13. 13
Airside Economizer – Solutions
– Particulate Contamination
• Test indicated the use of 85% (MERV 11) filter reduce article concentrations to nearly
match the level found in data centers that do not use economizers
• Higher performance filter (95% or MERV 16) can be used
MERV value
Sources: ASHRAE 52.2-2007, Method of
Testing General Ventilation Air-Cleaning
Devices for Removal Efficiency by Particle Size
14. 14
Airside Economizer – Solutions
– Gaseous Contamination
• Not enough studies in the IT industry to document the rate of corrosion with respect to
gaseous pollution concentrations
• The use of real time gas monitoring systems are recommended
− Highly sensitive quartz crystals microbalance sensor
18. 18
Airside Economizer – Data Room Design
– High concentration of air flow
• Negative flow - Venturi Effect
• Higher raised floor
• Higher return plenum
Return air
AHUNeutral
Room Air
Server
Cold Air
Mixed
Warm Air
Hot Air
Raised Floor
Return Plenum
19. 19
Airside Economizer – Air Distribution Design
– Air Balance & Control
• Use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling
20. 20
Airside Economizer – Fire Protection
– Fire Prevention
• Fire rated wall
– Fire Detection
• Photoelectric and ionization type smoke detectors
• High sensitive aspirating type smoke detectors
− VESDA
− Laser
– Fire Protection
• Pre-action gaseous fire protection activation
22. 22
Waterside Economizer Setup
The use of cooling tower in lieu of operating a
chiller or in conjunction with operating a chiller for
creating chilled water to handle a cooling load
when the outdoor ambient conditions allow
23. 23
Waterside Economizer Type
– Two ways to design and utilize free cooling systems
• Series waterside economizer (Partial pre-cooling + Full free cooling)
• Parallel waterside economizer (Full free cooling)
Series water-side economizer Parallel water-side economizer
24. 24
Waterside Economizer – Cooling Tower
– Cooling tower selection
• Approach temperature increase as wetbulb temperature decrease (Capacity drop)
25. 25
Waterside Economizer – Cooling Tower
– Cooling tower sizing
• Optimize for winter operation
− 50% annual free cooling
− 6 cooling towers
− 40ft x 120ft Space
• Optimize for summer operation
− No free cooling
− 4 cooling towers
− 40ft x 80ft Space
27. 27
Waterside Economizer – Other Design
Considerations
– Freeze protection and prevention
• Electrical heater / Heat trace
• Recessed sump / Remote Sump
– Pump Sizing
• Varies operation, varies pressure drop
• Variable Frequency Drive
– Control
• Switch in and out of different operation modes
30. 30
Indirect Evaporative Air Handling Unit
Supply Air To
Data Center
Hot Return Air from
Data Center
Supply
Fan
Spray
Pump
Supplement
Cooling coil
Secondary Air
Exhaust
Outside Air
34. 34
Airside and Waterside Economizer
Comparison – Operating Criteria
Attribute
Option 1: Waterside
Economizer
Option 2: Direct Airside
Economizer
Option 3:
In-direct Airside
Economizer
(Munters)
Redundancy
Easy, add on option to the
chiller plant
Difficult, AHU size and OA
connection
Difficult, IDE size and OA
connection
Reliability No major impact
Fault tolerance No major impact
Scalability
Higher, heat exchanger size is
relatively small
Medium, depends on the
amount of AHU
Low, depends on the amount of
AHU
Expansion Higher, heat exchanger can be
located outside of mechanical
room
Low. Outside air louver have to
be designed day1
Low. Outside air louver have to
be designed day1
Flexibility High Medium Low
Ambient
conditions
Temperature & humidity ranges can be maintained per ASHRAE
35. 35
Airside and Waterside Economizer
Comparison – Data Center Design
Attribute
Option 1: Waterside
Economizer
Option 2: Direct Airside
Economizer
Option 3:
In-direct Airside
Economizer
(Munters)
Building Size
No major impact
Need more real estate
Building Structure Need additional structure support
Plenum ceiling and
raised floor height
Need sufficient height to allow high volume of air movement
Humidification
Need additional
humidification
No major impactAir quality Need additional filtration
Fire protection
Need more fire and smoke
detection
Computer placement
Same precaution. Less
impact
Avoid being too close to AHU discharge
36. 36
Airside and Waterside Economizer
Comparison – Mechanical Plant Design
Attribute
Option 1: Waterside
Economizer
Option 2: Direct Airside
Economizer
Option 3:
In-direct Airside
Economizer
(Munters)
Maintenance Low Significantly more Medium
System control Medium Relatively easy Most complex
Water
consumption
High Low Medium
Power
consumption
Low Medium High
37. 37
Airside and Waterside Economizer
Comparison – Others
Attribute
Option 1: Waterside
Economizer
Option 2: Direct Airside
Economizer
Option 3:
In-direct Airside
Economizer
(Munters)
Equipment lead
time
Short Medium Long
Construction
time
Short Long Long
Retrofit Easy Hard Medium
Cooling density
Suitable for future high
density applications
Suitable for low to medium
density applications
Suitable for low to medium
density applications