Cooling Systems in Data Centers

Data Centers are increasingly important in our society, and therefore we must keep them in good condition and in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and due to this constant operation it is inevitable that the equipment and devices they use heat and reach quite high temperatures, which is dangerous because these high temperatures can damage the equipment very easily, so to achieve this goal of keeping them running without stopping it is very important to have a good cooling system.

Like any technology, refrigeration systems have evolved and improved over the years. Next, we will see the latest technology in refrigeration systems, and what methods the Data Centers use in order to maintain the temperature of their facilities within reasonable limits.

Traditionally, there have been two main ways to cool Data Centers:

• Based on air: As the name says, this type of cooling is based on air pipes to cool the devices. The main idea of this method is to separate hot air from cold air, basically cold air is pumped into the equipment and then the hot air that comes out of these is collected. In spite of being a simple method, it is not very efficient because it must pump large amounts of cold air for it to work properly, and this requires a large energy consumption.
• Based on liquid: On the other hand, there are liquid-based systems, which are based on large containers of cold water that are pumped through pipes that pass between the "Racks" and devices. A barrier is always maintained between the devices and the water that circulates, since the water conducts the electricity and could damage the components if there is contact between them. That is why many Data Centers do not use this method for fear of possible leaks that may damage their equipment. On the other hand, there are Data Centers that directly submerge their equipment in a special liquid that does not conduct electricity, and by regulating the temperature of the liquid they can regulate the temperature of the devices without having to suffer from possible leaks.

Let's focus on the main topic of the post, what methods the Data Centers use to implement a good cooling system in their facilities. Before, the two basic systems have been explained, but they are not very efficient, that is why variants or modifications of these two systems are used.

A variant of the air-based systems is to place the Data Centers in cold areas in order to take advantage of the low temperatures of the outside and take the air directly without the need to cool it before pumping it through the facilities. Google uses this variant with its Data Centers since most of them are located in Nordic areas where temperatures are quite low. There is also a variant that is the combination of the two methods since it consists in using a cold-water system to cool the hot air that the devices give off after having pumped cold air previously. In this way the pumped air can be reused to send it back through the cooling circuit.

Apart from these cooling systems, it is very important to have a good distribution or placement of the equipment, since a good distribution can help a lot when implementing the entire cooling system. Separating the hot air part from the cold is basic if you want to implement any system based on air, because if they do not separate well the system loses a lot of efficiency. In addition, if you want to implement a water-based system, it is very important to place the equipment having in mind the pipe circuit where the water will flow to have the minimum possible energy losses. Finally, a good distribution and organization of the wiring can help a lot when leaving space and facilitating the cooling of the cooling system.

Finally, emphasize that in the Data Centers is very important to have a good cooling system to maintain in good conditions all the equipment, save costs with the maintenance of this and specially to have a proper functioning of all devices in order to be able to offer a maximum availability of them.