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The data centre industry
is continuing in its
efforts to find innovative
solutions to help reduce
its carbon footprint,
particularly when it comes
to power and cooling.
Here, Tim Mitchell,
Sales Director at Klima-
Therm, tells us how the
emergence of compact
centrifugal compressors
has marked a new era for
air conditioning efficiency
and is helping to unlock
environmental and
business benefits.
ne of the key areas of
innovation in the data centre
industry over the past 10
years has been improvement
in energy efficiency. It is central to both
O
improving profitability through reducing
running costs and enhancing Power Usage
Effectiveness (PUE) and other energy-
related metrics to meet the sustainability
requirements of corporate clients.
Despite the emergence of more
temperature tolerant chips, one of the
biggest components of data centre power
usage remains cooling. There have been
attempts to manage this with fresh-
air-only ventilation systems, but issues
with latent system requirements, space
constraints and concerns around reliability
and resilience mean that mechanical
cooling – of one sort or another – remains
the default choice.
Mechanical cooling relies on refrigerant
compressors, an area of technology that
had remained more or less static for
decades until the emergence of compact
centrifugal compressors around 10 years
ago. Their appearance marked the start of
a new era for air conditioning efficiency.
In those early days, few recognised
the impact this rather esoteric new
technology would have on the market and
the wider industry.
As one of the first adopters in the world
of this new approach, I will admit we
were slightly mesmerised by the idea of
harnessing magnetic levitation bearings
in a compact centrifugal design. It was
a compelling proposition, as it overcame
the need for oil in the compressor, thereby
avoiding at a stroke all the problems that
accompany conventional compressor
lubrication, spanning operation (especially
low-load operation as data halls are
populated) and the requirements of
ongoing service and maintenance.
That advance alone would have been
highly significant and a major advantage
for both data centre operators and service
companies. However, when you add the
exceptional efficiency gains – generally
50% better than traditional systems –
smaller chiller foot-print, low start-up
current, low noise operation, long-term
reliability and overall low maintenance
requirements, it is not hard to see why
compact centrifugal technology has
become such a game-changer.
In a nutshell, it enabled more cooling from
less energy in a more compact space and
required less power to start and fewer
A new frontier in
air conditioning
efficiency for data
centre cooling
62
Issue 06
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