Free cooling with air
Swapping your cooling tower for a dry liquid cooler or an adiabatic cooler is a great way to eradicate the risk of bacteria growing in your water. In fact, more countries are making the change to a more hygienic system a legal requirement every year.
When a dry liquid cooled condenser is far away from the chiller, a high level of glycol is added in the system for it to function correctly. To solve this, we can install an intermediate plate heat exchanger and minimize this circuit. So, you can save on glycol and unnecessary cost!
More sustainable, efficient and cost-effective data centers
Liquid cooling can help data centers save up to 30% of their cooling energy costs, while reducing their overall environmental impact. Plus, more efficient cooling can allow for increased rack density, so data centers can make more revenue per square foot. Lower costs and higher revenue? It’s possible. Let our guide to driving data center cost savings with energy management technology show you how.
Cooling with heat exchanger
When your dry liquid cooled condenser is far away from your chiller, extra glycol is used to make sure everything works correctly. The volume of glycol needed in this case is very high, and so is the cost. Installing a plate heat exchanger will substantially decrease the glycol circuit, reducing the volume and cost of your cooling system. On top of that, a plate heat exchanger will allow you to control the temperature of your protected loop to fit capacity and help avoid condensation on the outside piping.
Every loop in your system has a natural risk of condensation outside your media when the temperature contrast reaches it's dew point. This condensation can cause damage to the sensitive area inside your data center, so the more loops in your system, the more likely you are to have problems.
Cooling without heat exchanger
Glycol is used in systems where the outside piping is at risk of ambient temperatures dropping below 0°C/32°F. That said, there are still many benefits to reducing your loop volume, even if freezing the cooling media is not a risk for your system.
Shield your data center with heat exchangers
There are many risks that come with using liquid in your cooling system. So, it’s important to protect the white space in the cooling loops from contamination and minimize the risk of leakages around electrical servers.
At Alfa Laval, we are constantly improving the design of our heat exchangers to help alleviate these challenges. To make that dream a reality, we have combined our world-leading expertise in data center cooling with proven heat exchanger solutions. This is guaranteed to increase reliability without compromising on the high efficiency levels you need.
Watch this video with our expert Cosimo Pecchioli to learn more about the challenges that come with using liquids in your cooling systems and how to solve them.
The benefits of a gasketed plate-and-frame heat exchanger
- Volume isolation
- Minimize the volume of glycol in your cooling circuit
- Reduce the risk for condensation and damage inside your data center
- Reduce the cost of cooling your production
- Certified performance in accordance with AHRI regulations
Savings across many dimensions
Using free cooling with water and a well-designed gasketed plate heat exchanger improves the cost-efficiency and sustainability of your data center in many ways. We know this because using AHRI performance certified heat exchangers has been proven to reduce your power usage effectiveness (PUE) by 2%. It will even decrease the carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) of your facility by the same amount. Plus, a heat exchanger in your cooling system enables more efficient heat recovery and lower OPEX as a result.
Questions? Challenges? Support? Don’t worry – that’s what we’re here for.
Want to find out how the right cooling technology can help your data center achieve greener goals? Fill out the form, and one of our experts will get in touch with more information.
Meet our expert:
Mark Smith
Mark Smith is a member of the Alfa Laval Data Center Cooling Solutions Team, focusing on the Enterprise segment. He has worked over the past decade in multiple capacities in application engineering and technical sales. Mark holds a Mechanical Engineering B.S. degree from University at Buffalo.
Connect with me on LinkedIn
