A Comparative CFD Study of Two Air Distribution Systems with Hot Aisle Containment in High-Density Data Centers

Jinkyun Cho, Jesang Woo, Beungyong Park and Taesub Lim
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Jinkyun Cho: Department of Building and Plant Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon 34158, Korea
Jesang Woo: Infra Facility Engineering Team, SK Telecom Co., Ltd., Seoul 04539, Korea
Beungyong Park: Building Energy Center, Energy Division, KCL (Korea Conformity Laboratories), Jincheon 27872, Korea
Taesub Lim: Department of Architectural Engineering, Seoil University, Seoul 02192, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-19

Abstract: Removing heat from high-density information technology (IT) equipment is essential for data centers. Maintaining the proper operating environment for IT equipment can be expensive. Rising energy cost and energy consumption has prompted data centers to consider hot aisle and cold aisle containment strategies, which can improve the energy efficiency and maintain the recommended level of inlet air temperature to IT equipment. It can also resolve hot spots in traditional uncontained data centers to some degree. This study analyzes the IT environment of the hot aisle containment (HAC) system, which has been considered an essential solution for high-density data centers. The thermal performance was analyzed for an IT server room with HAC in a reference data center. Computational fluid dynamics analysis was conducted to compare the operating performances of the cooling air distribution systems applied to the raised and hard floors and to examine the difference in the IT environment between the server rooms. Regarding operating conditions, the thermal performances in a state wherein the cooling system operated normally and another wherein one unit had failed were compared. The thermal performance of each alternative was evaluated by comparing the temperature distribution, airflow distribution, inlet air temperatures of the server racks, and recirculation ratio from the outlet to the inlet. In conclusion, the HAC system with a raised floor has higher cooling efficiency than that with a hard floor. The HAC with a raised floor over a hard floor can improve the air distribution efficiency by 28%. This corresponds to 40% reduction in the recirculation ratio for more than 20% of the normal cooling conditions. The main contribution of this paper is that it realistically implements the effectiveness of the existing theoretical comparison of the HAC system by developing an accurate numerical model of a data center with a high-density fifth-generation (5G) environment and applying the operating conditions.

Keywords: data center; cooling; air distribution; hot aisle containment (HAC); raised floor; hard floor; thermal performance; CFD analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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