DATA CENTRES
Navigating hybrid environments The modern data centre is no longer a uniform entity. Hybrid facilities - combining legacy infrastructure with high- performance AI systems - are now the norm. This creates operational complexity, with fl uctuating workloads and rising temperatures. Businesses are looking for partners who can provide critical support in developing chilled water solutions that strike the balance between operational effi ciency and environmental responsibility, helping to provide infrastructure that can scale without excessive cost or negative ecological impact.
Chilled water systems excel in this context. Their ability to integrate seamlessly with air and liquid cooling systems provides operators with the fl exibility needed to handle changing demands. For example, high-temperature fl uid coolers, like the Vertiv™ CoolLoop Trim Cooler, are designed to operate effi ciently across variable conditions, allowing consistency in environments where workloads and cooling requirements can shift rapidly.
Rethinking temperature management Operating at higher temperatures has become a practical
and strategic necessity for data centres. Next-gen chip technology is evolving rapidly, causing the water working temperature threshold to continue to increase. At this point, it is almost impossible to determine how much it will increase, so operators could be at risk of misjudging future cooling requirements. This could mean investing in a system that meets current needs, but could soon become ineffi cient. Facilities that raise the baseline temperature at which systems operate, can reduce energy consumption through increased economisation and enable heat recovery, transforming waste heat into a usable resource. This aligns with the growing adoption of metrics such as Energy Reuse Eff ectiveness (ERE) and Heat Recovery Effi ciency (HRE), which prioritise energy recovery alongside consumption. High temperature fl uid coolers that work with a water temperature of up to 40 degrees centigrade are key to this transformation. Their ability to effi ciently manage elevated water temperatures makes them an important component of modern data centres, bridging sustainability goals with practical operational needs.
Heat recovery: a sustainability imperative It is broadly understood that the data centre industry is under
growing pressure to improve sustainability. With energy demands increasing, operators are being encouraged to fi nd innovative ways to reduce their environmental impact. Heat recovery off ers a practical solution by capturing and reusing excess heat generated by data centres. Chilled water systems are integral to heat recovery. By enabling effi cient heat capture and transfer, they allow facilities to repurpose energy for secondary uses, such as district heating or industrial processes. This not only reduces reliance on external energy sources but also supports a circular economy, aligning data centres with broader sustainability goals.
Designing the chiller of the future To support increasingly complex facilities, the next generation of chillers must be built with future challenges in mind. A future-ready chiller should off er: High-temperature compatibility: Optimising performance under dense thermal loads while enabling energy recovery. What makes this unique is its ability to support fl uctuating water temperatures. This fl exibility is crucial for managing varying temperature requirements. Scalable design and adaptability: Allowing integration into diverse environments, including air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems. It must be compact to allow densifi cation to be managed and enable effi cient operations in a wide range of external temperatures. Energy effi ciency: Improving operational effi ciency in comparison to standard chillers and reducing energy consumption by leveraging free cooling. This decreases operational costs with a consistently lower partial Power Usage Eff ectiveness (pPUE). The system should be able to handle operational peaks and remain 100% reliable under all conditions, providing strategic fl exibility. Sustainability features: Incorporating very low Global
Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants and durable designs that minimise leakage and waste. The ability to support higher operating temperatures is important for future-facing data centres.
The road ahead
As technology advances, data centres will continue to face rising demands and increasing complexity. Cooling systems must evolve to meet these challenges, delivering not just performance but also adaptability and environmental responsibility. Chilled water solutions are uniquely positioned to address these needs. Their ability to support hybrid cooling strategies, enable higher operating water temperatures and facilitate heat recovery makes them an essential tool for operators looking to build their facilities to be future-ready. The tech industry’s path forward depends on the implementation of chilled water solutions that create certainty today, but are also ready for an uncertain future. With an AI- ready solution, data centre operators can turn uncertainty into a clear advantage.
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To maintain reliability, new approaches are needed and liquid cooling,
coupled with specially developed chilled water technology, is emerging as a key solution. To support this, partners can help implement scalable
solutions that are designed to grow as workloads increase.
www.acr-news.com • January 2025 29
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