by Brianna Crandall — May 23, 2014—Data center rack heat loads are steadily climbing, creating a need for liquid cooling solutions to reduce the volume of airflow needed, as well as lower processor temperatures for better computer performance, according to global building technology society ASHRAE. Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers, Second Edition, recently published by ASHRAE, provides best practice guidance for implementing liquid cooling systems in data centers.
“There is an increasing interest in liquid-cooled IT equipment at the rack, equipment and component levels,” said Don Beaty, publication chair of Technical Committee 9.9., Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment. “There is also increased interest in reuse of the heat rejected from IT equipment. One of the more important changes to the second edition is the addition of supply water temperature classification.”
Beaty claims that the addition of liquid classes can have a similar effect on the industry as the creation of supply air temperature classes did—which was reportedly the critical enabler to the use of economizers in data centers.
“There are five water temperature classes, with the highest temperature class being >45°C (113°F), which opens up possibilities for using the rejected heat for building heating systems,” he said.
The guide bridges the liquid cooling systems by providing guidelines on interface requirements between the chilled-water system and the technology-cooling system and on the requirements of liquid-cooled systems that attach to a datacom electronics rack to aid in data center thermal management.
Also included are updated references and further information on approach temperatures and liquid immersion cooling, plus guidance on water quality problems and wetted material requirements.
Additionally, the guide covers definitions for liquid and air cooling as they apply to information technology (IT) equipment, along with an overview of chilled-water and condenser water systems and other datacom equipment cooling options.
Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers, Second Edition, is available from the ASHRAE Bookstore at a cost of $59 ($50 ASHRAE members). This book is the fourth in the ASHRAE Datacom Series, authored by ASHRAE TC 9.9.
