates within cabinets as well as brush-grommets in floor penetrations,
• Install raised floor cooling distribution to provide sufficient CFM and static pressure to cool the critical loads,
• Incorporating 100-percent redundancy of computer room cooling system capacity in case of failures, and
• Sheltering cooling units within the computer room, on the roof, or in a secure location to restrict access.

Unlike comfort-cool air conditioning systems, precision air conditioners are specifically manufactured as computer room cooling systems to maintain the temperature, within one (1) degree, and the humidity of a computer room within a very narrow range. This provides the environmental stability required by sensitive electronic equipment. In general, a computer room should be maintained to provide a temperature of 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 40 to 55 percent relative humidity at the air inlet of the critical equipment.

The design and construction of the computer room, including its cooling system, should meet the specific environmental needs of your equipment. For results that match your scope, schedule and budget, contact PTS today.