IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i22p6147-d449843.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinkyun Cho & Jesang Woo & Beungyong Park & Taesub Lim, 2020. "A Comparative CFD Study of Two Air Distribution Systems with Hot Aisle Containment in High-Density Data Centers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6147-:d:449843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6147/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6147/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tatchell-Evans, Morgan & Kapur, Nik & Summers, Jonathan & Thompson, Harvey & Oldham, Dan, 2017. "An experimental and theoretical investigation of the extent of bypass air within data centres employing aisle containment, and its impact on power consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(P3), pages 457-469.
    2. Jinkyun Cho & Beungyong Park & Yongdae Jeong, 2019. "Thermal Performance Evaluation of a Data Center Cooling System under Fault Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Luo, Yang & Andresen, John & Clarke, Henry & Rajendra, Matthew & Maroto-Valer, Mercedes, 2019. "A decision support system for waste heat recovery and energy efficiency improvement in data centres," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 1217-1224.
    4. Emelie Wibron & Anna-Lena Ljung & T. Staffan Lundström, 2018. "Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling and Validating Experiments of Airflow in a Data Center," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Youngmo, 2021. "Development of modular air containment system: Thermal performance optimization of row-based cooling for high-density data centers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Youngmo, 2021. "Development of modular air containment system: Thermal performance optimization of row-based cooling for high-density data centers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    2. Peter L. Borland & Kevin McDonnell & Mary Harty, 2023. "Assessment of the Potential to Use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-32, September.
    3. Zhang, Yingbo & Shan, Kui & Li, Xiuming & Li, Hangxin & Wang, Shengwei, 2023. "Research and Technologies for next-generation high-temperature data centers – State-of-the-arts and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Emelie Wibron & Anna-Lena Ljung & T. Staffan Lundström, 2019. "Comparing Performance Metrics of Partial Aisle Containments in Hard Floor and Raised Floor Data Centers Using CFD," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Chu, Wen-Xiao & Wang, Chi-Chuan, 2019. "A review on airflow management in data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 84-119.
    6. Silva-Llanca, Luis & Ortega, Alfonso & Fouladi, Kamran & del Valle, Marcelo & Sundaralingam, Vikneshan, 2018. "Determining wasted energy in the airside of a perimeter-cooled data center via direct computation of the Exergy Destruction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 235-246.
    7. Piotr Kowalski & Paweł Szałański & Wojciech Cepiński, 2021. "Waste Heat Recovery by Air-to-Water Heat Pump from Exhausted Ventilating Air for Heating of Multi-Family Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Yeliang Qiu & Congfeng Jiang & Yumei Wang & Dongyang Ou & Youhuizi Li & Jian Wan, 2019. "Energy Aware Virtual Machine Scheduling in Data Centers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Ma, Xiaowei & Zhang, Quan & Zou, Sikai, 2022. "An experimental and numerical study on the thermal performance of a loop thermosyphon integrated with latent thermal energy storage for emergency cooling in a data center," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    10. Ieva Pakere & Kirils Goncarovs & Armands Grāvelsiņš & Marita Agate Zirne, 2024. "Dynamic Modelling of Data Center Waste Heat Potential Integration in District Heating in Latvia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    11. Yuan, Xiaolei & Liang, Yumin & Hu, Xinyi & Xu, Yizhe & Chen, Yongbao & Kosonen, Risto, 2023. "Waste heat recoveries in data centers: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    12. Cho, Jinkyun & Lim, Seung-beom, 2023. "Balanced comparative assessment of thermal performance and energy efficiency for three cooling solutions in data centers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    13. Chen, Xiaoxuan & Wang, Xinyi & Ding, Tao & Li, Zhen, 2023. "Experimental research and energy saving analysis of an integrated data center cooling and waste heat recovery system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    14. Du, Yahui & Zhou, Zhihua & Yang, Xiaochen & Yang, Xueqing & Wang, Cheng & Liu, Junwei & Yuan, Jianjuan, 2023. "Dynamic thermal environment management technologies for data center: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    15. Franz Zach & Florian Kretschmer & Gernot Stoeglehner, 2019. "Integrating Energy Demand and Local Renewable Energy Sources in Smart Urban Development Zones: New Options for Climate-Friendly Resilient Urban Planning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-28, September.
    16. Isazadeh, Amin & Ziviani, Davide & Claridge, David E., 2023. "Global trends, performance metrics, and energy reduction measures in datacom facilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    17. Sikai Zou & Chang Yue & Ting Xiao & Xingyi Ma & Yiwei Wang, 2023. "Study on Effects of Operating Parameters on a Water-Cooled Loop Thermosyphon System under Partial Server Utilization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.
    18. Nima Asgari & Matthew T. McDonald & Joshua M. Pearce, 2023. "Energy Modeling and Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Greenhouses for Tomato Cultivation Utilizing the Waste Heat of Cryptocurrency Miners," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-42, January.
    19. Emelie Wibron & Anna-Lena Ljung & T. Staffan Lundström, 2018. "Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling and Validating Experiments of Airflow in a Data Center," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    20. Maria Avgerinou & Paolo Bertoldi & Luca Castellazzi, 2017. "Trends in Data Centre Energy Consumption under the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6147-:d:449843. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.