Cooling Performance Evaluation of an Independent Modular Air Containment with Row-based Cooling System for Data Centers

Abstract

Owing to the rapid growth of information technology services over the past decade, data centers have become the core infrastructure for Industry 4.0. Meanwhile, the energy use of data centers has increased rapidly. In this study, a prototype of an independent module containment system that applied the row-level cooling system of a high-density data center was developed to overcome the limitations of the existing room-based cooling system and satisfy the demand for energy efficiency. The main purpose is to evaluate the cooling performance of a new in-row cooling unit package with multiple heat-transfer medium, which is a sequentially water-refrigerant-air heat exchange system in independent row-based air containment. Based on in-situ measurements, the applicability and cooling efficiency of the row-level cooling system were evaluated. While complying with the standard test method and procedure for cooling unit, the cooling performance and efficiency of the row-based cooling system was derived in connection with the actual operation situation of the data center, and the partial energy contribution was analyzed. The row-based cooling system with the multiple heat exchange in-row cooling package was found to be the better efficient in removing heat output of IT equipment based on the observations and experimental results.