Satyam Saini

Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Dereje Agonafer

Abstract

The percentage of the energy used by data centers for cooling their equipment has been on the rise. With it has been the necessity for exploring new and more efficient methods, both from an engineering as well as business point of view, to contain this energy demand. The PCB boards are becoming more densely populated with multitude of smaller hardware on them, thereby, increasing its cooling requirements. Literature suggests that almost 40% of the total energy consumption in a typical Data Center is used for cooling purposes. Air cooling has always been the first choice for IT companies to cool their equipment in data centers, but it has its demerits as well. Data centers which use Airside Economizers (ASE’s) to reduce cooling costs by giving a relief to their CRAC (Computer Room Air Cooling) units for some time are particularly at risk of gaseous and particulate matter contamination. In doing so, mostly the IT companies tend to operate outside the ASHRAE recommended cooling envelope, thereby, reducing the equipment reliability. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of particulate contaminants on data center equipment with the help of CFD simulation in 6SigmaRoom. This study deals with determining the airflow pattern and flowpath of the particulate contaminants emanating from the ACU. The particles are assumed to be spherical in shape and are classified based on their size as 0.05µm, 0.1µm and, 1µm. The smaller particles represent fine particulate contaminants like dust and salts, and the 1µm particles represent carbon black particles emitted in vehicle exhaust. To better understand the results obtained from the simulation, a mathematical model was referred which also has been presented in this work. The result plots provide the information about the most vulnerable locations, where the particle concentration is the most. The streamline plot gives the velocity vectors and helps in depicting the airflow pattern and flowpath of the contaminants. The results of this study can be combined with best practices for data center design, which will not only improve the energy efficiency of the data centers but will also help in subsequent cost savings by improving equipment reliability.

Keywords

Data center, Contamination

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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