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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: cooling systems
There are indoor units that have multiple coil sets. One can be utilized for mechanical cooling, the other can be used for "free cooling" mechanisms. For example, a water loop can be implemented that rejects its heat via a roof-top evaporative tower. (e.g. the big BAC boxes you see "steaming" occasionally on roof tops or behind buildings). As long as it is cold enough outside, you might benefit from this. A large office complex I used to work in actually took this a step further. The waste heat from the computer rooms was used year round for building environmental purposes. It was used as first-stage heating in the winter. And in the summer, it was used as "re-heat", so that the building could offer effective dehumidification. (conventional re-heat using utility energy is poo pooed these days, because of the desire to conserve energy; this is why so many office buildings seem to be dank in the summer, not enough heat load to support the cooling needed to remove the moisture and re-heat is prohibited) If the indoor units you presently have rely on external mechanical cooling (chillers located somewhere else), then you may be able to have only the central chiller system "plumbing" modified to provide the "free cooling" capability. This would save the cost of changing-out the indoor units. Utilizing direct outside air is likely unacceptable. Even if you could filter it, it would be difficult to humidify. Schemes that involve running indoor air through air-to-air heat exchangers may become problematic if the outdoor air is very cold. You must take care not to inadvertently dehumidify your indoor air excessively. Also, you'll need to provide drainage for the air-air heat exchanger, and make sure you don't get condensation in the downstream ducting (a real pain in the GeorgeW, potentially leading to microbial growth, etc) Good luck Mr. Phelps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Tancsa" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 10:29 AM Subject: cooling systems > > Faced with the prospect once again of significantly higher energy prices > coming to our region, we want to start to look at better and more efficient > ways to cool our colocation facility. Right now we have several ton of > traditional air conditioning units sucking up electricity like its > free. As winter is approaching, surely there must be some computer safe > way to take advantage of all that cold outside to help contain our energy > costs, not to mention be a little more environmentally friendly. We were > thinking we could circulate the air up to the roof and cool it there inside > some aluminum ducts and then bring it back down. We dont want to just > bring in cold air as it is quite dirty outside since we are next to a major > highway. Anyone done anything like this before in a computer room setting ? > > ---Mike > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mike Tancsa, tel +1 519 651 3400 > Sentex Communications, [email protected] > Providing Internet since 1994 www.sentex.net > Cambridge, Ontario Canada www.sentex.net/mike > >
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