Optimizing Data Center Airflow and Reconfiguring CRAC Units

Oct 25, 2022 | DCIM

Optimizing data center airflow is critical when discussing data center infrastructure efficiency. This component impacts the overall cooling system and can be the difference between a successful installation and one that ends in disaster.

One fantastic benefit of data center optimization is that they decrease your energy consumption. The majority of people thought that optimizing the data center was an event.

To remove the confusion of such people, we write this article for better understanding. Apart from this, it is also mandatory to focus on optimizing data center airflow. Cooling plays a significant role in the optimization of data center airflow.

Why Is Optimizing Data Center Airflow Necessary?

The companies who recently took a step in constructing the data center will raise the question of why airflow optimization needs in data centers. For such people, we love to explain that more than 80% of data centers spend 40% of their energy on the cooling process, which is essential in analyzing the heat load and temperature reading.

The weather will not remain the same all over the world. After the cold season, the hot season occurs, which is considered critical for the data center.

Keeping the data center cool and protecting it from overheating is mandatory. In other words, you can say that cooling play a significant role in data center operation.

In the previous articles, we explained the optimization in detail. Those still confused about why we need optimization should understand that without optimizing data center airflow, we cannot consume energy—thousands of companies are paying attention to optimization.

Earlier, many corporations want to build a new data center outside their building. Their primary purpose is to optimize data center airflow. But when the data center researchers generate the idea of optimizing power usage, they use the direct way to optimize power utilization.

The data center is more significant, and various technologies are utilized to store the data. They are running 24/7. The tremendous amount of power required for running the more robust data center is needed for running IT pieces of equipment.

Optimizing Data Center Airflow Strategies

It is essential to have sufficient airflow to keep servers cool. Without enough airflow, servers will overheat and shut down. The fan blades must be designed for high-volume applications with minimal noise levels.

When designing your system, you should consider how many fans are needed for adequate flow rate and how much power each fan will require for optimum performance.

Every data center CEO implements strategies to run their data center successfully. They implement the latest techniques to increase or optimize data center airflow.

After thoroughly analyzing the airflow management, they decided to sort out this problem and found a solution to optimize the airflow.

They highlight the three primary strategies to start with airflow optimization for better understanding.

1. Placing the Cooling Unit

The optimizing data center airflow major factor is having a DC, which should be adequately designed to start the airflow optimization process. However, they should also place a cooling unit in those locations where the airflow will quickly reach all parts of the DC efficiently.

2. Hot and Cold Aisle Equipment Configuration

In this process, the hot air in the data center eliminates and mix it with cold air to take advantage of natural convection. The hot air entered the cabinet’s backside and returned to the cooling unit through a return air plenum. The cool air from the cooling unit is also supplied from under the raised floor to the front of the equipment cabinets.

3. Raised Floor

Another essential factor of the data center is to raise or construct the raised floor. Its purpose is to eliminate congestion. Doing this allows passing the air movement better under the raised bed. The goal of raised floor is to remove the unused cables and bundle the remaining wires. It can also help airflow under the raised floor.

  • Eliminate the Hotspots
  • Usage of Evaporation Power
  • Manage and Measure

Tips for optimizing data center cooling

Your data center environment may be an uncontrolled space or a controlled space with some degree of manual input from the operator. In all cases, you need to understand how your current setup affects the temperature in your server room.

Benefits of Optimize Airflow

One of the best and most essential methods to optimize the data center airflow is to decrease the cooling cost. With the cold air distributed in the DC, hot spots will diminish or be discarded, avoiding the importance of installing temporary or portable cooling units.

The following are some of the benefits of optimizing airflow:

  • Increased server uptime
  • Reduced power consumption
  • Improved cooling efficiency
  • Reduced noise and vibration levels

Optimizing airflow allows you to improve the performance of your data center by reducing the amount of downtime and increasing the cooling efficiency.

This is because it allows you to balance the amount of air being pulled into the server room, which can help reduce airflow imbalances that can lead to hot spots, temperature fluctuations, and other issues.

A balanced airflow ensures that all servers have access to the same fresh air, leading to better cooling efficiency. To achieve this, you must ensure that all CRAC units are connected and set up properly to work together.

Ways to Increase Data Center Airflow

The summer season is the most prominent factor that badly hit the data center. To resolve this problem, the air-conditioner is the best solution. Air-conditioner is expensive but helps pump the cold air into your house. Increasing the airflow throughout the house will keep your house cooler and reduce energy costs.

We have enlisted the various benefits of managing airflow. It keeps your data center clean and removes pollutants, dust, and other impurities. It also provides the mold throughout the data center.

1. Focus Chilled Air

Cooling the data center is not as exact as cooling a home. Their goal is to keep a consistent, pleasant temperature throughout. In the data center, the air which diffuses should be positioned.

So that it directly chilled air to the equipment. In the row, the cooling systems go further by allowing you to place the cooling supply where you need it.

2. Seal Gaps

Leakage may happen around the cable. Because of this, the cuts or gaps can cause airflow bypass, and the chances of mixing hot and cold air increase. For this purpose, the grommets are predominantly used to seal those gaps.

We recommend that the data center CEOs choose cabinets to minimize air gaps and install the blanking panels to seal open rack units. This is the other method to optimize or save airflow.

Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC)

The Computer Room Air Conditioning unit device is specially designed to control and maintains the data center temperature and distribute the air and humidity in a computer room or data center.

CRAH units are also proving beneficial for environments with higher availability requirements. The heightened concern about the growing percentage of energy consumption by data centers alerted them to regularize the energy consumption, which is the primary factor driving the green data center market.

The failure of the CRAC Unit may cause the downtime. In short, you can say that it also loses services and money. People’s trust also breaks, and they never invest a single penny in it.

So, if you increase efficiency and maintain consistency, it is crucial to make a long-term service plan, including improving and optimizing the cooling system.

The design of a data center includes cooling systems such as CRAC units (computer room air conditioner). These units can be reconfigured to improve efficiency and reduce energy costs.

CRAC units are now being used at a greater rate than ever before. In fact, according to research by Emerson Network Power, 89% of large data centers are using CRAC units in their facilities, making them the most popular form of cooling in the modern data center.

Conclusion

The discussion mentioned above clearly shows that optimization is not an easy task. You have to invest a lot of money in its cooling and air-conditioning process. The data center will only work efficiently if you take the necessary steps. The CRAC Unit needs to manage the data center.

Another central point that every COO or CTO in a data center should know is optimizing your data center design. It is the safety process. Bring the backup to the cloud and make of preventing from disasters. From a business point of view, it is mandatory to cultivate a Future-Based Mindset For Your Data Center.

However, It is considered ideal for data centers with 200 kilowatts (kW) or fewer electrical loads. Meanwhile, CRAH units are specially designed for data centers with 200 kW or more electrical loads.

The data center consumes a tremendous amount of energy. For better efficiency, we have to use great technologies that help achieve optimization goals. Many companies offer to invest in green data centers.

We try our best to convey the possible information regarding the optimization of data center airflow. Without optimization, the company will not succeed in its mission. It is essential to use digital technologies and virtualization processes.

For better efficiency, we have to use great technologies that help achieve optimization goals. Most importantly, focus on improving the cooling. Once the data center remains safe from overheating, the problem is resolved.

Stay in touch with us for the latest data center updates, and visit our website regularly. We love to share valuable content with you. If you still feel any difficulty, then feel free to drop a comment.

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