The growth in data trafficking, data processing, e-learning, social networking, digitization of services and in general, the simple fact that almost everything is shifting digital, necessitates an ever-increasing demand in information handling and processing. The massive amounts of data are stored and processed in “servers,” “routers,” “Firewalls,” and storage devices (also known as IT load) installed within data centers (DCs). Data centers consume an important amount of electricity (about 2% per year), and it is forecasted that consumption will rise to more than 3.8% of global electricity consumption by 2030. Three key elements to be considered are the IT load rating, the layout-arrangement of the IT white space and cooling rating. These are related by the power density, which directly relates the data center size, the cooling capacity, and energy use. This paper covers the main technical infrastructure design for a case study of DC-500 kW in Hoa Lac-Vietnam, the design is following international guidelines and best practices. We present a better way for selecting DC’s power density and optimal layout-arrangement for IT racks. It is a conjunction of cooling load and airflow sizing, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze the heat distribution (cold air intake, hot air exhaust) in DC rack-rows. Airflow analysis is a key consideration during the initial phase of DC sizing since it encompasses all the design and configuration elements that go into restricting or preventing mixing between the cooling air provided to IT equipment and the hot air rejected from the IT room.

Keywords

Data center, Power density, Precision cooling, IT rack, CFD simulation.