AT ALL TIMES WE HAD TO CONSIDER THAT THIS WAS A FULLY OPERATIONAL HOSPITAL , WITH A TIGHT PROJECT WINDOW TO ENSURE COMPLETION BEFORE SUMMER TEMPERATURES HIT .
Secure I . T . Environments completes Royal Free Hospital data centre upgrade in nine weeks
Secure I . T . Environments ( SITE ), one of the UK ’ s leading design and build companies for modular , containerised and micro data centres , has completed an air conditioning upgrade project on the main mission-critical data centre at Royal Free Hospital , part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust .
The project was commissioned to replace ‘ End of Life ’ cooling infrastructure and improve the energy efficiency of the data centre .
Originally built in 2010 by Secure I . T . Environments , the data centre serves Royal Free Hospital ’ s thousands of patients receiving acute and specialist services , including hundreds of transplant patients . It also supports the training of hundreds of medical students every year .
Cutting PUE to 1.15 or less
The existing cooling infrastructure was removed and replaced with four GEA 18D Multi-DENCO down flow close control direct expansion air handling systems and four DENCO ambient aircooled condensers .
The new installation now achieves PUE values of 1.15 or less .
This solution achieves a sensible heat ratio ( SHR ) of 1.0 , meaning that air is cooled without dehumidifying it . This combined optimised use of the inverter compressor , electronic expansion valve ( EEV ) and fans as part of the climate control system reduces energy costs , improves energy efficiency and extends the life of the humidifier cylinder .
A demanding live installation
Any live environment installation needs to be carefully managed , but none more so than a hospital critical data centre . The changing cooling requirements of the data centre meant that the relocation of the external condensing units needed to be housed in a completely different location . This required considerable effort to ensure compliance with building and planning regulations , including acoustic surveys and aesthetic considerations .
Condensers are now located outside on a balcony away from existing services , requiring the installation and weatherproofing of new pipework , and ensuring it would be accessible and safe for on-going maintenance .
“ At all times we had to consider that this was a fully operational hospital , with a tight project window to ensure completion before summer temperatures hit ,” said Chris Wellfair , Projects
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AT ALL TIMES WE HAD TO CONSIDER THAT THIS WAS A FULLY OPERATIONAL HOSPITAL , WITH A TIGHT PROJECT WINDOW TO ENSURE COMPLETION BEFORE SUMMER TEMPERATURES HIT .
Director at Secure I . T . Environments . “ We installed temporary cooling to ensure concurrent maintainability of existing services at all times , as well as carefully managing all logistics through multi-departmental planning at the Trust across Properties , Estates and IT .”
As a result of the success of this project – which was completed in just nine weeks – further works have been awarded to Secure I . T . Environments to implement cold aisle containment in the same data centre , and provide UPS and AC upgrades at another .
Secure I . T . Environments provides on-going maintenance support for five rooms at the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust . �
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