NOMENCLATURE

CRAC - Computer Room Air-Conditioner

TR - Ton of refrigeration (Tons)

HACA - Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle

RH -Relative humidity (%)

Cfm -Cubic foot per minute (ft3/min)

ESD -Electrostatic discharge

T - Temperature (oC)

Q - Heat load from data center components (W/ft2 )

m - Air flow rate (cfm/ft2)

[] - indicates reference numbers in references

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 CONTENTS PAGE

1. Abstract 04

2. Introduction 04

3. Study of NITK server room 06

 Necessity of humidity in server rooms 08

 Electrostatic discharge method 08
 Humidity control methods 09
 Computer server room acoustics 09

4. Conclusions 10

5. References 10

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ABSTRACT:

The computer equipment installed in a data center or office space must be maintained
within acceptable temperature and humidity specifications for reliable operation. A typical
cooling arrangement consists of installing the equipment on a raised floor and using several air-
conditioning units to force air into the space under the raised floor. While most the raised floor
is impermeable, perforated tiles are installed at desired locations to provide cool air at the inlets
of the data processing equipment. Temperature and humidity requirements for computer
equipment are as broad as possible to permit customers the flexibility of the type of equipment
they install as well as the degree of control. This paper mainly focuses on the concept of
understanding precision air-conditioning with a case study of NITK server room air-
conditioning arrangement.

1. INTRODUCTION:

A data center or server room is a facility housing for high-performance computers,

storage servers, computer servers, networking or other IT equipment. It provides various services
such as storage, management, processing and exchange of digital data and information for
Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Data centers consume huge amount of
energy. Temperature and humidity requirements for computer equipment are as broad as possible
to permit customers the flexibility of the type of equipment they install as well as the degree of
control. The most common temperature and humidity specifications for components that are
installed in today's computer rooms are summarized here:

Temperature Range = 16 to 32°C [1]

Relative Humidity Range = 20 to 80% [1]
Recommended Temperature = 22 ±10C [1]
Recommended Relative Humidity =50 ± 5% [1]

With the increased computer equipment heat loads the air flow rate through the system is
increased. Generally, the flow rate through the equipment is approximately 1 cubic foot per
minute (cfm) for every 5 to 7 watts of heat load. For example, for an equipment rack/frame with
20 kW of heat load, approximately 2500 cfm of air flow through the rack will be required. In
addition, the inlet air conditions for this system must meet the temperature and humidity
requirements specified by the manufacturer. The challenge for the customer with the increased
rack heat loads is in providing stable environmental conditions within the manufacturers
specifications.

In general, cooling systems can be classified into two categories: air-forced cooling and
liquid cooling. Air cooling is still predominant. In this technique, cold air is pushed through
racks, containing IT equipment, for heat removal. The aim is to keep the rack (IT equipment)
inlet temperature within an acceptable range for reliable operation of equipment in data centers.
The complexity of the rather high internal heat dissipation and cold and warm outdoor
environments requires a smart solution, capable of providing acceptable indoor climate
management. Many efforts have been put to advance air cooling systems. Introduced in 1992 by
IBM, Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle (HACA) protocol for air cooling is probably the most popular

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technique to date. The majority of modern data centers are still using HACA. Some other
alternatives include In Row Cooling with Hot Aisle Containment, Cold Aisle Containment and
Overhead Cooling. However, with the growth of heat dissipation in data centers, air cooling and
HACA are stumbling and many problems have occurred, such as hot spots and oversized cooling
equipment. Consequently, liquid cooling is making its way back to data centers. It is considered
to be more efficient and the future cooling technique since liquid can carry much more heat than
air. In fact, liquid cooling is not new in data centers, but its acceptance has been and continues to
be difficult.

In IT server rooms the air distribution system plays a very vital role in cooling the server
racks. Reducing the air-conditioning temperature is not good practice to reduce the hot spots in
the room due to the congested spaces in the racks (due to bulk wires). Mixing of cold and hot air
steams adversely affect the cooling performance.
Prevention of the air from the cold aisle and the hot aisle intermixing; air recirculation and by-
pass must be considered in order to prevent a drop in the rack cooling efficiency. However, there
is a limitation in effectively preventing such phenomenon in an open space – IT server room with
only the location of supply and return air infrastructures. The reality is that the problem of rising
temperature (hot spot) continues to occur in currently operating data centers (see Fig.1 (a)).
Therefore, there is a need to improve air distribution efficiency through additional physical
barrier installation, and cooling efficiency can be improved by installing a simple partition wall
on the rack server. Two types of formation are possible here[2]: the aisle partition system
vertically dividing the cold aisle and the hot aisle, as shown in Fig.1(b): and the aisle enclosure
system that blocks off the upper part of the cold aisle, as shown in Fig.1(c). In terms of cooling
efficiency, the aisle enclosure system that completely surrounds the cold aisle can more
effectively prevent air re-circulation in comparison with the aisle partition system that simply
forms a vertical wall. However, because the aisle enclosure system can act as an obstructing
factor when relocating the IT server, setting up fire suppression systems as clean agent systems
and water based systems (gas and sprinkler heads installation location), and responding quickly
to a fire, the installation of the aisle partition system is more reasonable. In addition, since a large
data center has a large amount of IT equipment, the matter of initial cost cannot be overlooked.

In the enclosed space of a server room, the heat that all those boxes generate can quickly increase
the ambient temperature beyond equipment specifications. The results can be ugly: hardware
failure, loss of data, and an uncomfortable working environment are all distinct possibilities.

It’s critical to keep server room’s temperature within the listed tolerances of hardware. Tallying
up the heat dissipation from servers and other hardware can help to ensure server room is
designed and built with adequate ventilation and cooling.

In case of raised floors, the air intake vents also are in the ceiling in this type of setup, which
would lead to cool air being sucked back into the system before it has a chance to reach the
server racks. When using this type of forced air system, you need to place air return vents at
locations throughout the room to provide for the proper flow of air. The best place for the vents
when using a raised floor is in the ceiling of the room, since hot air rises and will more likely be
drawn out of the room by the elevated vents.

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