by Brianna Crandall — June 6, 2016 — Upsite Technologies, provider of data center airflow management solutions used by companies around the world, recently announced that Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling has demonstrated the energy savings outlined by its 4 R’s of Airflow Management methodology. The company tapped Future Facilities North America (Future Facilities NA), global provider of engineering simulation software for data center design and operational planning, to demonstrate the findings through the utilization of its 6SigmaDCX CFD simulation tool.
Holistic methodology to improve computer room airflow management demonstrated to help data center operators realize robust energy savings and improve environment.
Upsite’s 4 R’s of Airflow Management (see video on YouTube) provides a guide for implementing changes to optimize cooling and achieve the greatest benefits of airflow management, including a lower Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) score, reduced energy costs, and increased information technology (IT) equipment reliability. The 4 R’s methodology details the improvements and best practices made to a data center’s racks, raised floor, rows, and room that will provide these benefits and optimize the cooling infrastructure.
6SigmaDCX was used to model a 4,000 sq. ft. data center and provide engineering simulation to assess the impact of the changes made to these four areas: rack, raised floor, row and room. The simulation provided valuable information about how problem areas (e.g. hot spots) could be rectified and how capacity and operating cost benefits could be realized after making AFM improvements to each of the 4R’s.
The execution of the steps reportedly resulted in:
- Reduction in the maximum IT inlet temperature of 8.4° F
- Cooling supply temperature increase of 10° F
- Cooling unit fan speeds reduced by 35% and one cooling unit turned off
- Partial PUE (pPUE) reduced from 1.54 to 1.34
- Over $60,000 in annual savings for a 4,000 Sq. Ft. Data Center
- 15 month ROI
“Given the many solutions available to improve data center airflow, the process of creating an effective airflow management plan can seem overwhelming,” said Lars Strong, senior engineer and company science officer of Upsite Technologies. “Our 4 R’s of Airflow Management approach provides a clear strategy to optimize cooling and lower PUE. With the impressive results now demonstrated by CFD modeling, I anticipate that more owners and operators will be utilizing our 4 R’s methodology to accomplish this quickly, efficiently, and with a faster ROI.”
