Comments on: Building a Data Center | Part 2: The Absence of Heat http://blog.softlayer.com/2011/building-a-data-center-part-2-the-absence-of-heat/ A Behind the Scenes Look at the Best Hosting Provider in the World Fri, 24 May 2013 11:59:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: John http://blog.softlayer.com/2011/building-a-data-center-part-2-the-absence-of-heat/comment-page-1/#comment-16598 John Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:26:32 +0000 http://blog.softlayer.com/2011/#comment-16598 I don't have knowledge of the cooling in the Seattle DC HVAC system, but having an economizer there would not surprise me being in a cooler climate. Economizers come in two main flavors... Air-side economizers - Basically like opening a window in the DC advantages you drop the compressor side of the cycle and use fans to circulate the heat outside saving as much energy as possible. Disadvantages of air-side economizers, you must filter the air coming in, little humidity control, and essentially you have to maintain two completely different systems. Waterside economizers - Drop the compressor and use a cooling tower to to remove heat from the refrigerant then you pass that refrigerant through a heat exchanger. The advantage of this type of economizer is you still can maintain humidity control, and it can be integrated into the existing HVAC system you only bypass the compressor. The disadvantages of waterside economizers are, more energy used compared to air-side savings because you are still running fans, pumps and ahu's, also because there are heat exchangers in the system you lose effectiveness and therefore outside air temperatures typically must be lower before you can use it. I would bet that they employ a water side economizer because of humidity concerns and the fact they are more easily deploy. I'll see if I can get more specifics. I don’t have knowledge of the cooling in the Seattle DC HVAC system, but having an economizer there would not surprise me being in a cooler climate. Economizers come in two main flavors…

Air-side economizers – Basically like opening a window in the DC advantages you drop the compressor side of the cycle and use fans to circulate the heat outside saving as much energy as possible. Disadvantages of air-side economizers, you must filter the air coming in, little humidity control, and essentially you have to maintain two completely different systems.

Waterside economizers – Drop the compressor and use a cooling tower to to remove heat from the refrigerant then you pass that refrigerant through a heat exchanger. The advantage of this type of economizer is you still can maintain humidity control, and it can be integrated into the existing HVAC system you only bypass the compressor. The disadvantages of waterside economizers are, more energy used compared to air-side savings because you are still running fans, pumps and ahu’s, also because there are heat exchangers in the system you lose effectiveness and therefore outside air temperatures typically must be lower before you can use it.

I would bet that they employ a water side economizer because of humidity concerns and the fact they are more easily deploy. I’ll see if I can get more specifics.

]]> By: George http://blog.softlayer.com/2011/building-a-data-center-part-2-the-absence-of-heat/comment-page-1/#comment-16462 George Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:05:25 +0000 http://blog.softlayer.com/2011/#comment-16462 An interesting side-discussion to datacenter cooling involves economizers. Compressors take a lot of energy to run, so the idea behind economizers is to utilize cold outside air (when it is available) to provide cooling. Some approaches involve sucking in (filtered) cold outside air into the datacenter, while others recirculate the air and use water or some other coolant that is cooled with outside air. This is like the DC equivalent of "opening a window" when it's cold outside as opposed to running the AC. I think our Seattle datacenter uses one of these and I for one would be interested to know how it works.. An interesting side-discussion to datacenter cooling involves economizers. Compressors take a lot of energy to run, so the idea behind economizers is to utilize cold outside air (when it is available) to provide cooling. Some approaches involve sucking in (filtered) cold outside air into the datacenter, while others recirculate the air and use water or some other coolant that is cooled with outside air. This is like the DC equivalent of “opening a window” when it’s cold outside as opposed to running the AC. I think our Seattle datacenter uses one of these and I for one would be interested to know how it works..

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