Tuesday, December 17, 2013

9:58 AM

Most Effective Strategies for Data Centre Cooling


Data Centre Cooling
One of the most important components of any data centre is cooling. Businesses need to make sure they have an effective method of cooling in place so that they provide the optimum environment for their servers and other hardware. After all, it is extremely easy for IT equipment to overheat. This is something you need to stop from happening otherwise you are going to face extensive repairs, loss of crucial data and further expenses. Thus, to ensure your data centre operates efficiently and effectively, read on to discover some of the best data centre cooling strategies.


Cold aisle containment

The initial strategy worth considering is cold aisle containment. This is something that has become increasingly popular over the last few years. This process involves separating the hot air from the cold air. The reason why so many businesses are turning to this solution is because it is more cost and energy efficient. Less power is needed for cold aisle containment to operate in comparison to other methods, such as air conditioning. In addition to this, cold aisle containment does not require any structural changes to the data centre and thus is an extremely flexible method that can be used by all.

Adiabatic cooling

In addition to cold aisle containment, another strategy worth bearing in mind is adiabatic cooling. This technique involves the use of water rather than air. It draws from the cooling effect of water that occurs during the evaporation process. This is particularly beneficial in areas boasting warmer climates because of the fact that direct environmental heat can be utilised against wet filters with the aim of water evaporation and air cooling being pulled through the filters. Adiabatic cooling systems are popular because they improve capacity in relation to dry systems and they can also reduce the physical size of the plant as well.

Fully immersive systems

Last but not least, in instances whereby further cooling is required, a lot of businesses are turning towards fully immersive systems. What does this strategy entail? Essentially the whole server (or piece of IT equipment in question) will be entirely submerged into high-heat-conduction yet non-electricity-conducting liquid. The purpose of this is to take away the heat from any component of the equipment in question. One of the reasons why fully immersive systems are considered to be so effective is because they eliminate they need for certain features, such as fans. Because of this, energy savings arise as well. In addition to this, fully immersive systems are considered to be a lot more effective in relation to heat removal.