Uptime Institute’ Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water October 2017Abstract This technical paper provides clarification of the makeup water storage requirements for compliance with Uptime Institute's Tier Standard: Topology and provides commentary on calculation methodologies to meet those requirements when using evaporative cooling systems. Concurrently Maintainable Source of Water ‘An objective of the Uptime institute Tier Standard is the consistent application of infrastructure availability concepts to facility systems that support data center critical environments. Consistent with the concept that the loss of public utility electrical power is a design condition rather than a failure or maintenance mode, the loss of the public utility water supply must also be addressed as a design condition. Consider the impact of providing a Concurrently Maintainable water supply for evaporative cooling towers without regard to the availability of the community or district water mains (public utility water). This is primarily an issue for evaporative cooling systems because of the volume of water required to maintain a functional water level in cooling towers. However, itis also applicable to any facility infrastructure that depends on the availability of water to operate the cooling system ‘As with many Tier-based design considerations, providing a Concurrently Maintainable source of water for evaporative cooling towers can be accomplished through adaptation of tracitional design solutions rather than necessitating the inclusion of unique or complex design elements, Commonly accepted “rules of thumb" provide a means to develop boundaries of the solution, although specific engineering is required for each application based on load, technology, and ambient conditions. Example Assumptions: Each 1,000 kilowatts (kW) of cooling load {approximately 285 tons refrigeration [TAD requires about £855 Imperial gallons per minute” (gpm) of condenser water flow (1,027 US. gpm or 3,887 liters per minute) through the evaporative cooling towers, at 3 gpm of condenser water per ton of cooling b._ For the purposes of estimating water requirements, evaporation consumes about 1% of condenser water flow; drift and blow-down consume another 0.5%. Thus, a source of water is required to replenish—ar *makeup"—about 1.5% of condenser water flow to sustain evaporative cooling processes. . Using the above assumptions, the amount of makeup water necessary to sustain evaporative cooling for a 1,000-kW load for 24 hours is: (855 gpm) x (60 minutes/hour) x (24 hours/day) x (1.5%) = = 18,500 gallons (22,218 U.S. gallons or 84,103 liters), This volume of water is equivalent to 18,600 gallons (7.5 gallons per cubic feet [f), or about 2,500 t° of water, thus the evaporative cooling tower makeup water for a “megawatt-day" (1,000 kW for 24 hours) is approximately 18,500 gallons (2,500 ft’) of water depending on local ambient conditions, ‘A design based on three 850-kW cooling towers could provide an N+1 solution for the 1,000-KW cooling requirement (mentioned in Assumption a.), and with the appropriate piping configuration could meet Concurrently Maintainable topology requirements. Moreover, an on-site, Concurrently Maintainable makeup water supply for the evaporative cooling towers could result from a topology that included a 9,250-gallon (1,250-f1") condenser water storage tank in the form of a sump for each cooling tower, Considering the footprint of some popular 180-ton (527.5-kW) evaporative cooling tower choices, many of these products are typically 8 to 9 feet (ft) wide (2.4 to 2.75 meters (m) wide) and 10 to 12 ft long (3 to 3.6 m). A sump with a footprint about the same size as a 150-ton cooling tower (9 x 12 ft) and about 12 ft (8.6 m) deep has a volume of approximately 1,250 ft" and will contain 9,250 gallons (11,109 U.S. gallons or 42,081 liters). In this example the configuration is N+1 where N=2, therefore two sumps would equate to 2,500 ft° of N water storage capacity in order to support the cooling load for 24 hours “In this Technical Paper, gallons’ and ‘gpm’ refer ta imperial gallons, not US. gallons, unless otherwise noted, Makeup Water | October 2017Moreover, with adequate planning, a thermal eneray storage tank integrated into a chilled water system as part of a Continuous Cooling solution may also provide a large volume of readily available water stored on site Makeup Water | October 2017 Tier Requirements for Makeup Water Application of Tier concepts requires that the amount of makeup water for evaporative cooling towers stored on site must be sufficient to provide a minimum of 12 hours of on-site makeup water storage that acheres to the requirements of the Tier objective. For a Tier I site, this is a single 12-hour storage solution with a single distribution path. Tier Il requires redundant makeup water storage solutions. To provide 12 hours of on-site makeup water when any single storage solution is isolated for planned activities, Tier II requires 12 hours of Concurrently Maintainable and Tier iV requires 12 hours of Concurrently Maintainable and Fault Tolerant makeup water systems. ‘The preceding example discusses the volume of makeup water for a megawatt-day. The volume must be adjusted to meet the site cooling load and operating duration necessary to meet project requirements. One megawatt- day of makeup water will support a 2-megawatt load for 12 hours; two megawatt-days of makeup water will be required to support a 4-megawatt load for 12 hours, For instance, a recently constructed data center with Tier Ill Certification of Constructed Facility has eight in-ground condenser water sumps (condenser water storage tank), one for every chiller and cooling tower. These are ina 2N configuration where N=4 sumps. Each condenser water sump is 14 ft wide x 16 ft long with more than 12.5 ft (8.8 m) of usable water depth, resulting in more than 160,000 gallons (192,182 U.S. gallons of 727,374 liters) of installed storage and over 80,000 gallons (96,076 U.S. gallons or 363,687 liters) of N storage integrated into the condenser water system. Using the above example, the 80,000-plus gallons of N storage provide well over 4 megawatt-days of N makeup water Moreover, with adequate planning, a thermal energy storage tank integrated into a chilled water system as part of a Continuous Cooling solution may also provide a large volume of readily available water stored on site to sustain evaporative cooling processes during a disruption of public utility water. For most data center owners, the 12-hour makeup water minimum requirement is calculated by determining the makeup water required for the worst-case hour, based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) extreme wet bulb conditions, and multiplied by 12. This methodology is easy to calculate and allows for a highly conservative safely factor. However, wet bulb temperatures typically change hour by hour throughout the day. Attempting to calculate the 12-hour makeup water requirement for the worst-case 12-hour profile requires an intense engineering analysis ASHRAE does not publish hourly extreme weather values. Therefore, a different set of data—that is similarly reliable and based on engineering analysis—would have to be used, which may or may not be available in certain regions. A reliable and documented set of weather data that provides historical information must be used whenever statistical prediction weather data sets are not availableVarious safety factors may need to be applied to account for future potential weather changes, or allow tolerances for potential inaccuracies in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) water evaporation calculations, Makeup Water | October 2017 ‘The type of evaporative technology considered (e.g, pen cooling towers, indirect evaporative heat exchangers) will affect the worst-case 12-hour weather profile, as different technologies have varying factors that determine the rate of evaporation. Additionally, various safety factors may need to be applied to account for future potential weather changes, or allow tolerances for potential inaccuracies in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) water evaporation calculations. Close collaboration with the OEM is required throughout this type of analysis. Conclusion This paper demonstrates that meeting the requirement to provide on-site storage of makeup water for evaporative cooling towers is in fact a straightforward and manageable solution, if calculations are based ‘ona worst-case hour multiplied times the hours of storage duration. Calculations become more detailed and complex when considering the rise and fall of wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures over a 12-hour, or longer, periodATD Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water, Version B. All updates, specific to this version are effective October 2017. Related Publications Tier Standard: Topology Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series Further information can be found at www_uplimeinstitute.com, About Uptime Institute Uptime Institute is an unbiased advisory organization focused on improving the performance, efficiency, and reliability of business critical infrastructure through innovation, collaboration, and independent certifications. 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