A review on airflow distribution and management in data center

Lu, Hongjie; Zhang, Zhongbin; Yang, Libo

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.08.050

Cited by 76 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Additionally, supercomputer architecture, parallel science, and parallel software development can provide opportunities for energy conservation [11][12][13][14]. For energy conservation of ACS, there are four main considerations: (1) appropriate cooling strategy [15]; (2) good layout design and air flow distribution for computer rooms [16,17]; (3) economizer cycles [18,19]; and (4) simulation-based control [20]. In addition to these, the use of heat pipes [5,[21][22][23] and free-cooling [24][25][26] in data centers was also attempted.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Configuration Optimization Model for Data-Center-Park-Integrated Energy Systems under Economic, Reliability, and Environmental Considerations

Liu

et al. 2020

Energies

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The analysis of energy configuration in the planning of data-center-park-integrated energy systems (DCP-IESs) has become an enormous challenge, owing to multi-energy complementarity, energy cascade use, and energy security. In this study, a configuration model of DCP-IESs was established to obtain the economic and low-carbon energy uses of the data centers, based on mixed integer linear programming. In the model, carbon emissions were converted to economic indicators through carbon pricing. Then, the configuration model was modified according to the security of the proposed device switching logic, and the Markov-based reliability estimation method was used to ensure the redundant design of the configuration. Using the new energy configuration method, the DCP-IES configuration scheme could be obtained under economical, low-carbon, and high reliability conditions. A data center park in Shanghai was selected as a case study, and the results are as follows: it will only take 2.88 years for the economics of DCP-IES to reach those of traditional data center energy systems. Additionally, the use of configuration model in DCP-IES would result in a reduction in annual carbon emissions of 39,323 tons, with a power usage effectiveness of 1.388, whereas an increase in reliability results in an increasingly faster increase in the initial investment cost.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Configuration Optimization Model for Data-Center-Park-Integrated Energy Systems under Economic, Reliability, and Environmental Considerations

Liu

et al. 2020

Energies

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“…It is vital to examine the best airflow distribution to address the energy saving concern for data center facilities. Both numerical and experimental investigations on airflow distribution and management for data centers were reviewed comprehensively [3]. An extensive review on airflow management for data centers based on available airflow patterns was conducted through numerical simulation and field measurement [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy-Efficient Improvement Approaches through Numerical Simulation and Field Measurement for a Data Center

2019

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The power density of electronic equipment increased dramatically recently. Data center and data processing and telecommunication facilities are facing the exceptionally high sensible heat loads which result in a large amount of energy consumption. In this study, a numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was conducted to investigate the influence of alternative approaches to avoid bypassing and recirculation for air distribution in a full-scale data center. Field measurements were extensively conducted to validate the simulation results. Various performance indexes were adopted to enhance the evaluation of the thermal performance of the data center. The simulation results revealed that the practice with hot aisle enclosure and the installation of blocking panels for the unoccupied racks can provide satisfactory airflow distribution and thermal management under low load conditions. The return temperature index (RTI) can be improved by 3% through CFD simulation through installation of the blank panels, which reveals the reduction of recirculation airflow. The return heat index (RHI) increases by 8%, which presents a reduction of bypass airflow. A practical experiment using physical air curtains was conducted to enclose the hot aisle in the data center, which also reveals an 8% improvement for bypass airflow. Higher cooling performance can be achieved via reduction of recirculation and bypass airflow in the data center. Through the simulation of different improvement approaches in the data center, the optimum practice for cooling airflow arrangement can be identified accordingly.

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“…In a study where projections up to 2030 are made, data centers could consume, in the best case scenario 3% and in the worst case scenario 13% of the worldwide electricity production [13]. The main factor of such a high level of energy use is the consumption of air conditioning systems, which, given the type of ICT equipment, could account for 24-60% of the entire data center's energy consumption [14].Data centers are required to follow rigorous technical specifications with the purpose of guaranteeing their optimal operation and security, and engineers need to sure that the ICT equipment should operate without experiencing any loss of performance or interruption. Thus, thermal engineers have a crucial importance in the design of data centers.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, with the purpose of overcoming such types of challenges, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and studies are employed to assess the airflow and thermal performance in data centers [20][21][22].The focus on studies of the airflow and thermal performance of data center processing rooms has been increasing and has been drawing attention of researchers and policy makers alike. As such, several reviews were made in the recent years concerning the efficient thermal management of data centers [23][24][25], of the airflow distribution [14] and cooling strategies [23,26]. In [22], the authors created and studied a Data Center CFD model and validated in experiments the airflow.…”

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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A Parametric Numerical Study of the Airflow and Thermal Performance in a Real Data Center for Improving Sustainability

et al. 2019

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In recent years, reducing energy consumption has been relentlessly pursued by researchers and policy makers with the purpose of achieving a more sustainable future. The demand for data storage in data centers has been steadily increasing, leading to an increase in size and therefore to consume more energy. Consequently, the reduction of the energy consumption of data center rooms is required and it is with this perspective that this paper is proposed. By using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), it is possible to model a three-dimensional model of the heat transfer and air flow in data centers, which allows forecasting the air speed and temperature range under diverse conditions of operation. In this paper, a CFD study of the thermal performance and airflow in a real data center processing room with 208 racks under different thermal loads and airflow velocities is proposed. The physical-mathematical model relies on the equations of mass, momentum and energy conservation. The fluid in this study is air and it is modeled as an ideal gas with constant properties. The model of the effect of turbulence is made by employing a k-ε standard model. The results indicate that it is possible to reduce the thermal load of the server racks by improving the thermal performance and airflow of the data center room, without affecting the correct operation of the server racks located in the sensible regions of the room. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 3850 2 of 30 the world host on their servers organizations with databases, every Internet website, and cloud services. Data centers are consuming more and more electricity worldwide [4][5][6]. In 2012, the entire consumption of data centers was assessed to be near 270 TWh [7]. ICT are responsible for roughly 10% of worldwide power consumption and 13-15% of this consumption is due to data centers [8][9][10][11]. It is expected that this consumption will only grow in the near future, thus challenging sustainability goals [12]. In a study where projections up to 2030 are made, data centers could consume, in the best case scenario 3% and in the worst case scenario 13% of the worldwide electricity production [13]. The main factor of such a high level of energy use is the consumption of air conditioning systems, which, given the type of ICT equipment, could account for 24-60% of the entire data center's energy consumption [14].Data centers are required to follow rigorous technical specifications with the purpose of guaranteeing their optimal operation and security, and engineers need to sure that the ICT equipment should operate without experiencing any loss of performance or interruption. Thus, thermal engineers have a crucial importance in the design of data centers. The reason is that data centers generate a high quantity of heat and need to be refrigerated in order to avert any loss of performance or failures, thus signifying that the power consumption is high [15].Data center rooms are comprised of racks hosting servers with distinct configurations and distinct capacities. To keep the productiv...

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A review on airflow distribution and management in data center

Cited by 76 publications

References 53 publications

Configuration Optimization Model for Data-Center-Park-Integrated Energy Systems under Economic, Reliability, and Environmental Considerations

Configuration Optimization Model for Data-Center-Park-Integrated Energy Systems under Economic, Reliability, and Environmental Considerations

Energy-Efficient Improvement Approaches through Numerical Simulation and Field Measurement for a Data Center

A Parametric Numerical Study of the Airflow and Thermal Performance in a Real Data Center for Improving Sustainability

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