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Workspace Technology Worked in Partnership with Host Europe Group Helping Reduce its Data Centre PUE from 1.95 to sub 1.4
During 2014 Host Europe Group invested in a brand new award winning data centre in partnership with Workspace Technology allowing the centralisation of core hosted services from a number of outsourced co-location facilities.
Whilst the new data centre has been successfully operating for the last two years, Host Europe Group continued to operate the original data centre which was located in the adjacent unit. Whilst the older data centre was well maintained and benefited from a number of enhancements including cold aisle containment the PUE was still exceptionally high due to the poor energy performance of the existing perimeter Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) systems.
Workspace Technology calculated that the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of the existing CRAC units was incredibly less than 2:1 based on actual meter readings. The poor efficiency of the existing CRAC units was due to a number of factors including age, fixed speed fans and old compressor technology.
Next Generation Denco Happel MultiDenco CRAC
Having considered a range of options for Host Europe Group, given that there was no alternative but to work within the constraints of the existing room layouts and external compound are, Workspace Technology had no hesitation in recommending the industry leading MultiDenco DX CRAC units manufactured by Denco Happel.
The MultiDenco is a 'next generation' air handling unit that is equipped with EC fans which are especially good at energy-saving in part-load modes of operation. By designing the system with load sharing capacity, the EC fans have been designed to operate at reduced speed for extended operating periods. The MultiDenco fans and compressors systems will automatically modulate in line with variations to the data centre IT load.
The MultiDenco CRAC units are also fitted with 'smart cooling' where the refrigerant control system increases the refrigerant flow across the cooling coil. The smart cooling feature allows the fans to remain at lower operating speeds resulting in a reduction in associated fan power. Fan speeds can be kept artificially low using the smart cooling function until a pre-determined point where they will automatically speed up in order to match any increases in load.
Phased Installation
Unlike the recently constructed data centre which was deployed in vacant space, it was it was not practical to decamp and relocate the many thousands of live servers distributed over 100 equipment racks within the older data centre. It was therefore essential that careful consideration needed to be made in order to prevent any planned or non planed disruption to service.
Workspace Technology implemented a strict phased approach which ensured that no more than two out of the original nine CRAC units needed to be turned off during the entire migration program.
The final installation consisted of 9 x DMA65 units delivering a total cooling capacity of 520kW N+1, configured in a down flow open return configuration working in conjunction with the existing aisle containment systems.
Immediate Power Savings
Following final CRAC migration, balancing and optimisation the data centre PUE immediately dropped from 1.95 to 1.4. Based on the current IT load of 426kW the total power saving made as a direct result of the cooling upgrade was in excess of 90kW. It has been accurately calculated that the improvements made by Workspace Technology will pay back for in less than three years. Workspace Technology is currently working with Host Europe Group in order to implement further airflow improvements which will help achieve further improvements to the PUE.
Roy Griffiths, Technical Director commented “Over a 10 year period Workspace Technology has gained expertise and practical understanding on how to best integrate and optimise Denco’s industry leading range of data centre cooling products. This recently completed project for Host Europe Group further demonstrates our proven expertise and reaffirms our standing as one of the UK’s leading data centre specialists.”
For more information on Workspace Technology’s range of data centre cooling technology please contact sales@workspace-technology.com or call 0121 354 4894.