Chill Out: Keeping Datacentres Cool
James Cooper, Product Manager at ebm-papst UK Ltd explains how data centres can manage their energy use more effectively.
The UK datacentre market is estimated to consume around 6.4 GW of power annually – roughly enough energy to power six
million homes.
To meet higher demands in today’s age of digital information and recording, large datacentres are becoming more common and datacentre operators are adopting higher-density servers. This is resulting in increased power consumption and heat generation.
As a result, energy consumption is now a major consideration for today’s datacentres. Operators are continually striving to reduce their energy consumption to reduce their operating expenses and impact on the environment.
Where to start Cooling is a massive energy user for datacentres, accounting for around half of all electrical energy consumed. There are two critical components within the cooling system, which should be the focus – the compressors and the fans.
Improving the efficiency of the cooling circuit will allow compressors to run for less time, which will lead to huge energy savings. Using the latest EC technology and reducing the airflow when not required will also help to improve energy efficiency in datacentres.
The knock-on effect of improving the airflow within the data centre will mean that upstream systems, chillers and other datacentre equipment can relax. This means that more energy is saved.
Make EC changes Fans are critical to the movement of
air in datacentres. Legacy datacentres will often have inefficient cooling equipment such as Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units and chillers that use AC fans. These units may contain old inefficient AC blowers with belt drives that break regularly and shed dust through the room.
“Upgrade
projects have shown that
energy savings of around 50% can be achieved on CRAC units.”
Upgrading to EC fans is one way to make significant energy savings without having to completely change the CRAC unit which can be costly and sometimes physically impossible. Inefficient CRAC units can be upgraded by replacing the original AC fans with high efficiency EC backward curved fans and further improved by using the controllability of EC to give more flexible airflow management. EC fans also offer maintenance-free operation and longer lifetimes.
Upgrade projects have shown that energy savings of around 50% can be achieved on CRAC units simply by replacing the AC fans with EC fans, with additional savings of a further ten to 20% by reducing the fan speed.
Real-life examples Working closely with datacentre building and facility managers, ebm-papst has been able to provide significant energy savings on legacy
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datacentre equipment through providing energy efficient solutions for cooling.
This work involved reviewing the energy efficiency at a well-known bank's London-based datacentres, and then project managing the EC upgrades.
Following a successful trial, the datacentres were upgraded with 76 new CRAC units of varying models (containing 191 fans in total) in a live data environment. The bank's projected annual energy savings now range between £240,000 and £270,000, with the upgrade bill set to be paid off by the end of 2015.
Other projects that ebm-papst has overseen includes large-scale datacentre air-conditioning upgrades for a telecoms provider, that saw its datacentre energy consumption slashed by 78% and £185,000 saved on its annual energy bill.
The future of datacentre
cooling As technology advances at an exponential rate, the future of cooling will remain secure and there will always be need to keep datacentre equipment cool as efficiently as possible.
Our own work has shown that energy savings can be possible without a complete refurbishment of datacentres or replacement of datacentre equipment which will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Businesses can reap serious cost savings simply by reviewing datacentre energy usage, looking at ways to improve the datacentre’s airflow, updating to modern sustainable EC cooling fans and then controlling these fans so they are even more efficient.
www.ebmpapst.co.uk www.tomorrowsem.com
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