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Data cooling throughout Northern Ireland

Whilst looking for a water cooled method of dissipating the high output from the blade servers within their Data Centre, NI Water's other performance criteria, included:

  • Space inside the data centre was at a premium so the solution had to have a very small footprint
  • Resilience was very important as server performance was essential 24/7
  • A water leak inside the data centre was not acceptable
  • Carbon emissions were to be kept to a minimum, which would result in reduced running costs
  • Online monitoring of all aspects of the plant status and room conditions were essential
  • The system had to be scalable with increases to both indoor and outdoor capacity possible without major disruption

The Coldlogik data cooling system:

  • The solution offered was a Coldlogik system which utilised rear door heat exchangers to extract server heat at source. This is typically about 35°C and allows for high temperature 18°C cooling water to be used. The heat exchangers form the rear door of the rack and take up very little floor space
  • The system was designed with run standby pumps, run standby chillers and the drycooler provided additional standby for over 70% of the year
  •  A unique feature of the system was the use of a venturi arrangement which allowed cold water to be drawn at negative pressure through the heat exchangers and indoor pipework
  • If a leak did occur, air leaked into the system rather than water out. This air was collected in the air eliminator and the system status was updated
  • The use of high temperature water meant that the chillers would operate more efficiently in temperatures above 16°C and the drycoolers using only fan power provided all of the cooling below 12°C. Running cost savings compared to a Direct Expansion system were projected at over 70%

The installation process:

  • A Cylon BMS was used to control and monitor the system and this had a full graphic interface tailored to the client’s requirements and accessible over his intranet by a web browser
  • The initial installation consists of 10 server racks, chiller and drycooler. Pipework and flow rates allow for an additional 10 server racks and a second and third chiller to be added. The drycooler has been selected for the projected future load and this over sizing allows reduced running costs with the current load
  • Practical completion of the project was ahead of time in August and the system has operated very efficiently through its first winter. The sub-zero temperatures experienced meant that the drycooler was observed operating with only one of ten fans on low speed for long periods
  • In this application we have utilized rear door heat exchangers to extract blade server heat at source in a densely populated data centre. 
  • With flow temperatures of 14-18°C and return of 18-22°C we maintain a room condition of 22-24°C
  • These rear doors are effectively vertical chilled beams but capable of higher capacities because we are extracting high temperature heat at 35°C from the blade servers before it reaches the room
  • The heat is rejected through drycoolers in temperatures less than 12°C and by chillers and dry coolers between 12 and 16°C
  • Above 16°C the chillers handle the load
Our well trained, dedicated engineers are able to offer an excellent level of service and support time and time again.
data centre - Belfast, Northern Ireland - BL Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Ltd - data
data cooling - Belfast, Northern Ireland - BL Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Ltd - cooling
For more information on data cooling or for an informal chat, call us today on
028 9002 6613
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