Computer Room Custom HVAC

A Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) unit is a device that monitors and maintains the temperature, air distribution and humidity in a network room or data center. CRAC units have replaced air-conditioning units that were used in the past to cool data centers. Have You Deployed High Density IT Infrastructure Without Considering Impact to Computer Room Air Conditioning Infrastructure?

• Has the Air Flow in Your Computer Room Changed as New Rack Units Have Been Deployed?
• Is it Time to Consider Rack or Row Based Cooling Solutions to Target Specific IT Cooling Loads?
• Is Your Computer Room Air Condition Properly Sized to Support the Current IT Load?

According to Industrial Market Trends, mainframes and racks of servers can get as hot as a seven-foot tower of powered toaster ovens, so climate control is an important part of the data center’s infrastructure.

All electrical equipment within your computer room produces sensible heat. This heat must be removed to prevent the equipment temperature from rising to an unacceptable level. To design a customized Computer Room Air Conditioning or CRAC unit that operates effectively, you need a firm understanding of the amount of heat produced by the equipment contained in the enclosed space, along with the heat produced by other heat sources such as, conduction from adjacent spaces, outside walls, the roof, windows, lighting, people, etc.

Computer Room Air Flow

PTS Data Center Solutions engineers use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design techniques to model and understand the operational efficiencies of existing and proposed new Computer Room Air Conditioning systems. The goal is to minimize the risk of cooling problems as well as increase the overall manageability and performance of the site.

CFD modeling gives engineers the luxury to consider several design options in the minimum amount of time. As a result, the final design is not based on a tentative approach, but is a result of a professional design process considering several options and selecting the optimum solution. This can save on capital and operational costs as well as save time by avoiding mistakes and during commissioning.

Rack, Row, and Room Based Cooling Solutions

When it comes to efficient and effective data center, computer room, or server room cooling, Data Center Managers have a variety of choices depending upon their requirements. PTS cooling solutions range from ceiling CRAC units to rack-based solutions to in-row solutions to room solutions.

The appropriate type of Computer Room Air Conditioning design depends upon numerous factors which are analyzed by PTS using our proven computer room design approach.

Rack-Based Cooling Solutions: With the advent of dense and ultra-dense server configurations, Rack-Based Cooling is becoming an excellent approach to cool dense blade server cabinets. This approach places the cooling and humidity appliances in extremely close proximity to the IT devices to be cooled and allows total isolation of these hot racks from the remainder of the data center.

Row-Based Cooling Solutions: Traditional data center, computer room, and server room cooling methodologies provide room-oriented cooling which provides an entire room with cold air from centralized units at one end of the room. This approach is acceptable when power densities are minimal and, therefore, there are few hot spots in a room.

Room-Based Cooling Solutions: In large data centers Room-Based Cooling Solutions remain the most economical approach to cooling and, where appropriate and necessary, can be deployed in a hybrid environment with Row- and Rack-Based Cooling solutions. This approach is beneficial to data centers operating with a broad spectrum of rack power densities.

Sizing CRAC Units

A general rule for the determination of computer room air conditioning to support cooling requirements in smaller data centers is that a computer room A/C unit must be 1.3 times the anticipated IT load plus any capacity added for redundancy. For larger computer rooms, these cooling requirements alone are typically not sufficient to select an air conditioner. The effects of equipment layout, air distribution patterns, and recirculation, are significant and must also be taken into consideration.

PTS’ dedicated heating/ventilating/air-conditioning (HVAC) and/or computer room air conditioner (CRAC) systems are designed for customization to any facility ‘s needs. Our experts know the design of air handling ductwork or raised flooring has a significant effect on the overall system performance, and also greatly affects the uniformity of temperature within the computer room. The adoption of a simple, standardized, and modular computer room HVAC system could significantly reduce the engineering requirements of computer room design.

In summary, properly designed computer room air conditioning (CRAC) systems (in terms of air flow, style, and size) are just some of the factors which influence proper computer room cooling. With many years of experience and many designs completed successfully, PTS provides clients with comprehensive Computer Room Air Conditioning design services.

To learn more about PTS consulting services to support Air Conditioning Equipment & Systems deployments and support, contact us today.