Anonymous colocation data centre

One of the world’s leading digital infrastructure providers needed a cooling solution to replace its existing data centre units with a more efficient one, in order to reduce operating costs and allow system upgrades; it had to be designed within dimensional and weight constraints, with an unprecedented footprint-to-capacity ratio.

The project’s design team was looking for an energy-efficient cooling solution that would keep upfront costs under control while ensuring optimal comfort with minimal energy consumption, to avoid high operating costs, while taking all the constraints into account. Given the scale of the project, the client questioned whether solutions available on the market could meet its requirements ; standard solutions were therefore not an option.

Traditional air handling units using refrigerant or chilled water were considered, but their high energy consumption is further increased by the heat given off by IT servers and other equipment. After reviewing all the project’s requirements and constraints, the design team opted for SMR units, which use hybrid operation (indirect evaporative cooling and mechanical cooling) to achieve high efficiency and cooling capacity. In addition, developing a highly efficient sequence of operation proved necessary to guarantee smooth, economical operation, which led the design team to develop and implement a new energy management protocol to reduce operating costs.

The final choice was 5 No.SMR-600 indirect evaporative cooling units of 69,800 CFM with direct expansion (DX) to maintain a supply temperature of 21 °C (70 °F) for several years. These units meet the footprint and weight constraints. An integrated control system, optimising unit operation according to variations in load and ambient temperature, was implemented. The result is an unprecedented, industry-leading cooling capacity of 5 MW over an area of 465 m² (5,000 sq ft).