![]() ![]() It is more likely due to air flow patterns below the floor, the placement and type of vented floor tiles, and/or the flow of air around equipment racks. This is not necessarily the fault of the CRAC or improper facility maintenance. It’s not unusual to find “hot spots” – warm areas in the data center – caused by inadequate cold air distribution or dense heat loads. Assuming there is sufficient pressure in the subflooring, the conditioned air will rise through vented (or “perforated”) tiles and enter the server racks above to cool them. 2 Computer Room Air-conditioners (CRACs) deliver their cold “supply” air below the raised floor, where it travels through the open space to vented tiles that are typically placed in front of server racks. A raised floor is a data center construction model in which a slightly higher floor is constructed above the building's original floor, leaving the open space created between the two for cold air distribution and wiring. Most data centers still utilize a “raised floor” for cold air distribution. ![]() 1įigure 6: Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) Unit with a “chimney” that extends the return air intake into the ceiling plenum, where it can pull in hot air exhausted by servers. (See Figures 1 and 2 below.) A single 12 inch blanking panel can reduce rack temperatures by 20☏. Blanking panels decrease server inlet air temperatures and increase the temperature of air returning to the CRAC, both of which improve operational efficiency. Blanking panels cover up open, unused areas of server racks so that cold supply air passes through the equipment rather than over or under it.This page focuses on smaller devices and modifications that can improve airflow and make almost any data center more energy efficient. Three highly effective airflow management strategies, hot aisle/cold aisle layout, containment, and in-rack/in-row cooling are covered in detail on other pages on this website. But simply clearing clutter from the airflow path and installing physical devices to direct and separate hot and cold air can help improve cooling efficiency. In an ideal world, cold supply air would be directly ducted to IT equipment intakes, and hot return air would be ducted directly back to the intake of the cooling unit(s). The challenge of airflow management is conceptually simple: 1) ensure that the cold “supply” air from cooling equipment gets to the IT equipment inlets without mixing with hot exhaust (“return”) air and 2) ensure that hot exhaust air returning to the cooling equipment intake does not mix with the cold supply air.Īirflow management has become even more important as data centers incorporate high–density server racks, which demand as much as 60 kW of power per rack versus 1-5 kW per rack just a few years ago-and generate ten or more times the amount of heat per square foot.
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