Air Technology Australia has supplied an estimated 6.0 mW of chiller capacity to the first three stages of a data hosting facility in Canberra, with more to come.
The facility is owned by Australian data hosting company, Canberra Data Centres, and utilises the hot aisle containment system (HACS).
Developed by APC, the system uses air-cooled chillers provided by Italian manufacturer Clivet. This includes direct free cooling and ECObreeze EC condenser fans to ensure the lowest energy profile for IT cooling possible.
By using air-cooled chillers instead of condensers or cooling towers, the facility saves up to 60,000 litres of drinking water daily, and because cooling capacity is matched to the IT load there is no unnecessary waste.
The solution separates the hot and cold air within the data centre and allows direct cooling of the hot air, ensuring all energy expended in cooling is used efficiently. Moreover, the racks have the ability to accommodate high density solutions of up to 30 kW per rack.
HACS is also more fault tolerant than other systems due to its granular nature and its integrated monitoring and reporting systems.
Every element of the data centre is IP-addressable so when faults occur it can be diagnosed immediately along with the exact location. An internet-enabled chiller control network means it can be monitored remotely and software is updated via a download.
The cooling system elements are monitored via a BACnet network which relays alarms to a 24-hour on-site control room allowing staff to initiate the appropriate level of service response.
The chillers also have master/slave control network connectivity which allows the chiller controls to deploy all of the chiller resources in the most energy efficient way possible.
At the data centre the BMS system views the installation as one large chiller with many compressors. It assigns resources as required to meet load conditions and can lock out faulty components and rotate compressors. This simplifies programming and reduces cost.
All of the hydraulic systems are duplicated and the electrical supply is fed from multiple substations. This includes a large generator farm and UPS facilities because the site is independent of the power grid.
The latest chillers supplied to the data centre are direct free cooling screw chillers. Boasting the smallest footprint in the market, the chillers are designed to provide 1MW of cooling.