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Air-Side Economized Data Center
Electricity and energy consumption must be considered when detailing the profit or loss of a data center for business. Reducing energy costs to a minimal amount is vital to an efficient and cost effective data center. Besides the inevitable consumption of power by the server, another aspect of electricity consumption can be attributed to the cooling systems. If cooling can be optimized without the use of an air conditioning system, the energy expenditures from cooling can be reduced significantly, and an air-economizer is ideal for this situation.
The air-economizer approach to cooling has mostly been looked down upon in the industry because of its relatively weak cooling power provided by the initial prototypes and conceptual systems. The reliability of the servers are put into jeopardy when the proper cooling demands are not fully met, and thus a good data center design will take that into account when considering air-economizers.
An experiment was conducted by Intel to defy the common assumptions in the industry about air-economizers. The experiment aimed to cool servers at 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent fresh air from outside the data center. The potential savings from this process was estimated to approximately 3 million dollars per year, for a 10 megawatt data center. This was conducted using 900 production Blade servers divided between two compartments. The first compartment was provided with a Direct Expansion (DX) unit to recirculate hot air and provide consistent cooling. The second compartment was an air-economizer.
The results showed that the temperature of the air supply in the economizer compartment varied between 64 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The less expensive air conditioning units with reduced response rates could have causes these temperature flucations. Humidity varied between 4 to over 90 percent. The server failure rate in the air economizer test department was 4.46 percent compared to 3.38 percent of the regular component. The exterior and interior of the servers were covered with dust. Total power consumed was 111.78 kilowatts, compared to 500 kilowatts for air conditioning. This is a 74 percent decrease in energy consumption, which is the most significant statistic to draw from this experiment.
Depending on the data center colocation location and weather, the air economizer method can be used for over 90 percent of the year. If used at this rate, the reduction in the power plan can produce a 67 percent total power reduction. For a 10 MW plant, this is estimated to be 2.8 million dollars in savings. New data centers can be built with fewer air conditioning units if air economizers come into the picture, significantly reducing the capital requirements. To top it all off, 76 million gallons of water can be saved by applying air economizers to a data center rather than traditional air conditioning.
Of course, nothing is perfect. The drawbacks of air economizers deal with the server failures, the variations with humidity and temperature, and the inferior air quality. These can be countered with proper location choices with drier and more temperate climates. However, the availability of these optimal conditions can be hard to locate, especially because if the location is remote then the data center cannot be used at an optimal efficiency.
The air-economizer approach to cooling has mostly been looked down upon in the industry because of its relatively weak cooling power provided by the initial prototypes and conceptual systems. The reliability of the servers are put into jeopardy when the proper cooling demands are not fully met, and thus a good data center design will take that into account when considering air-economizers.
How does an Air-Economizer work?
The air conditioning unit draws out the hot air generated by the data servers and cools it down to the set temperature. It recirculates at an optimal temperature for the working conditions. Outside air is taken at regular intervals to maintain the balance of natural air inside of the data centers. The revision in this process deals with modifying the air conditioning unit into an air-economizer. The air-economizer causes the hot air to be expelled to the outside of the data center and the fresh air would be drawn in, continuously at a regular interval based on heat generated.An experiment was conducted by Intel to defy the common assumptions in the industry about air-economizers. The experiment aimed to cool servers at 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent fresh air from outside the data center. The potential savings from this process was estimated to approximately 3 million dollars per year, for a 10 megawatt data center. This was conducted using 900 production Blade servers divided between two compartments. The first compartment was provided with a Direct Expansion (DX) unit to recirculate hot air and provide consistent cooling. The second compartment was an air-economizer.
The results showed that the temperature of the air supply in the economizer compartment varied between 64 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The less expensive air conditioning units with reduced response rates could have causes these temperature flucations. Humidity varied between 4 to over 90 percent. The server failure rate in the air economizer test department was 4.46 percent compared to 3.38 percent of the regular component. The exterior and interior of the servers were covered with dust. Total power consumed was 111.78 kilowatts, compared to 500 kilowatts for air conditioning. This is a 74 percent decrease in energy consumption, which is the most significant statistic to draw from this experiment.
Depending on the data center colocation location and weather, the air economizer method can be used for over 90 percent of the year. If used at this rate, the reduction in the power plan can produce a 67 percent total power reduction. For a 10 MW plant, this is estimated to be 2.8 million dollars in savings. New data centers can be built with fewer air conditioning units if air economizers come into the picture, significantly reducing the capital requirements. To top it all off, 76 million gallons of water can be saved by applying air economizers to a data center rather than traditional air conditioning.
Of course, nothing is perfect. The drawbacks of air economizers deal with the server failures, the variations with humidity and temperature, and the inferior air quality. These can be countered with proper location choices with drier and more temperate climates. However, the availability of these optimal conditions can be hard to locate, especially because if the location is remote then the data center cannot be used at an optimal efficiency.
