Vertiv 360AI High Density Reference Designs #028/#030: 5 MW and 10 MW at up to 142 kW per rack

Overview

Designs #028 and #030 are not two separate buildings but two scales of one unit. The large pod carries 2,496 kW of IT load: 16 compute racks at 142 kW plus 16 support racks at 14 kW. Design #028 stacks two pods for 4,992 kW across 64 racks, and #030 stacks four for 9,984 kW across 128 racks. The 10 MW design is therefore exactly double the 5 MW one, and adding capacity means adding pods rather than doing new engineering.

The cooling split per pod is stated explicitly: 1,936 kW (78%) goes to liquid and 560 kW (22%) to air. The liquid side is served by 2,300 kW-class CDUs (XDU2300), the air fraction by CRAHs, and heat rejection by free-cooling chillers. Cooling redundancy is N+1, while power uses a 4-to-make-3 arrangement: four units where three carry the load and one stands spare. That needs far less installed equipment than a 2N scheme.

On the electrical side the IT UPS modules are 2,000 kVA. The facility UPS, which backs the mechanical plant, is 300 kVA in #028 and 540 kVA in #030. Divided by IT load these come to roughly 6.0% (300/4,992) and 5.4% (540/9,984), a useful reference showing that at a 78% liquid fraction the mechanical UPS stays near one twentieth of the IT UPS capacity.

Being a vendor datasheet, the document gives configuration and counts rather than calculation rationale or cost, and it is copyright, so it can only be cited. Its value is a concrete example of which CDU, UPS and chiller classes work together at 142 kW per rack. It does not directly apply to densities above 142 kW per rack or to different redundancy targets.

Key points

1. Large pod = 2,496 kW IT: 16 x 142 kW compute + 16 x 14 kW support racks
2. Per-pod heat split: 1,936 kW liquid (78%), 560 kW air (22%)
3. #030: 9,984 kW IT, 128 racks; #028: 4,992 kW IT, 64 racks
4. IT UPS modules 2,000 kVA; facility UPS 300 kVA (#028) and 540 kVA (#030)
5. CDU class 2,300 kW (XDU2300); power 4-to-make-3, cooling N+1
6. Air fraction by CRAHs, heat rejection by free-cooling chillers
7. Facility UPS is about 5.4-6.0% of IT load (300/4,992 and 540/9,984)

Using it in design

• In the campus planner define the 2,496 kW pod as a repeatable block; when the user picks N blocks, multiply UPS, CDU and chiller counts by the block count.
• Use roughly 5-6% of IT load as a first check on mechanical (facility) UPS sizing: 300 kVA at 5 MW, 540 kVA at 10 MW.
• For 142 kW rack designs take the liquid/air split as 78/22 and size room air cooling for the 560 kW air share.
• Show the 4-to-make-3 power template next to a 2N alternative so the equipment-count difference is visible to the user.

Who should read it

Design engineers and investment decision makers planning electrical and cooling capacity for AI campuses in modular blocks.

Related standards

• Uptime Tier Standard: Topology
• ASHRAE TC9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines

Publication details

Authors

Vertiv

Publisher

Vertiv

Year

2025

Document number

AI Reference Design #030 (with #028)

Document language

English

Source type

Manufacturer

Access

Free to read

Licence

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

Citation