Impact of Operating Conditions on a Chiller-less Data Center Test Facility with Liquid Cooled Servers (ITherm 2012)

Overview

This record rests on the abstract of the ITherm 2012 paper on IBM's dual-loop chiller-less data center test facility; the full text was not read. The authors are Milnes P. David, Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Pritish Parida, Robert E. Simons, Mark Schultz, Michael Gaynes, Roger Schmidt and Timothy Chainer. The paper was presented at IEEE ITherm 2012.

The study examines how liquid and air flow rates, heat-exchanger arrangements and the addition of propylene glycol affect energy use and thermal performance of the key cooling equipment. Day-long runs on summer and autumn days show the influence of outdoor weather and loop settings. The facility's target is cooling energy below 5% of IT energy through warm-water cooling and liquid-side economisation. The abstract notes that typical baseline facilities spend about 50% of IT energy on cooling, mostly in chillers and CRAHs.

The record contains metadata and abstract only, with no numeric results or design detail. Findings are limited to IBM's specific test facility and climate conditions.

Key points

1. Design goal: cooling energy below 5% of total IT energy using warm-water cooling and liquid-side economisation.
2. Variables studied: liquid and air flow rates, heat-exchanger arrangement, propylene glycol addition.
3. Typical baseline facilities spend about 50% of IT energy on cooling, mostly in chillers and CRAHs.
4. Day-long summer and autumn runs illustrate weather and loop-setting impacts on a dual-loop, ambient-air-cooled design.
5. The record is abstract-level and carries no numeric results.

Using it in design

• In liquid-cooling energy calculations, account for glycol concentration (higher pumping power, lower heat transfer) and flow-rate set points, not just supply temperature.
• Assess chiller-less feasibility with hourly outdoor weather data.
• Show the effect of adding glycol on pumping energy and heat transfer as a separate input in the calculator.

Who should read it

Mechanical designers and researchers evaluating warm-water liquid cooling and chiller-less design.

Publication details

Authors

Milnes P. David; Madhusudan K. Iyengar; Pritish Parida; Robert E. Simons; Mark Schultz; Michael Gaynes; Roger Schmidt; Timothy Chainer

Publisher

IEEE

Year

2012

Document number

ITherm 2012

Event

IEEE ITherm 2012

Document language

English

Source type

Standard

Access

Citation only

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation