Benefits
The Low Speed Ventilation® design rules result in:
- Extremely low energy consumption in data centers (PUE 1.07 possible),
- Significant reduction of the operational costs (up to 30%),
- Lower initial investments (up to 10%),
- Simple, stable and reliable climate control system,
- Cooling equipment removed from white space,
- Easier implementation of use of outside air,
- Exclusion of ‘hot spots’ related to high air speeds,
- Better working environment in white space.
Energy and environment
Minimal energy consumption for cooling and air circulation. If direct outside air is used in a moderate climate and the room temperature is 25 degrees Celsius, a PUE of 1.07 – four percent electrical and three percent cooling – is feasible.
Flexible
In the Low Speed Ventilation® solution, the actual location of the cooling equipment relative to the servers is less important. Therefore, when a data center is only partially occupied with only a part of the cooling devices installed, the racks can be placed anywhere without compartmentalizing. When the capacity increases, air coolers can be added at any time without disturbing the white space. A N+1-situation comes naturally.
Modular
When a data center is only partially loaded with only a part of the cooling devices the racks can be placed anywhere without compartmentalizing. When the capacity increases, air coolers can be added at any time without disturbing the room.
CAPEX
The main investment reduction is related to the electrical power infrastructure. A 10% reduction of the maximum energy usage leads to a reduction of about 4% in the overall investment. Moreover redundancy in cooling is easier to implement with the Low Speed Ventilation® approach.
In existing data centers, a Low Speed Ventilation® upgrade is generally feasible. The upgrade costs in most cases are comparable to those of conventional solutions.
Simple, stable and reliable control
In the Low Speed Ventilation® solution, climate control is about air availability instead of pressure and temperature control. In conventional situations those parameters vary from place to place as well as from time to time. To control the climate in such a dynamic environment based on volatile measurements is complex. In case of the Low Speed Ventilation® approach one temperature gradient and a flow measurement will do.
OPEX
The reduction of the energy consumption, the reduction of maintenance of the air cooling equipment due to the lower airspeeds, and the prevention of hot spots, are the main contributors to the significant operational cost reduction.
Availability
Resulting from the industrial approach, any Low Speed Ventilation® design is a solid foundation for a data center offering high availability up to 99.999%.
Comfort
Due to the absence of any significant pressure difference and to the low air speed, the separation between hot and cold compartments is less an issue. When for instance, in case of hot containment, a door is opened, in order to improve the working conditions in the hot air compartment, the climate control system smoothly adjust itself to this new situation. At the expense of a slight temporarily decrease of overall cooling efficiency as long as the door remains open, the temperature drops in het hot air compartment without additional disturbances.
