7.

HUMIDIFICATION CONTROLS
Data centers often over-control humidity, which results in no real operational benefits and
increases energy use, as humidification consumes large amounts of energy. Humidity controls
are frequently not centralized. This can result in adjacent units serving the same space
fighting, with one humidifying while the other is dehumidifying. Humidity sensor drift can
also contribute to control problems if sensors are not regularly recalibrated. Low-energy
humidification techniques can replace electricity-consuming steam generators with an
adiabatic approach that uses the heat present in the air or recovered from the computer
heat load for humidification. Ultrasonic humidifiers, wetted media (‘swamp coolers’) and
microdroplet spray are some examples of adiabatic humidifiers.
PRINCIPLES
• Humidification is very energy intensive. Dehumidification incurs even higher energy costs
since the air is usually cooled to below 45°F to condense out water and then is reheated by
an electric heater to ensure the supply air is not too cold.
• Modern servers do not require extremely tight humidity control and typical data centers
cannot actually provide tight humidity control due to sensor drift.
• Centralized humidity control can keep all units serving the same space in the same
humidification mode, eliminating simultaneous humidification/dehumidification common
when using independent Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs) controls.
• Utilize adiabatic humidifiers and evaporative cooling for humidification whenever possible.
Waste heat in the return air stream can be used to drive adiabatic humidification ‘for free’
when the outside air is too cold for adiabatic systems.
• Computers do not emit humidity, nor do they require ‘fresh’ outdoor ventilation air, so a
well designed and controlled data center should have minimal humidity loads. Ensure
outside air economizer, if present, is properly controlled to prevent unnecessary
humidification loads. Provide a tight architectural envelope and optimized pressurization
controls to minimize humid or dry outside air (OSA) infiltration.
APPROACH
Humidity control is very energy intensive and should be minimized. Dehumidification requires
that the air be cooled to such low temperatures that electric reheat is commonly used to
maintain a supply temperature around 50-55°F. Removing moisture requires that a large
amount of energy be removed, about 1,000 Btus for every pint of moisture condensed. One
thousand btus is equivalent to the energy required to heat all the air in a 100 square foot room
from 32°F to 100°F . Beyond the large energy cost of moving that quantity of heat, using
energy to simultaneously heat and cool air is an inefficient but common part of the
42 dehumidification process. Standard humidification also adds to the data center cooling load,
adding in heat to essentially boiling water and produce steam. Finally, in a chilled water plant