The importance of air conditioning for a Data Center

In order to maintain the precise environmental conditions for the safekeeping of the servers, and therefore, of the information stored on them, it is essential to have a temperature regulation system that controls the humidity and temperature levels within a Data Center.

A survey on Data Centers by IDC, a company specializing in data analysis, found that up to 24% of a Data Center's budget goes to air conditioning.

Data stored on servers is constantly expanding, thus increasing server operations and temperatures. If the temperature reaches a critical point, the server components will not be able to function properly and in the worst case, the extreme temperature will damage the processor. Hence, the importance of Data Centers having cooling systems.

According to best practices, the acceptable temperature range for a Data Center is between 18° C and 27°C (64.4°F and 80.6°F), and the optimal range is between 21°C and 23°C (69.8°F and 73.4°F). Relative humidity can be within the range of 20% to 80%. The Data Center must have a precision air system to maintain the appropriate temperature and humidity for IT equipment to function correctly.

Main cooling systems for a Data Center:

• Air-Cooling Systems: This type of system uses air ducts to cool the computer room. Typically, the site is separated by hot and cold corridors. The air enters from the cold corridor and passes through the front part of the IT equipment and this same air is sent to the back of the cabinet where it comes out hot, to later be sent to the return ducts.
• Liquid cooling systems: these function with large containers of liquid which is pumped through pipes that pass between racks to maintain the temperature of the IT equipment.

The cooling system must be redundant since, if there is a failure in the main system, the secondary system can take over-functioning and maintain the temperature of the computer room.

The precision air system moves air volume nearly twice as fast as a conventional system. In addition, it has filters that minimize the deteriorating effects of dust and its work is divided, with 85 to 90% for cooling the air and 10 to 15% for removing humidity.

References:

• IDC. (2008). Improving IDC Cooling and Air Conditioning Efficiency. https://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MAG/vol45-1/paper15.pdf 
• Gartner. (2012). Steps to Ease Data Center Cooling. https://blogs.gartner.com/david_cappuccio/2012/03/25/steps-to-ease-data-center-cooling-number-2/ 
• TechBeacon. (2019). The best ways to manage Data Center airflow. https://techbeacon.com/enterprise-it/best-ways-manage-data-center-airflow 
• Energy350. (2018). ASHRAE Releases New Data Center Standards. https://www.energy350.com/ashrae-releases-new-data-center-standards/ 
• Elsevier. (2018). Cooling systems in Data Centers: state of art and emerging technologies. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82453097.pdf 
• LaSalle Blogging. (2019). SISTEMAS DE REFRIGERACIÓN EN LOS DATA CENTERS [COOLING SYSTEMS IN DATA CENTERS]. https://blogs.salleurl.edu/es/sistemas-de-refrigeracion-en-los-data-centers 
• Eugenio Cantero. (2015). Características del aire acondicionado de precisión [Precision air conditioning features]. https://eugeniocantero.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/caracteristicas-del-aire-acondicionado-de-precision/ 

Data Centers Today. (2013). ¿Cuál es la temperatura correcta de un Data Center? [What is the correct temperature for a Data Center?]. http://www.datacentershoy.com/2013/07/cual-es-la-temperatura-correcta-de-un.html