Separation of Hot and Cold Aisle
The photograph above was taken in BT’s Rochdale Data Centre. It shows the use of curtains to separate the hot and cold aisles, thereby reducing the amount of hot air that mixes with cold air from the plenum floor and dramatically increasing cooling efficiency. Inside the curtained off space are all of the open vents from the plenum floor and all of the cabinet fronts.
In combination with the curtains, each cabinet is fitted with blanking plates to ensure that the only path for cold air to pass is via a piece of equipment. Missing cabinets and missing equipment offers an alternative route for airflow that causes hot and cold air to mix reducing air handling efficiency.
The delta in temperature between the air inside the curtained off area and that outside is quite dramatic, being in the range of 10° to 15° Celsius. Refrigeration efficiency is increased by approximately 20%.
Installing curtains and organising cabinets and open floor tiles in a sensible way is something that everyone can do regardless of the age and condition of their data centre site. If the site is constrained by cooling capacity, the installation of curtains will allow more equipment to be installed. As a minimum the energy bills will drop markedly.
Another photograph of BT’s Rochdale Data Centre, this time from inside the cold aisle.
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