Airedale maximises benefits of free cooling for data centre
Airedale International supplied the cooling solution for a new £2.25 million high-density energy-efficient data centre at the University of Portsmouth, which has a PUE (power usage efficiency) of 1.14 (load dependent). Working in partnership with Sudlows, Airedale was selected for its ability to offer a complete solution.
The Airedale solution provides indirect free cooling to the data centre, with direct fresh-air free cooling for the UPS room. Free cooling is available for up to 95% of the year, depending on ambient temperature. When free cooling is available, chilled-water set points are maximised up to 20°C to prolong free cooling.
Airedale’s ACIS web-based control interface delivers intelligent, graphical remote management of the data centre and interfaces with multiple protocols to monitor all elements of the site. The plant includes two 500 kW DeltaChill FreeCool chillers, two 34 kW SmartCool chilled-water precision air conditioning units and 35 high-density OnRak rear-door IT cooling units handling up to 25 kW of cooling load per rack. Other equipment includes external generator, building fresh-air supply, air-conditioning units for the battery and build room, equipment for the UPS room, and water-leak detection and fire-suppression systems.
The ACIS system integrates with the university’s legacy BMS, so that data-centre alarms are visible from the main site.
