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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy and Built Environment

journal homepage: http://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/energy-and-built-environment/

Research status and development trends of evaporative cooling

air-conditioning technology in data centers
Junjie Chu a, Xiang Huang b,∗
a
Institute of Building Environment and Energy, China Academy of Building Research, Beijing 100013, China
b
School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710048, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: This paper systematically describes the technical principles, evaluation indicators, system forms and research
Data center progress of air-side evaporative cooling air conditioning systems, water-side evaporative cooling air conditioning
Evaporative cooling systems and freon-side evaporative cold coagulation heat air conditioning systems of Data center. In order to
Air-side
reduce the energy consumption of the refrigeration and air-conditioning system in the Data center, the applica-
Water-side
tion conditions and scenarios of the different forms of evaporative cooling air-conditioning systems should be
Freon-side
considered comprehensively. Therefore, it is very important that the renewable energy-dry air can be used to the
greatest extent. These efforts would contribute to China’s 2030 "Carbon Peak" and 2060 "Carbon Neutral."

1. Introduction
A Data center is a construction site that provides operational envi-
ronments for centralized electronic information devices, including host
rooms, auxiliary districts, and support areas [1].and it can be a building
or a part of a building. In recent years, the demand for mobile Internet,
cloud computing, and big data applications has shown explosive growth.
At the same time, driven by innovations in information technology, the
fields of smart terminals, VR, artificial intelligence, wearable devices,
Internet of Things, 5G, etc have developed rapidly, and "Internet +" has
accelerated its penetration into various industries. These have greatly in-
creased the scale of data storage, computing power, and network traffic
and accelerated the construction of a new generation of Data center in-
frastructure into an acceleration period. As we all know, China’s mobile
Internet has the largest amount of information access and mobile phone
ownership in the world. Likewise, among the top 30 listed Internet com-
panies in the world, 10 of them are Chinese companies [2]. There is no
doubt that China is the most active country in the development of infor-
mation industry technology. Based on the development and application
of information technology, the government, enterprises and institutions
have increased the extent of data centers and network resources to prove
rich infrastructure resource security for IDC (Internet Data center) busi-
ness market development. Therefore, when the Standing Committee of
the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting on
March 4, 2020, it clearly emphasized the need to speed up the construc-
tion of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers. On
March 2, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television held
a conference call to promote the integration of the national one net-
work and promote the development of 5G and data center business. In
February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued
the "Notice on Adjusting the Internet Backbone Network Settlement Pol-
icy", proposing to accelerate the integration of network resources and
promote the development of the Internet industry and digital economy.
At the beginning of 2020, during the national coronavirus epidemic
prevention and control, the government, enterprises and institutions
used a large number of scientific and technological epidemic prevention
methods, including remote offices, distance education, and e-commerce,
which developed a large number of emerging customers, driving China’s
IDC industry customer demand scale magnitude to increase, and pro-
moting China’s IDC business market to maintain a stable growth situa-
tion. As shown in , it is expected that in 2022, China’s IDC business mar-
ket will exceed 3200.5 billion yuan, a year-to-year increase of 28.8%,
and enter a new round of outbreaks.
At the same time, such large information visits and processing vol-
umes bring about the rapid construction and development of the Data
center. With the development of the entire society, the demand for Data
centers continues to grow, and due to the high-density use of IT equip-
ment and the uninterrupted operation of the Data center 24 hours a day,
365 days a year, the data center’s consumption of electric energy has in-
creased sharply. Relevant data shows that the total power consumption
of data centers in China in 2018 was 160.889 billion kWh, which is
more than the total power consumption of the whole society in Shang-
hai in 2018 (156.7 billion kWh), which is equivalent to the total power
consumption of the entire Three Gorges Dam in China. Annual power

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: huangx@xpu.edu.cn (X. Huang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbenv.2021.08.004
Received 3 May 2021; Received in revised form 9 August 2021; Accepted 13 August 2021
Available online xxx
2666-1233/Copyright © 2021 Southwest Jiatong University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Please cite this article as: J. Chu and X. Huang, Research status and development trends of evaporative cooling air-conditioning technology in data
centers, Energy and Built Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbenv.2021.08.004
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speaking, the refrigeration and air-conditioning system can introduce a

Nomenclature number of energy-saving design concepts and process technologies flex-
ibly to ensure the efficient operation of the Data center. Therefore, the
Symbols key to energy savings of the Data center is the energy saving design of
db dry bulb temperature [°C] the refrigeration air conditioning system.
wb wet bulb temperature [°C] Among them, the energy consumption of the traditional cooling sys-
dp dew point temperature [°C] tem of the data center includes components, such as compressors, water
DEC direct evaporative cooling pumps, and wind turbines, as shown in Fig. 4. Regardless of the air-
IEC indirect evaporative cooling cooled precision air conditioning system or the water-cooled precision
DIEC dew point indirect evaporative cooling air conditioning system, the energy consumption of refrigeration com-
𝜂 efficiency [%] pressors has reached more than 50% of the total energy consumption
𝜌 the density of product air of the cooler[𝑘𝑔∕𝑚3 ] of the Data center cooling system. Therefore, the key to reducing the
𝑄 cooling capacity of the cooler [kW] energy consumption of the Data center cooling system is to improve the
𝑉 the volume of air [𝑚3 ] efficiency of mechanical cooling or use natural cold sources instead of
𝑖 the air enthalpy value [𝑘𝐽 ∕𝑘𝑔] mechanical cooling. It is thus clear that free cooling in the Data center
𝜔 sub-wet bulb efficiency of indirect evaporative precool- cooling system can significantly reduce the energy consumption of the
ing unit [%] cooling system.
Γ𝑤 cooling efficiency of the water drenching filler on the
water-side [%] 2.2. Data center environment characteristics

Data center environmental parameter requirements have a signif-

generation [4]. As the density of IT equipment in data centers continues
to increase, the demand for cooling systems has increased dramatically
in recent years. This change not only increases the demand for cooling
system capacity, but also exposes the inefficiency of traditional cooling
methods in data centers.
2. Data center energy consumption and environmental
characteristics
2.1. Data center energy consumption characteristics
The energy consumption content of the Data center is mainly di-
vided into three parts: (1) IT equipment and software; (2) power distri-
bution systems; (3) refrigeration air conditioning systems. The energy
consumption statistics of each part are shown in Fig. 3. In the propor-
tion of energy consumption, the energy consumption of IT equipment
accounts for about 40% of the total energy consumption of the Data cen-
ter, and the air conditioning system accounts for 40%. However, in the
development of energy-saving technology, IT equipment and software
energy consumption are mainly affected by the development of informa-
tion technology. Under the premise of ensuring Data center function and
reliability, the space for improvement is relatively limited. Relatively
icant impact on the energy consumption of refrigeration and air-
conditioning systems and the reliability of IT equipment operation. The
US Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineer Society estab-
lished a technical committee 9.9 (ASHRAE TC 9.9) on Data centers in
2001. It is a professional research team composed of data communi-
cation equipment manufacturers, owners and managers of data equip-
ment end users, government agencies, research institutions, consulting
agencies and laboratory testing experts. To enable everyone in the in-
dustry to use universal languages and better understand the impact of
IT equipment cooling requirements on the Data center, ASHRAE TC 9.9
published the first edition of "Data Processing Environment Hot Guide"
in 2004 [5]. The temperature range recommended for level 1 and level
2 IT equipment is 20 to 25°C, and the relative humidity range is 40% to
55%. The allowable air intake conditions for level 1 IT equipment are
15~32°C, the relative humidity is 20%~80%, and the maximum dew
point temperature is 17°C; the allowable air intake conditions for level
2 IT equipment are dry-bulb temperature 10~35°C, relative humidity
20%~80%, maximum dew point temperature 21°C. To guide operators
to maintain the high reliability of the environment in the Data center
and operate the Data center in the most energy-saving manner, ASHRAE
TC 9.9 continued to update this guide in 2008, 2011 and 2015 [6-8],
and expand the recommended range of environmental air in the oper-

Fig. 1. 2014-2019 China IDC business market

size and growth [3].
1800 41.80% 39.30% 45.00%
37.80%
1600 40.00%
Hundred million yuan

32.40%
1400 29.80% 35.00%
27.20%
Growth rate

1200 30.00%
1000 25.00%
800 1662.5 20.00%
600 1228 15.00%
946.1
400 714.5 10.00%
518.6
200 372.2 5.00%
0 0.00%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Time
Market size Year-on-year growth

2
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Fig. 2. 2019 - 2022 China IDC business market

scale and forecast [3].
3500 30.00%
28.80%
3000 29.00%
Hundred million yuan

2500 27.20% 28.00%

Growth rate
26.90%
2000 27.00%

1500 25.30% 3200.5 26.00%

2485.7
1000 1958.2 25.00%
1562.5
500 24.00%

0 23.00%
2019 2020(E) 2021(E) 2022(E)
Time
Market size Year-on-year growth

Fig. 3. Proportion of China’s data center energy consumption in 2019.

Table 1 added value of environmental parameters in the 2015 updated version.

Recommended Values of the ASHRAE TC 9.9 Data center Environment Param- The additional value of the A1 to A4 environmental parameters is shown
eters. in the wet graph in Fig. 5.
Recommended Particulate matter or gas contamination in the Data center operation
environment will have a serious impact on the reliability of IT equip-
2004 version 2008/2011 version 2015 version
ment. Particulate pollution can cause intermittent failures of signal-
Dry bulb temperature limit 20°C 18°C 18°C sensitive circuits, and the accumulation of particulate matter on the
Dry bulb temperature limit 25°C 27°C 27°C
cooling surface of IT equipment can seriously affect its cooling perfor-
Dew point temperature limit — 5.5°C -9°C
Dew point temperature limit — 15°C 15°C mance. Gas contamination can lead to two common patterns of hard-
Relative humidity limit 40% — — ware failure: copper creep corrosion on printed circuit boards and silver
Relative humidity upper limit 55% 60% 60% terminal corrosion of surface mount resistors [9]. Therefore, ASHRAE
TC 9.9 issued the first edition of "Data communication environment
in the Data Communication environment" in 2009, which detailed the
ating environment of Data center IT equipment. The environmental air monitoring, prevention and control of particulate matter and gas pollu-
recommendation range of IT equipment has shown in Table 1, so that tion in Data centers. In 2013, ASHRAE TC 9.9 updated and published
an increasing number of locations around the world can take full advan- the second edition of the "Data communication environment in the data
tage of free cooling technology to dissipate heat in data centers over a communication environment". For particulate pollution, the Data center
longer period of time. Table 2 shows the recommendation value for the operating environment must be maintained to ISO 14644-1-8, as shown
Data center environment parameters of the four versions of ASHRAE. in Table 3, but also need to pay attention to the relative humidity of dust
The ambient temperature (inlet temperature) running the server is re- tidal solution, in which the particles absorb enough moisture to become
laxed from 20 to 25°C to 18 to 27°C. In the updated version of 2015, wet, so as to be conductive and corrosive to the metal on the printed
the dew point temperature of the recommended value continues to de- circuit board. [10,11]. According to the recommendations of the "rat-
crease, and the lower limit of the dew point temperature reaches -9°C. ing computer and data processing chamber unit air conditioner", indoor
Admittedly, this is even unprecedented. air can be continuously filtered using a MERV (Minimum Efficiency Re-
In addition to the recommended values of the environmental param- porting Value) 8 filter [12]. According to “particle and gas pollution in
eters, ASHRAE has continued to make more detailed amendments to the the data communication environment”, air entering the Data center can

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Fig. 4. Typical data center precision air conditioning system

(a) Air-cooled precision air conditioning system.
(b) Water-cooled precision air conditioning system.

Table 2
Additionally ASHRAE TC 9.9-2015 Data center Environmental Parameters [8].

Grade Dry bulb Humidity range (%) Maximum dew point

temperature (°C) temperature (°C)

A1 15~32 Dew point temperature-12°C Relative humidity 8%~ 17

Dew point temperature -27°C Relative humidity 80%
A2 10~35 Dew point temperature -12°C Relative humidity 8%~ 21
Dew point temperature -27°C Relative humidity 80%
A3 5~40 Dew point temperature -12°C Relative humidity 8%~ 24
Dew point temperature -27°C Relative humidity 85%
A4 5~45 Dew point temperature -12°C Relative humidity 8%~ 24
Dew point temperature -27°C Relative humidity 90%
B 5~35 8%~80% 28
C 5~40 8%~80% 28

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Fig. 5. Additional Wet Map of the ASHRAE TC 9.9-2015 Data center Environmental Parameters [8].

Table 3
ISO Standard 14644-1: clean zone air particulate cleanliness level.

The maximum number of particles in the air (Particle particles per cubic meter is greater than or
equal to the designated size)
ISO
(Particle size)
> 0.1 𝜇m > 0.2 𝜇m > 0.3 𝜇m > 0.5 𝜇m > 1 𝜇m > 5 𝜇m

Level 1 10 2
Level 2 100 24 10 4
Level 3 1000 237 102 35 8
Level 4 10000 2370 1020 352 83
Level 5 100000 23700 10200 3520 832 29
Level 6 1000000 237000 102000 35200 8320 293
Level 7 352000 83200 2930
Level 8 3520000 832000 29300
Level 9 8320000 293000

be filtered through MERV 11 to MERV 13, and for data centers with
high levels of gas pollution, gas phase filtration is highly recommended
[13].
3. Data center free cooling technology introduction
Under the conditions that meet the intake environment requirements
of IT equipment, the Data center cooling system can be closely related
to how many free cooling methods there are and that free cooling can
operate closely to outdoor meteorological conditions in the geographic
location of the data center. Data centers in cold and cold areas typically
use free cooling systems to dissipate heat for IT equipment. The classifi-
cation of free cooling technologies in the data center is shown in Fig. 6.
The free cooling system in the data center is shown in Fig. 7.
Lee and Chen [14] studied the energy-saving potential using direct
air-side free cooling in 17 climate zones. The results show that the use
of energy-savings in mixing moist, warm, and warm marine climate dis-
tricts can significantly save energy, but in terms of dry and moist climate
zone efficiency, mainly due to high-energy fans, humidifiers and dehu-
midifiers, the use of these devices can offset the income of free cooling.
The results also show that if the Data center cooling setpoint temper-
ature decreases, the energy savings will be reduced by 2.8 to 8.5% for
every 2°C reduction. The study of Siriwardana et al. [15]. suggested that
the energy-saving potential of direct air-side free cooling of Australia in
different climates, and their results showed that free cooling can reach
more than 60% in the cold southern region. Depoorter et al. [16] consid-
ered that it is advantageous to use direct air-side free cooling anywhere,
which can reduce the energy consumption of the entire Data center by
5.4% to 7.9% (depending on the location). Oró et al. [17] studied the
potential of a direct air-side free cooling combined thermal energy stor-
age strategy. The study was conducted in five European cities affected
by different climatic conditions and counted the number of hours oper-
ated each year based on the ASHRAE recommendation guidelines. The
results showed that Stockholm and Amsterdam have the greatest poten-
tial to cool in the use of external air, which can exceed 6500 h each
year.
There is not only wind-side natural cooling technology, but also
water-side natural cooling. Clidaras et al. [18] proposed a Data center

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Fig. 6. Data center Free cooling Technology Classification
(a) Direct free cooling on the air-side. (b) Indirect free cooling on the air-side
(c) Free cooling system on the water-side.
located next to or approaching the ocean, as shown in Fig. 8. The Data
center is equipped with a closed-loop cooling system, which coolant
flows and heat is transferred to seawater through a heat exchanger. The
energy of seawater natural movement is captured and converted into
the input power of the cooling pump.
Evaporative cooling technology is an efficient free cooling technol-
ogy. There are rich with natural energy in areas of relatively high lat-
itudes such as solar, wind and dry air energy,so that there are unique
advantages to building large-scale Data centers with green energy sav-
ing. The cold and long duration of winter in these regions provides great
space for data center cooling systems to adopt natural cooling sources;
the ambient air is hot and dry in summer, and the air itself has a large
dry bulb-wet bulb temperature difference, which is particularly suitable
for the application of evaporative cooling technology, and the combina-
tion of evaporative cooling technology and data center natural cooling
technology. Such conditions can further extend the operation time of
natural cooling, thus achieving the maximum reduction of energy con-
sumption of data center cooling system.
4. Data center air-side evaporative cooling
Evaporative cooling technology is an energy-saving cooling technol-
ogy that uses water as the cooling medium and reduces the temperature
of the cooled medium (air or circulating water and other media) directly
or indirectly without the assistance of a compressor through the natu-
ral characteristic of heat absorption by evaporation when water is in
direct contact with air [19]. As can be seen from the above description,
energy-saving cooling technology in Data centers is mainly divided into
two basic forms: one is air-side free cooling, through the use of natu-
ral cold air or cold water (lake water or sea water, etc.) from outside
to directly or indirectly naturally cool the air that dissipates heat for
IT equipment in the Data center; the other is water-side natural cool-
ing, through the use of natural cold air or cold water (lake water or sea
water, etc.) from outside to indirectly naturally cool the refrigerant wa-
ter that dissipates heat for IT equipment in the Data center. In order to
be better integrated with the free cooling methods of Data centers, the
evaporative cooling technology can be divided into two main forms ac-
cording to the cooling medium: air-side evaporative cooling technology
and water-side evaporative cooling technology [20].
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4.1. Direct evaporative cooling
4.1.1. Technical principle
The direct evaporative cooling system on the wind side of the data
center is shown in Fig. 9, that is, the outdoor air sent to the data center
first comes into direct contact with water through the direct evaporative
cooling filler, and the temperature of the air drops due to the absorption
of latent heat of vaporization by the evaporation of water, and the low-
temperature air is used for cooling the data center. Making the most of
outside air, the unit humidifies and cools the data center air with direct
evaporative cooling (DEC) in the summer, while in the winter, the unit
uses a portion of the server room return air to ensure control of the
humidity of the supply air without the presence of condensation, which
can affect the servers in the server room.
4.1.2. Data center application case
Domestic and foreign scholars have also conducted relevant research
and analysis on the application of evaporative cooling technology in the
air-side natural cooling system of data centers. Scofield [21] analyzed
the impact of applying free cooling on the air side of a direct evaporative
cooler on reducing cooling energy consumption in the Data center. Cur-
rently, the most famous spray direct evaporative cooling method is the
large data center built by Facebook in Plinville, USA [22–24], which
uses the air-side of the spray evaporative cooler to naturally achieve
enormous cooling energy savings. It is worth noting that they use their
own custom IT equipment and thermal environment range. The data
center uses direct evaporative cooling with all fresh air. This is because
Prineville is located in the high desert with a very dry climate, and al-
though the maximum outdoor dry bulb temperature is 40.56°C through-
out the year, the Facebook data center IT equipment can adapt to a high
temperature of 43.3°C, so the energy saving effect is very significant. The
Amazon Cloud Computing Data center at Zhongwei Western Cloud Base
in Ningxia, China [25] uses direct air-side free cooling in the data center
cooling system, as shown in Fig. 10, based on local cold winters and cool
summers, with an annual average temperature between 7.3 and 9.5°C
throughout the year for outside air cooling sources. Mu Zhenghao and
Wang Yingzhen et al [26] explored seven operating conditions switch-
ing strategies for the air-side free cooling system with direct fresh air
evaporative cooling as the main cooling source used in the Qihoo 360
cloud computing data center in Zhongwei, Ningxia, as shown in Fig. 11.
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Fig. 7. A free cooling system schematic for a data center.
4.2. Indirect evaporative cooling
4.2.1. Ordinary indirect evaporative cooling
4.2.1.1. Technical Principle. Air quality in most regions is often incon-
sistent. Therefore, in the construction of data centers in these places, the
solution of introducing fresh outdoor air directly into the data center is
very risky and not accepted. in order to reduce the energy consump-
tion of data centers and to make greater use of natural cooling sources,
indirect evaporative natural cooling technology becomes the primary
choice. A schematic diagram of a typical data center air-side indirect
evaporative free cooling system is shown in Fig. 12. This indirect evap-
orative free cooling system has three working modes during the whole
year, which are dry mode (cooler air/air heat exchange), wet mode
(wind-side indirect evaporative cooling), and coupled mode (wind-side
indirect evaporative cooling + mechanical cooling).According to the dy-
namic changes of the outdoor environment parameters throughout the
year, the three working modes are dynamically switched in turn to pro-
vide a guarantee for the thermal environment of the data center.
4.2.1.2. Indicative parameters.
(1) Wet-bulb efficiency
The cooling efficiency is an important standard for the performance
evaluation of evaporative cooling units. The wet bulb efficiency is a pa-
rameter relationship describing the temperature of the cold air and the
imported working air wet bulb temperature in the indirect evaporative
cooling unit, where the evaporative cooling unit outputs the cold air wet
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bulb temperature efficiency equation:
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝜂𝑤𝑏 = × 100% (1)
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑤𝑏,𝑖𝑛
In the equation: 𝜂𝑤𝑏 —Wet bulb efficiency, %;
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 —The dry bulb temperature of the inlet air of the cooler, °C;
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 —The dry bulb temperature of the product air of the cooler,
°C;
𝑡𝑝,𝑤𝑏,𝑖𝑛 —The wet bulb temperature of the inlet air of the cooler, °C.
(1) Refrigeration capacity
The cooling capacity refers to the change in enthalpy of the output air
as it passes through the dry passages of the indirect evaporative cooling
heat exchanger [27] and is expressed as follows:
𝑄 = 𝜌𝑓 𝑉𝑝,𝑜𝑢𝑡 (𝑖𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑖𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) (2)
In the equation: 𝑄—Cooling capacity of the cooler, kW;
𝜌𝑓 —The density of product air of the cooler,𝑘𝑔∕𝑚3 ;
𝑉𝑝,𝑜𝑢𝑡 —The volume of product air of the cooler,𝑚3 ;
𝑖𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 —The air enthalpy value at the inlet of the cooler,𝑘𝐽 ∕𝑘𝑔;
𝑖𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 —The air enthalpy value at the outlet of the cooler, 𝑘𝐽 ∕𝑘𝑔.
Since the air is cooled with equal humidity in the dry channel of the
indirect evaporative cooling heat exchanger, the enthalpy change of the
air can be expressed in terms of the temperature drop of the air as it
flows through the dry channel. For this reason, the above equation can
be written as:
𝑄 = 𝑐𝑓 𝜌𝑓 𝑉𝑝,𝑜𝑢𝑡 (𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) (3)
In the equation: 𝑐𝑓 —The specific heat capacity of air, 𝑘𝐽 ∕(𝑘𝑔 ⋅ 𝐾)
The Eq. (3) is only valid for constant heat capacity.
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Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of a seawater direct

cooling system in a marine data center.

4.2.1.3. Research progress. Table 4

Comparison of the heat transfer efficiency of an indirect evapo-
(1) Research on the structure of the cooler rative cooler [27,28].

Cooler type Dry conditional heat Wet manual heat

Data centers use different structure types for coolers, shown in transfer efficiency transfer efficiency
Fig. 13.
Crossflow Plate 40%~50% 60%~85%
By summarizing the reference, it is found that the heat transfer ef-
Heat wheel 70%~80% 60%~70%
ficiency of different indirect evaporative coolers has a large difference. Heat pipe 50%~60% 65%~75%
The cooler of the data center air conditioner considers not only the heat Tube NA 40%~80%
exchange efficiency during wet working mode in summer, but also the
heat transfer efficiency between air/air during the dry operating mode
in winter and transition season. As shown in Table 4, the heat transfer
efficiency of the runner type indirect cooler is higher for dry conditions, ing time of the year. Therefore, plate fin and tube heat exchanger forms
but the heat transfer efficiency of the runner type heat exchanger is are more commonly used in data center air conditioning. At the same
lower for wet operation mode. Considering that the indirect evaporative time, the tube indirect evaporative cooler is recognized in data center
cooler of the data center needs to spray water during most of the operat- applications because it can effectively solve the problem of blockage.

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Fig. 9. Data center air-side direct evaporative cooling system

(a) Direct evaporative cooling filler. (b) Fan wall.

Fig. 10. Ningxia Zhongwei Amazon cloud

computing data center direct air-side free cool-
ing.

Fig. 11. The direct air-side free cooling of

Ningxia Zhongwei 360 cloud computing data
center.

(1) Research on the cooler material and established a test bench to test and analyze its performance, and the
hydrophilicity of porous ceramic effectively improves the heat transfer
The hydrophilic, anti-corrosive and evaporative characteristics of
performance of the indirect evaporative cooler. Huang Xiang [31] pro-
cooler materials are also prominent research areas. Manfredo Guilizzoni
posed to cover the surface of a tubular indirect evaporative cooler with
et al. [29] experimentally analyzed two different indirect evaporative
a layer of hygroscopic material and conducted theoretical and experi-
cooling (IEC) systems, one of which used a plate heat exchanger with a
mental studies on this layer of hygroscopic material to verify its use. Fan
standard epoxy coating (STD) and another that used a new hydrophilic
Lijuan [32] et al. pointed out through comparative analysis that the use
coating (HPHI). The results showed that the contact angle of the HPHI
of hydrophilic aluminum foil tubes, wrapping stainless steel mesh struc-
coating was always lower than the contact angle of the STD coating.
ture material, metal fiber fabric or polypropylene fiber fabric outside the
Sun T [30] et al. proposed a porous ceramic indirect evaporative cooler

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Fig. 12. Data center air-side indirect evaporative cooling schematic
(a) Dry mode (b) Wet mode (c) Mixed mode.
tube, and coating organic inorganic composite hydrophilic film outside
the heat exchanger tube are several proven measures to enhance heat
and mass transfer in the heat exchanger tube in tubular indirect evapora-
tive cooling systems. Xu P [33] From experimental tests on various fiber
fabrics, it can be concluded that various fabrics (textiles) are compared
with kraft paper that has been commonly used as a surface medium for
wet channels in indirect evaporative coolers. It can be found that most
of the textile fabrics have superior properties under the capillary action
of moisture, which are greater diffusion coefficient and better evapo-
ration capacity. Duan Z [34] et al. compared the capillary core suction
level of porous fiber materials such as kraft paper and non-woven fabrics
with time to provide a basis for indirect evaporative coolers. Chu Junjie
[35] et al., by testing the core suction height of 6 types of hydrophilic
material samples, compared the drip diffusion, moisture absorption and
moisture and surface structure, as well as the hydrophilic performance
of the material. It is considerd that the efficiency of indirect evaporative
cooling systems can be greatly excavated by the excellent hydrophilic
materials. Bruno [36] et al. constructed a fork-flow heat exchanger using
a special medium to improve the hydrophilic properties of the wet chan-
nel while moisture cannot pass through the dry channel. Tests showed
that the dew point efficiency of this heat exchanger was 75%, which is
still relatively low for a given operating condition. Velasco [37] et al. ex-
perimentally studied indirect evaporative cooling heat exchanger based
on polycarbonate. Benefit from low cost and low weight, as well as the
absence of corrosion problems, limiting the reduction of plate thickness
caused by low thermal conductivity. The results show that as the in-
let air temperature gradually increases from 25°C to 40°C, the cooling
capacity of the cooler is significantly improved.
4.2.1.4. Data center application case. The Huawei Big Data center of
Linyi is located in Linyi city, Shandong Province, shown in Fig. 14, and is
a big data center for cloud computing that radiates to the economic cir-
cle in the southern Shandong Province and northern Jiangsu Province.
The Huawei Linyi Data center project has a total investment of 1.5 bil-
lion yuan, covers an area of 95 mu, with a total construction area of
13,315 square meters, has 6 standardized modular server rooms, can
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carry 1,000 server cabinets, more than 10,000 servers, the project scale
of the first phase of 300 cabinets, including 4kW/cabinet in the low-
density area, 8kW/cabinet in the high-density area, using a total of 10
sets of air-side indirect evaporative cooling air conditioning, 3 months
to complete All components were installed in 3 months, shortening the
construction cycle by 50% and saving 11.3% of the annual electricity
cost of the data center. It is the first data center in the world to adopt
indirect evaporative cooling technology with a PUE value below 1.25.
From 2017 to the present, Tencent data centers have been mas-
sively laid out in first-tier cities around China, such as Huailai in Hebei,
Yizheng in Jiangsu and Qingyuan in Guangdong, carrying out large-
scale planning and construction of T-block, the fourth-generation data
center technology, shown in Fig. 15. As an important technical achieve-
ment of Tencent’s new infrastructure practice, where the PUE is about
1.2 and can be as low as 1.1.
4.2.2. Dew point indirect evaporative cooling
4.2.1.1. Technical principle. In 2003, Maisotenko [38] proposed a new
form of indirect evaporative cooling heat circulation, which allows any
type of gas or liquid to cool below the wet bulb temperature until the
it approaches the dew point temperature. Internationally, this thermal
cycle is called M-cycle, and since it is itself a form of indirect evapo-
rative cooling technology with more compact structure and higher heat
transfer efficiency, it is more often called dew point indirect evaporative
cooling technology by Chinese scholars. It almost overturned the percep-
tion of the traditional evaporative cooling technology of large volume
and low efficiency, dew point indirect evaporative cooling has the char-
acteristics of being able to provide output air after wet cooling such as
approaching the dew point, small footprint, flexible installation form,
etc. Therefore, its importance is increasingly attached to many scholars
at home and abroad, and is the main direction of evaporative cooling
technology.
Unlike the conventional indirect evaporative cooling process, in dew
point indirect evaporative cooling, small holes are punched in the sheet
on the wet and dry channel side, as shown in Fig. 16(a), or holes are
punched at the end of the dry channel to allow some of the primary
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Fig. 13. Indirect evaporative cooling heat exchanger’s physical map

(a) Plate fin (b) Heat wheel (c) Circular tube (d) Plate tube.

air to be introduced into the wet channel, as shown in Fig. 16(b). Such
secondary air is often part of the primary air, secondary air in the wet
channel before entering the heat exchanger core has been pre-cooled,
so that the wet bulb temperature of the secondary air after cooling will
be further reduced, enlarging the heat transfer temperature difference
between the dry and wet channels, making the primary air cooling in the
dry channel will increase, which can be its own wet bulb temperature
to sub-wet bulb temperature [39].
Dew point indirect evaporative cooling is represented on an
enthalpy-wet diagram, as in Fig. 17, where primary air 1 enters the dry
channel of the heat exchanger and is cooled with equal humidity, with
a state from point 1→2 (close to 1dp); it breaks through the wet bulb
temperature of the inlet air and reaches a sub-wet bulb temperature.
Part of the cooled primary air as secondary air is introduced into the
wet channel, along the way with the water film heat mass exchange,
the state from point 2 → 2wb → 3 Indicative parameters
(1) Dew point efficiency
Dew point efficiency is defined as the ratio between the tempera-
ture difference of the cold air inlet and outlet of the indirect evapora-
tive cooling unit and the temperature difference between the dry bulb
temperature of the unit’s inlet air and its dew point temperature. This
reflects the degree of influence of the unit output cold water tempera-
ture on the temperature of the inlet working air, where the evaporative

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Fig. 14. Huawei Linyi Data center.

Fig. 15. Tencent T-Block Data center.

Fig. 16. Dew point indirect evaporative cooling schematic

(a) Cross flow (b) Countercurrent flow.

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Fig. 17. Dew point indirect evaporative cooling process wet.
cooling unit outputs a cold wind dew point efficiency; see Eq. (4) as
follows:
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝜂𝑑𝑝 = × 100% (4)
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑖𝑛 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑝,𝑖𝑛
In the equation: 𝜂𝑑𝑝 —Dew point efficiency, %;
𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑝,𝑖𝑛 —The dew point temperature of the inlet air of the cooler, °C.
(1) Approximation
The unit output cold air or cold water approximation is defined as
the difference between the unit output cold air dry bulb temperature or
output cold water temperature and the dew point temperature of the
incoming air, where the indirect evaporative cooling unit output cold
air approximation, as shown in Eq. (5):
𝐴 = 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑡𝑝,𝑑𝑝,𝑖𝑛 (5)
In the equation: A—Degree of approximation,°C.
4.2.2.2. Dew point heat exchanger. Scholars at home and abroad have
conducted a lot of research on the flow channel form, heat transfer core
size, operation conditions, and cooling effect of dew point evaporative
coolers. Since this paper only focuses on the research and application of
the dew point cooler in the data center, only the relevant experimental
results of the dew point cooler are shown in Table 5.
4.2.2.3. Data center application case. There have also been attempts by
scholars on how to apply dew point coolers to data centers. The Na-
tional Renewable Energy Laboratory [52,53] in the Colorado National
Ice Snow data center adopted a direct air-side free cooling system for
indirect evaporation of cooling heat exchangers in conjunction with a
dew point cooler, as shown in Fig. 18. The results show that system en-
ergy consumption is reduced by 75% in the summer, while in winter it
is possible to reduce it by 90%.
Yin Bi [54] proposed indirectly evaporating the new refurbishment
dew point to the data center cooling system, as shown in Fig. 19, and
found that the energy utilization efficiency (PUE) of the data center is
found by using a new dew point cooling system. Between 1.10∼ 1.22, it
is much higher than the use of traditional cooling technology. Using a
new dew point cooling system and the best supply management system,
an 87.7∼91.6% electricity consumption saving for space cooling in DCs
could be achieved in 10 typical cities at 10 selected climatic conditions.
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5. Data center water-side evaporative cooling
5.1. Cooling tower cooling system
In an air-side evaporative free cooling system, the produced cold air
needs to be sent into the cold aisle of the data center through the air
supply duct. Therefore, the air supply duct of the system should not be
too long, nor should there be too many elbows and inflection points.
Thus, air-side evaporative free cooling systems are often suitable for
warehouse-type and flat-layer data centers. The building forms of data
centers in the actual process are diverse, and at the same time, since the
cooling capacity of wind is much smaller than that of water, the water-
side evaporative natural cooling system has become a hot research topic
for data center thermal environment control. The water-side free cooling
system adds a plate heat exchanger between the cooling water and the
chilled water. When the outdoor temperature is low, the chilled water is
directly cooled by the low-temperature cooling water by the controlling
part or all of the cooling water to flow to the new heat exchanger. This
reduces the compressor operation and achieves energy savings, shown
in Fig. 20. Traditionally, cooling towers are used to directly supply cool-
ing capacity to the data center to increase the free cooling time of the
system.
Taylor S T et al. [55] noted when the air temperature in the cold
aisle of the data center exceeds 27°C and the temperature in the hot
aisle exceeds 38°C, conversely, these air temperatures allow the cooling
water supply temperature to exceed 18°C, which is easily reached by the
cooling tower during most of the year under most climatic conditions.
J Thomas et al. [56] listed two different free cooling methods
through water-side cooling technology. One is that a single cooling
tower can be used for both a water-side economizer and heat extrac-
tion from the chiller, and the other one has two cooling towers, one of
which is dedicated as a water-side economizer. These two configura-
tions have their own advantages, depending on the climatic conditions
that need to be considered.
Y Udagawa et al. [57] noted that a free cooling system is one of
the effective way to reduce the energy consumption of air condition-
ing systems. In recent years, free cooling systems have attracted signif-
icant attention in Japan, so their introduction has been investigated,
and simulation-based evaluation calculations have been conducted. The
estimation results show that the water-side cooler needs to double the
capacity of the cooling tower and consider the installation space and
cost.
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Table 5
Summary of the dew point indirect evaporative cooling experimental results.
Researcher Flow path form Experiment entrance
conditions
Riangvilaikul et al. [40] Countercurrent flow Imported Dry bulb
(2010 Thailand) temperature = 25-45°C
Air humidity = 6.9-26.4 g/kg
Air flow rate = 1.5-6 m/s
Secondary/primary = 0.33
Zhan et al. [41-42] Cross flow Imported Dry bulb
(2011 UK) temperature = 25-40°C
Entering air relative
humidity = 50%
Air flow = 130 m3/h
Countercurrent flow Imported Dry bulb
temperature = 25-45°C
Entrance air moisture
weight = 6.9-26.4 g/kg
Entrance air flow rate = 2.4
m/s
Secondary/primary = 0.33
Lee and Lee [43] Countercurrent flow Imported Dry bulb
(2013 South Korea) temperature = 27.5-32°C
Imported air moisture
weight = 9.19-18.11 g/kg
Air flow rate = 1.0 m/s
Secondary air flow rate = 0.6
m/s
Secondary/primary = 0.3
Sergey, Demis et al [44] Cross flow Air flow = 95-400 m3/h
(2015 Poland) Secondary air flow = 95-400
m3/h
Imported air Dry bulb
temperature = 20-44°C
Entrance air moisture
weight = 9-26 g/kg
Rogdakis Ed et al [45] Cross flow Imported Dry bulb
(2013 Greece) temperature = 33.1-36.5°C
Import air relative
humidity = 30.3-33.5%
Secondary/primary = 1
X. Cui et al [46] Countercurrent flow Imported Dry bulb
(2015 Singapore) temperature = 25-40°C
Imported air moisture = 8-20
g/kg
Air flow rate = 1.0-2.5 m/s
Secondary air flow
rate = 1.0-2.5 m/s
Liu Jiali et al [47] Cross flow Imported Dry bulb
(2014 China) temperature = 36.2-36.7°C
Imported wet ball
temperature = 26.5-28.8°C
Secondary/primary = 0.67-
0.95
Song Wei, etc. [48] Cross flow Imported Dry bulb
(2014 China) temperature = 36-38.7°C
imported wet ball
temperature = 28.4-29.3°C
imported dew point
temperature = 25.3-27.3°C
Relative
humidity = 47-61.4%
Jiang Xiaoqiang, etc. Cross flow Imported Dry bulb
[49] temperature = 38°C,
(2015 China) Imported wet ball
temperature = 23°C,
Imported dew point
temperature = 16.1°C
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Accuracy Research content Experimental results
Cooling efficiency
Air supply temperature Effects of various Wet bulb efficiency:
error 5% imported air parameters 106% -109%
Wet bulging efficiency and structural Dew point efficiency:
error 10% parameters and other 65% -86%
factors on the thermal
performance
Wet bulb efficiency error Comparative analysis of Wet bulb efficiency:
0.2-0.4% the fork flow heat 116%
transfer and
countercurrent heat
exchanger under the
The air supply same geometric Dew point efficiency:
temperature error is less dimensions and 80% -90%
than 3.4% operating conditions,
and perform
corresponding parameter
methods
Combine better Analysis of the plus rib Wet bulb efficiency:
coolers placed in an 118% -122%
artificial climate under Dew point efficiency:
different operating 75% -90%
conditions
The deviation of the The convergence cooler Air moisture is 25 g/kg
primary air flow outlet for the fork agent was as an example
temperature is up to 5%, evaluated, compared Wet bulb efficiency: 90%
the deviation of the with the results of the -110%
cooling capacity is as test and numerical Dew point efficiency:
high as 7%, and the simulation, further 63% -68%
maximum difference analyzing the method of
between the wet bulb improving the cooling
and dew point efficiency capacity and efficiency
is 6%.
The air supply Discusses the effects of Wet bulb
temperature error is less different meteorological efficiency:97%-115%
than 1°C, and the conditions and the
moisture error in the secondary air and
secondary air exit is less primary air volume ratio
than 10%. on the cooler’s cooling
performance and water
consumption in Greece
The air supply The air import Wet bulb
temperature error is less parameters are efficiency:122%-132%
than 7.3%, the air discussed, indoor air is Dew point
temperature difference discounted as a back efficiency:81%-93%
error is less than 7.4% ventilation, geometric
size, and rib on the
performance of the
cooler performance.
results of testing In high humidity regions, Wet bulb
the performance efficiency:103%
parameters, such as the
wind pressure, efficiency,
secondary/one air
volume, length, and
water consumption are
actually tested.
results of testing Experimental test Wet bulb efficiency: 91%
analysis using dew point
evaporative cooling air
conditioners in the
simulated data machine
room
results of testing A new type of dew point Wet bulb efficiency:
evaporative cooling air 126%
conditioning unit is
designed, and the
experimental platform is
designed for the analysis.
(continued on next page)
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Table 5 (continued)

Researcher Flow path form Experiment entrance Accuracy Research content Experimental results
conditions Cooling efficiency

Wang Yugang et al [50] Cross flow Select 8 outdoor temperature
(2015 China) and humidity parameters
that mainly represent the city
Peng Xu et al. [51] Countercurrent flow Select 5 outdoor temperature
(2017 UK) and humidity parameters
from the world around the
world
The experimental effect A new type of dew point 150 m3/h
is better than the indirect evaporative Wet bulb efficiency: 80%
simulation effect. cooling air conditioning -99%
system was established, Dew point efficiency:
and the study was 50% -75%
conducted via
experimental simulations
under 8 different
climatic conditions.
results of testing Simulations under 5 In the Dry bulb
different climatic temperature of 37.8°C,
conditions, inside the the wet ball temperature
laboratory is 21.1°C under
conditions
Wet bulb efficiency:
114%
Dew point efficiency:
75%
COP up to 52.5

Fig. 18. Schematic of the new cooling system

for the NSIDC (winter operation).

Fig. 19. Schematic drawing of the novel dew point cooling system.

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J. Chu and X. Huang
Fig. 20. Schematic diagram of the data center cooling tower cooling system.
Christy Sujatha et al. [58] compared the energy consumption of a
data center using a traditional cooling system with a data center us-
ing a water-side economizer in view of the fact that the outdoor air in
the three different areas of Chicago, Atlanta, and Phoenix is relatively
cool most of the time. The results show that the performance of the wa-
ter economizer is always better than that of the air economizer, which
significantly improves the efficiency and cost of the cooling system of
the data center. The performance ratios of conventional air condition-
ers, air-side economizers, and water-side economizers are 50%, 76%,
and 79%, respectively, indicating that economizers have greater energy-
saving effects than conventional systems.
Bruce A. Hellmer et al. [59] analyzed the power and water con-
sumption of cooling systems, involving the use of dry coolers, water-side
economizers, air-side economizers, steam, and ultrasonic and evapora-
tive humidifiers in telecommunication/data centers across the United
States to perform refrigeration. The results show that the air-side econ-
omizers is the most energy-efficient mode, although the energy saved in
the tropics is quite small.
Dong Wei et al. [60] proposed a mode conversion strategy based on
a prediction method. When the cold water return temperature is greater
than the predicted heat exchanger outlet temperature (PHXLWT) plus
a threshold, the economizer can save energy. This transition strategy
was implemented on a TRNSYS-MATLAB test bench. The results show
that, compared with the traditional wet bulb temperature constant tem-
perature method, this method has a better energy-saving effect, the free
cooling operation time can be extended to approximately 120%, and the
total energy consumption is reduced by 7%.
Saurabh K. Shrivastava et al. [61] proposed that there are two main
types of air containment systems: hot aisle closure and cold aisle closure.
They also estimated the energy consumption of the three types of chan-
nel sealing structures used in three different types of data center cooling
systems (dry coolers, cooling towers and water-side economizers). They
determined that dry coolers with hot aisle seals were the most energy
efficient.
Jinkyun Cho et al. [62]considered that the outdoor environment af-
fects the energy consumption of facilities. The terms and definitions of
two different energy-saving modes were also given, and their energy
performance was compared with key data center attributes in temper-
ate or subtropical regions. The terminal power failure and power us-
age efficiency (PUE) values were estimated in typical years. The water-
side economizer can achieve a maximum energy saving performance ap-
proximately 16.6% higher than the reference traditional cooling system,
while the air-side economizer can save approximately 42.4% energy.
Robert Tozer et al [63] have the potential to achieve zero energy
cooling for every type of free cooling system across the United States
when air is supplied to the data halls within the ASHRAE recommen-
dations and allowances. Zero-energy cooling solutions offer significant
capital cost savings due to the reduction of mechanical equipment and
associated supporting electrical infrastructure (e.g., switchboards, gen-
erators, distribution panels, etc.). In many U.S. climates, 100% natural
cooling (zero cooling) is possible, and significant savings in operating
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and capital costs can be achieved. Yury Y. Lui et al. [64] proposed that
the application of water-side economizers to data center projects re-
quires additional consideration to meet unique design standards that are
not common in other commercial building types. Design considerations
for water-side economizers include appropriate equipment size, cooling
tower antifreeze, pump design in parallel and series configurations, and
control strategies for system stability.
Quan Zhang et al. [65] proposed a cooling system in which the data
center directly uses lake water and a cooling tower and conducted sim-
ulation and actual measurement analysis, shown in Fig. 21. The sim-
ulation and test results show that when the air supply temperature is
set to 24°C and the water supply temperature is set to 15°C, the energy
consumption of the cooling system reaches a minimum.
Zuiliang Ma et al. [66] introduced the principle, system form and
foreign application examples of cooling tower cooling, and analyzed
the cooling temperature and system equipment selection, local climatic
conditions, building load characteristics and other factors that affect the
cooling tower cooling economy, while looking forward to the applica-
tion prospects of this technology in China.
Jianli Zhe et al. [67] determined that the free cooling system of the
cooling tower can operate stably within a specific temperature range
through tests. The location and form of the data center conditioning
terminal has great significance to extending the free cooling time of
the cooling tower. The closer the indoor terminal is to the cabinet, the
smaller the cooling loss, the smaller the requirement for outdoor meteo-
rological parameters, and the longer the free cooling time of the cooling
tower.
Cooling tower and natural cooling source cooling technology in the
data center related engineering cases, but the cooling tower water tem-
perature is relatively high, the application range is narrow and the use of
mode is simple, only as a supplementary means of mechanical cooling.
The use of natural cooling source direct cooling, the actual project will
be subject to the greater constraints and impact of natural conditions.
5.2. Indirect evaporative cooling chiller cooling system
5.2.1. Technical Principle
Indirect evaporative cooling chillers use the dry air energy contained
in the unsaturated air as the driving force. Before the air and water are
directly contacted for the evaporative cooling process, the air is first
cooled via isohumidity to produce cold water. The limit temperature
of the cold water is the dew point temperature of the air. The indirect
evaporative cooling chiller is generally composed of two sections: an
indirect evaporative cooling precooling section and a water spray filling
section, as shown in Fig. 22. The enthalpy diagram of the cooling process
is shown in Fig. 23.
5.2.2. Indicative parameters
(1) Sub-wet bulb efficiency
The sub-wet bulb efficiency of the indirect evaporative cooling
chiller is defined as the difference between the wet bulb temperature
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Fig. 21. Schematic diagram of the lake water direct cooling system of the lake water data center.

Fig. 22. Schematic diagram of the indirect evapora-

tive cooling chiller

of the unit’s inlet air and the wet bulb temperature after the indirect
section, as well as the ratio of the difference between the wet bulb tem-
perature of the unit’s inlet air and the dew point temperature of the
unit’s inlet air. Reflecting the effect of the indirect section and the de-
gree to which the unit inlet air wet bulb temperature approaches the
unit inlet air dew point temperature; see equation (6):
𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑜 − 𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑐
𝜔= (6)
𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑜 − 𝑡𝑑𝑝,𝑜
Among them,
𝜔: sub-wet bulb efficiency of indirect evaporative precooling unit,
%;
𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑜 : wet bulb temperature of ambient air, °C;
𝑡𝑑𝑝,𝑜 : dew point temperature of ambient air, °C;
𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑐 : wet bulb temperature of precooled ambient air, °C.
(2) Water-side cooling efficiency of the packing section of the chiller
The precooled ambient air and the return water of the heat-carrying
unit are in direct contact with the water spray filler for evaporative
cooling, heat, and humidity exchange. During the change process, the
limit temperature that the return water of the unit can reach is the wet
bulb temperature after the ambient air is precooled. Therefore, after the
water-sprinkling filling section is processed, the reduction degree of the
return water temperature of the unit can be described via expression (7),
which is called the "water-side cooling efficiency of the water-sprinkling

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filling". Generally, the cooling efficiency of the water-side of the spray
filler is between 60% and 80%.
𝑡𝐻 − 𝑡𝐺
Γ𝑤 = (7)
𝑡𝐻 − 𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑐
Among them,
Γ𝑤 : cooling efficiency of the water drenching filler on the water-side,
%;
𝑡𝐻 : return water temperature of the unit, °C;
𝑡𝐺 : supply water temperature of the unit, °C;
𝑡𝑤𝑏,𝑐 : wet bulb temperature of precooled ambient air, °C.
5.2.3. System type
Fig. 23 shows a schematic diagram of the indirect evaporative cool-
ing system on the data center’s water side. The core equipment of the
water-side indirect evaporative cooling system is the indirect evapora-
tive cooling chiller [68-70]. When the outdoor environment dry bulb
temperature is lower than 3°C, it is the dry operation mode of the air-
side indirect evaporative free cooling air conditioning system, as shown
in Fig. 24 (a). At this time, the air-conditioning system uses the an-
tifreeze cooling medium (such as glycol) in the cooling coil to exchange
heat with the cooler outdoor air to remove heat for the data center.
When the outdoor environment temperature rises and the dry bulb tem-
perature is higher than 3°C, the effective heat removal of the data cen-
ter cannot be guaranteed by relying only on an air/antifreeze cooling
medium heat exchange. At this time, the indirect evaporative cooling
chiller begins working, and the air conditioning system switches to wet
mode. The operation mode is indirect evaporative cooling to produce
the cold water operation mode. The cold water produced by the indirect
evaporative cooling chiller removes the heat of the data center through
the plate heat exchanger, as shown in Fig. 24 (b). When the outdoor
environment temperature continues to rise and the ambient wet bulb
temperature is higher than 18°C, the indirect evaporative cooling mode
is still unable to effectively remove heat, so the mechanical refrigeration
chiller is turned on and the indirect evaporative cooling and mechani-
cal refrigeration coupled operation mode is run, as shown in Fig. 24 (c).
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Fig. 23. The indirect evaporative cooling chiller is
shown on the enthalpy diagram.
The cold water produced by the mechanical refrigeration chiller is di-
rectly provided to the air conditioning terminal of the data center, and
the indirect evaporative cooling chiller is used to discharge the heat
of the mechanical refrigeration chiller. The temperature of cold water
produced via indirect evaporative cooling chillers is lower than that of
ordinary cooling towers, thereby improving the energy efficiency of the
entire air conditioning system.
5.2.4. Research progress
Data center water-side indirect evaporative free cooling technology
is the latest attempt to apply indirect evaporative cooling chillers in a
data center. Water-side indirect evaporative free cooling chillers have
multiple functional sections and diverse usage modes. The cooling rate
is greater compared with cooling towers. In the reality of increasing heat
generation in data centers, research on indirect evaporative cooling on
the water-side has attracted increasing attention.
Huang Xiang et al. [71] proposed an indirect evaporative cooling
chiller that uses an indirect evaporative cooler to precool the inlet air.
It was applied to the data center cooling project in Xinjiang Uygur Au-
tonomous Region of China, as shown in Fig. 25, and it achieved 100%
free cooling of the data center air conditioning system throughout the
year. The system is safe and reliable in operation, energy savings and
water savings and has considerable economic benefits.
Feng Xiaoxiao et al. [72] proposed a data room cooling system based
on an indirect evaporative cooling tower. In summer, the indirect evap-
orative cooling tower is used as the cooling tower of the mechanical
refrigerator, which can prepare cooling water lower than the wet bulb
temperature, thereby improving the COP of the refrigerator; in winter,
the indirect evaporative cooling tower is used as the cold source of the
cooling system to independently supply the cooling capacity to the data
room. Because of the unique structure of the indirect evaporative cool-
ing tower, it can realize the function of antifreezing in winter.
Geng Zhichao et al. [73] analyzed and noted that in Xinjiang Urumqi,
Qinghai Xining, Gansu Lanzhou, Ningxia Yinchuan and Shaanxi Xi’an,
the indirect water-side free cooling system of air precooling direct evap-
orative cooling chillers operates in the full free cooling mode throughout
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J. Chu and X. Huang Energy and Built Environment xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 24. Schematic diagram of the indirect

evaporative cooling system on the water-side
of the data center
(a) Dry mode
(b) Wet mode
(c) Tandem hybrid mode
(d) Parallel hybrid mode.

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J. Chu and X. Huang
Fig. 25. Schematic diagram of the indirect evaporative cooling system on the water-side of the new data center
(a) Cold season (b) Normal season (c) High temperature and humidity season.
the year. The hours are 40.8% (2508 h), 20.5% (1467 h), 38.0% (2195
h), 25.3% (1473 h), and 38.1% (1576 h) more hours, respectively than
the indirect water-side free cooling system of the direct-entry evapora-
tive cooling chiller.
Guo Zhicheng et al. [74], aimed at the free cooling air-conditioning
system of a data center in Xinjiang, used the abundant dry air energy and
low-temperature air in Xinjiang as free cooling sources, and achieved
the first application of a cooling air-water air-conditioning system in
the field of a data center computer room air-conditioning system based
on direct evaporative cooling technology, indirect evaporative cooling
technology and glycol free cooling technology, and achieved 100% free
cooling throughout the year. The actual measurement shows that the
water consumption of the chiller unit and the fresh air unit are 0.34
m3 /h and 0.06 m3 /h, respectively. The SCOP of the system is 16.64, and
the COP is 6.65. The theoretical PUE of this data center is 1.285, which is
compared with the two commonly used air-conditioning systems in the
computer room. This method has a maximum annual energy saving rate
of 73%, a saving operating costs of 2.663 million yuan, and an annual
cabinet revenue of 5.15 million yuan. The system is safe and reliable
in operation, energy savings and water savings and has considerable
economic benefits.
Facebook is preparing to build Asia’s first data center in Singapore,
and it is expected to begin operation in 2022. A new type of cooling
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Energy and Built Environment xxx (xxxx) xxx
method will be used in the data center cooling system, namely, state
point liquid cooling (SPLC) [75], as shown in Fig. 26 (a). SPLC uses
a membrane separation layer to produce cold water instead of cold air
through indirect evaporative cooling technology, as shown in Fig. 26 (c).
In the water flow channel, a small part of the processed return water will
pass through the membrane separation layer and directly contact the
working air in the air flow channel to evaporate heat absorption in or-
der to achieve a cooling effect on the processed return water. The mem-
brane separation layer prevents cross-contamination between the water
and air streams. The SPLC air handling unit, as shown in Fig. 26 (b),
is mainly composed of precooling coils, air-water film heat exchangers,
direct evaporative cooling units, dry cooling coils, and electrical control
units. The application form of the cooling system in the data center is
shown in the figure. The server cabinets in the computer room are ar-
ranged in a closed hot aisle, and the cold water taken out by the unit
system is exchanged through the heat exchange coils on both sides of
the computer room. The return air in the closed hot aisle of the ma-
chine room is cooled by the heat exchange coils on both sides of the
machine room and then sent to the cold aisle using a fan. The return
water of the heat exchange coil is returned to the SPLC unit for cooling.
When the SPLC air handling unit is applied in the data center cooling
system there are three operating modes: (1) when the outside ambient
air temperature is low, the return water of the heat exchange coil in the
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Fig. 26. Facebook Schematic diagram of the SPLC system in the Singapore data center
(a) SPLC System diagram (b) SPLC Schematic diagram of the unit
(c) Schematic diagram of the internal membrane separation heat exchanger of the unit.
computer room is directly returned to the dry cooling coil in the SPLC
unit, and the outside cold air directly exchanges heat through the dry
cooling coil to produce cold water; (2) when the temperature of the out-
side ambient air is high, the return water from the heat exchange coil
in the computer room returns to the dry cooling coil in the SPLC unit,
the external ambient air needs to be precooled by the direct evaporative
cooling unit, and then the dry cooling coil is used to exchange heat to
produce cold water; (3) when the temperature of the external ambient
air is high, the return water of the heat exchange coil in the computer
room returns to the air-film heat exchanger, and part of the cold water
taken out is transported to the heat exchange coil in the machine room,
and the other part is transported to the precooling coil in the SPLC unit.
The outside air first passes through the precooling coil. After the cold
coil is precooled, it enters the membrane heat exchanger to perform in-
direct evaporative cooling on the back water of the machine room to be
processed.
6. Data center freon-side evaporative cooling
6.1. Technical Principle
Freon-side evaporative cooling technology is an air conditioning sys-
tem that uses evaporative cooling technology to dissipate heat from the
condenser of the chiller, and the cold water that is produced is passed
through the air-conditioning terminal to bear the heat load and wet load
of the air-conditioning area. The evaporative condenser "combines the
cooling tower and the condenser into one" using air and water as the
cooling medium, shown in Fig. 27. When working, the water pump and
fan are started. At this time, the water in the water tank is sprayed
through the nozzle by the suction action of the water pump and sprayed
on the surface of the heat exchange coil to form a uniform water film.
The air then enters from the air inlet and is forced out after sweeping
across the surface of the coil due to the action of the fan. The air is in
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Energy and Built Environment xxx (xxxx) xxx
contact with the water film on the surface of the coil. For the water film
and the air exchange heat and mass under the combined action of the
temperature difference and the water vapor partial pressure difference,
a direct evaporative cooling process occurs. The surface temperature of
the water film is reduced and then passes through the heat exchange
plate. The heat conduction effect of the tube cools the medium in the
tube, condensing the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant va-
por into a low-temperature refrigerant liquid. The heat of condensation
is then discharged to the outside by the air outside the tube through the
fan.
6.2. Research progress
For the application of evaporative condensers to data center systems,
some related scholars have also researched and engineering applications
in recent years. Zongwei Han et al. [76] proposed an evaporative cooling
composite air-conditioning system with the goal of improving the energy
efficiency of data centers. On this basis, a mathematical model based on
the operating characteristics of the system was established. Through ex-
perimental verification, the energy-saving performance of the system
under different climatic conditions was studied. The simulation results
show that when the system PUE value is lower than 1.40, the system
has good energy-saving advantages in different regions. Dongqing Wu
[77] used an evaporative condensing air-conditioning system to supply
cooling capacity to the data room in Xinjiang, China, shown in Fig. 28.
A 45% ethylene glycol (freezing point temperature is -32°C) solution
was added to the air conditioning cold water system to prevent the cold
water from freezing in winter, achieving the free cooling mode of the
system in winter. After adopting this technology the PUE was 1.362,
reaching the required target, and the energy saving effect was remark-
able. Tingting Li [78] introduced an engineering example of the appli-
cation of evaporative condensers in a data center in Yinchuan, Ningxia.
Through actual tests on the air conditioning system, thermal environ-
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Fig. 28. Schematic diagram of the evaporative cooling system on the freon-side of the data center.
ment, and power consumption of various electrical equipment in the
computer room, the test results showed that the computer room’s av-
erage temperature of the environment is 23.3°C, which can essentially
reach the design standard of 23±3°C. The system can also meet the cool-
ing demand of the computer room and has obvious energy-saving ef-
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Fig. 27. Schematic diagram of the evaporative con-
denser.
fects, which provides a basis for the future energy-saving transformation
of the data center. Xiaoqing Su [79] studied the applicability of evapora-
tive condensing chillers in computer room air conditioning applications.
Through a comparison with water-cooled chillers, it was concluded that
evaporative condensing chillers save approximately 29.5%. It is a ben-
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Table 6
PUE reference values.
Standard Good Better
2.0 1.4 1.1
Table 7
WUE reference values of evaporative cool-
ing air conditioners in data centers.
Standard Good Better
2.0 1.0 0.5
eficial attempt to apply evaporative condensation technology to data
centers. However, it is very risky for the system to be used throughout
the year, especially when the host is running with spray water during
the transition season (outdoor temperature is lower than 0°C). Winter
operation strategies and risks are fully evaluated and prepared in ad-
vance.
7. Development of evaporative cooling technology in data center
7.1. More power savings
Energy saving is always the eternal theme of the development of data
center air conditioning. PUE (power usage effectiveness) is the earliest
energy efficiency indicator proposed by the Green Grid [80]. PUE is
defined as the ratio of the total power to run the data center facility to
the total power drawn by all IT equipment:
𝑇 𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐹 𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑃 𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑃 𝑈𝐸 = (8)
𝐼𝑇 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑃 𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
An average data center has a PUE of 2.0; however, several recent
superefficient data centers have been known to achieve a PUE as low as
1.1.The reference values of PUE in the data center are shown in Table 6.
In an air-conditioning system combined with evaporative cooling
and mechanical refrigeration, to meet the safe and reliable operation
of the data center throughout the year the mechanical refrigeration ca-
pacity is generally designed to be 100% in the preliminary design, and
the subsequent unreasonable operation will increase the energy con-
sumption of the system, failing to achieve the purpose of saving elec-
tricity. The operation mode of the data center evaporative cooling air-
conditioning system is then freely switched according to the changes of
outdoor meteorological parameters, so its energy-saving effect depends
on the efficient control strategy of the system and the later standard-
ized operation and maintenance management. This is also a relatively
lacking link at present.
7.2. More water savings
The application of evaporative cooling air conditioning in data cen-
ters leads to water consumption. How to save water is also a research
focus of evaporative cooling air conditioning in data centers. WUE (wa-
ter usage effectiveness) is a data center water efficiency evaluation index
proposed by the Green Grid [81].
𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑊 𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑈 𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑊 𝑈𝐸 = (9)
𝐼𝑇 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑃 𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
WUE is defined as the ratio of the total water consumption of the
data center evaporative cooling equipment to the power consumption
of IT equipment throughout the year. The closer the WUE is to 0, the
higher the water saving degree of the evaporative cooling equipment in
a data center.The reference values of WUE in the data center are shown
in Table 7.
Facing the enormous water consumption and shortage of water re-
sources in data centers, evaporative cooling equipment is used as the
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Energy and Built Environment xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table 8
RD reference values of evaporative cool-
ing air conditioning.
Standard Good Better
6 5 4
cold source of the data center air conditioning system. The water con-
sumption indicators of different forms of evaporative cooling equipment
vary greatly. Evaporative cooling equipment should be reasonably con-
figured in order to reduce data, specifically the WUE value of the central
evaporative cooling equipment.
7.3. More land savings
Evaporative cooling air conditioners are weather air conditioners,
and the equipment volume is usually relatively large. When it is applied
in a data center, the volume of the cooling equipment also becomes
a factor that must be considered because of the large amount of heat
generated in the data center, the large cooling capacity required, and
the huge number of evaporative cooling air conditioning equipment.
We use the refrigeration equipment cooling density RD as an evaluation
index to measure the size of the cooling capacity per unit volume of the
equipment.
𝐶 𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶 𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑅𝐷 = (10)
𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
RD—refrigeration capacity per unit area of refrigeration equipment,
kW/m2 ;
This index reflects the ratio of the refrigeration capacity of the evap-
orative cooling equipment to the area of the equipment and character-
izes the refrigeration capacity of the evaporative cooling equipment per
unit area. Under the same conditions of cooling capacity, the greater
the cooling density is, the smaller the equipment area is. The reference
values of RD in the data center are shown in Table 8.
Currently, indirect evaporative cooling air-conditioning units are
used in data centers to improve the heat exchange efficiency and re-
duce the footprint of the unit, mainly using efficient and compact indi-
rect evaporative coolers. From the relatively large structure of the tube
type to the current plate-fin type, it will develop in the direction of mi-
crochannel heat exchangers in the future. However, the more compact
the structure of the evaporative cooler is, the higher the air quality re-
quirements are. Therefore, to prevent the microchannel compact heat
exchanger from clogging, the air must be filtered to avoid the risk of
clogging the heat exchange core, thereby improving the operating effi-
ciency of the unit.
8. Conclusion
(1) The application of evaporative cooling air-conditioning sys-
tems in data centers mainly includes air-side evaporative cool-
ing air-conditioning systems, water-side evaporative cooling air-
conditioning systems, and freon-side evaporative cooling air-
conditioning systems. Evaporative cooling air-conditioning tech-
nology can reduce the annual PUE of the data center to below
1.25, which has great promotion value in data center applica-
tions. The applications of evaporative cooling technology on dif-
ferent aspects has matured. For the different forms of evaporative
cooling air-conditioning systems in data centers, their application
conditions and scenarios should be comprehensively considered
to achieve the maximum use of renewable energy-dry air energy
in data center air-conditioning systems, thereby reducing the en-
ergy consumption of data center air-conditioning systems.
(2) The following should be given attention: optimizing the structure
and size of evaporative cooling refrigeration and air-conditioning
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J. Chu and X. Huang
equipment in data centers and adopting a modular and highly in-
tegrated design concept to realize the prefabrication and produc-
tization of data center refrigeration and air-conditioning technol-
ogy. At the same time, combining free cooling technology with
other refrigeration and renewable energy technologies, a better
combination of energy technology can better cater to the needs
of rapid development and construction of data centers.
(3) The equationtion of relevant advanced and applicable evapora-
tive cooling and air-conditioning technical standards for data
centers should be strengthened. It is necessary not only to put
forward high-quality requirements for different forms of air-
conditioning products, but also to pay more attention to system
design and operation. The efficient operation of the refrigeration
and air-conditioning system in the data center has been real-
ized, and the energy consumption of the refrigeration and air-
conditioning system in the data center has been effectively re-
duced. Contributions should be made to China’s 2030 "carbon
peak" and 2060 "carbon neutral" long-term plans.
Author Statement
Junjie Chu: Methodology, Software, Writing-Original Draft, Review
and Editing
Xiang Huang: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision,
Review and Editing.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Shenzhen Sustainable Development
Science and Technology Project (2021N033), the National Key Research
and Development Program (2016YFC0700404), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (51676145).
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