NA-04-4-2 – Thermal Profile of a High-Density Data Center—Methodology to Thermally Characterize a Data Center PDF

The heat dissipated by large servers and switching equipment is reaching levels that make it very difficult to cool these systems in data centers or telecommunications rooms. Some of the highest powered systems are dissipating upward of 2000 W/ ft2(21,500 W/m2) based on the equipment footprint. When systems dissipate this amount of heat and then are clustered together within a data center, significant cooling challenges can result. This paper describes the thermal profile of a 74 ft +-84 ft(22.6 m +-25.6 m) data center and the measurement techniques employed to fully capture the detailed thermal environment. In a portion of the data center(48 ft +-56 ft[14.6 m +-17.1 m]) that encompasses the servers the heat flux is 170 W/ ft2(1830 W/m2). Most racks within this area dissipated 6.8 kW while a couple dissipated upward of 26 kW. Detailed measurements were taken in this data center of electronic equipment power usage; perforated floor tile airflow; cable cutout airflow; computer room air conditioning (CRAC) airflow, temperatures and power usage; electronic equipment inlet air temperatures. In addition to these measurements, the physical features of the data center were recorded such that a detailed CFD model could be employed to compare the results. The empirical as well as the flow modeling data are presented and compared.

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