A technique pioneered by EcoCooling and described as 'using the building as an air-handler' has been demonstrated to free up space for an additional 200 revenue-generating racks in a typical 1,000-rack large data centre – while cutting the energy requirement for cooling from over 1,700kW to a mere 160kW.
'With increasing demand for co-location rack space many operators have run out of space,' said EcoCooling technical director Alan Beresford. 'The EcoCooling CREC cooling system can create an additional 20 per cent of rack capacity compared with either perimeter CRACs or in-row cooling because it is installed external to the white space.'
As each co-location rack can generate potential revenue in excess of £1,000 per month, this extra capacity has real significance – 200 extra racks in a 1,000 rack data centre could generate over £2 million in additional annual revenue. At the same time, cutting the cooling energy bill by over 10,000,000 kWh could mean in the region of £1 million cost saving per year.
These are not merely theoretical calculations either, Beresford explained: 'With over 150 data centres now using the EcoCooling CREC evaporative cooling system, the figures above are based on real installations.
'At one such site, the combination of evaporative cooling and the ‘building as an air-handler’ design technique meant that the rack complement on each of that data centre’s four floors is increased from 150 to 180 with the EcoCooling strategy. Over four floors that will add an extra 120 revenue earning racks when the build-out is complete.'
