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Impact of Fan Airflow of IT Equipment on Thermal Environment and Energy Consumption of a Data Center

Author

Listed:
  • Naoki Futawatari

    (NTT FACILITIES, INC., Minato-ku, Tokyo 1080023, Japan)

  • Yosuke Udagawa

    (NTT FACILITIES, INC., Minato-ku, Tokyo 1080023, Japan)

  • Taro Mori

    (Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 0608628, Japan)

  • Hirofumi Hayama

    (Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 0608628, Japan)

Abstract

Energy-saving in regard to heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) in data centers is strongly required. Therefore, to improve the operating efficiency of the cooling equipment and extend the usage time of the economizer used for cooling information-technology equipment (ITE) in a data center, it is often the case that a high air-supply temperature within the range in which the ITE can be sufficiently cooled is selected. In the meantime, it is known that when the ambient temperature of the ITE rises, the speed of the built-in cooling fan increases. Acceleration of the built-in fan is thought to affect the cooling performance and energy consumption of the data center. Therefore, a method for predicting the temperature of a data center—which simply correlates supply-air temperature with ITE inlet temperature by utilizing existing indicators, such as air-segregation efficiency (ASE)—is proposed in this study. Moreover, a method for optimizing the total energy consumption of a data center is proposed. According to the prediction results obtained under the assumption of certain computer-room air-conditioning (CRAC) conditions, by lowering the ITE inlet temperature from 27 °C to 18 °C, the total energy consumption of the machine room is reduced by about 10%.

Suggested Citation

  • Naoki Futawatari & Yosuke Udagawa & Taro Mori & Hirofumi Hayama, 2020. "Impact of Fan Airflow of IT Equipment on Thermal Environment and Energy Consumption of a Data Center," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-27, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6166-:d:450170
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Durand-Estebe, Baptiste & Le Bot, Cédric & Mancos, Jean Nicolas & Arquis, Eric, 2014. "Simulation of a temperature adaptive control strategy for an IWSE economizer in a data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 45-56.
    2. Ham, Sang-Woo & Kim, Min-Hwi & Choi, Byung-Nam & Jeong, Jae-Weon, 2015. "Energy saving potential of various air-side economizers in a modular data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 258-275.
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