Airflow Utilization Efficiency (AUE)

In the past couple of years, data center servers have been asked to do much more. With the use of virtualization products servers are now utilizing 60–80% of their capacity compared to 20‐40% previously. This has added significant amounts of heat to the internal processing of the server. As heat loads rise, hot spots begin to emerge followed by sky rocketing energy costs. This white paper from Triad offers insight into how airflow can be utilized and manipulated to cool servers in the data center.

One topic of particular interest is the concept of how to use “River Cooling” to reduce energy costs while improving server performance. River Cooling refers to the design of flowing air from the CRAC unit, through specialized floor tiles and into the server fans. A well‐designed River Cooling system can reduce the need for CRAC generated air by up to 50% and can lower upper server temperatures by 10 to 20 degrees. This can lead to a reduction in energy costs by as much as 60%.

In the end, this paper will provides a detailed understanding of the capabilities and science of raised floor cooling, provide methods for testing tiles and provide a total cost of ownership example. To download this white paper click here.

Click here to view all white papers on cooling in the Data Center Knowledge White Paper Library.