KEN'S KORNER - Improved Airflow Management
CIO’s will Love You!
Improved Airflow Management Saves Real $$$
I’ve been trying to get caught up on my reading lately and I came across some interesting articles that put numbers to what we already know, sealing cable cutouts in a data center’s raised floor saves money. How, by limiting airflow bypass in hot/cold aisle environments through reduced energy consumption in CRAC/CRAH units used to cool servers.
With most of today’s data centers having hundreds of cable cutouts, the cost savings can easily run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One study by Vali Sorell, of the Syska Hennessy Group (March 31, 2009) calculated that sealing a single 12”x 6” cable opening with a brushed grommet cable seal, such as the Air-Guard Flush Mount, would improve the system cooling capacity by 1kW of cabinet load. From an article by Geoff Overland (April 14, 2011), Geoff calculated that the electrical cost to run a compressor to keep a cooling unit running costs approximately $15,000 per 35kW per year . When I put the two numbers together data centers would save approximately $428 per year for each cable cutout they sealed with the Air-Guard Flush Mount, Extreme, Surface Mount or any number of other Air-Guard products.
With most of today’s data centers having hundreds of cable cutouts, the cost savings can easily run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Another article I found in NewsLink (Fall 2008) titled Cable cutouts in data centers can lead to loss in cooling capacity explained the importance of dealing with cable cutouts very succinctly:
“Unintended openings, such as cable cutouts in the raised floors of data centers, can cause leakage of the supply air from the pressurized supply plenum. Such bypass of the supply air away from the perforated tiles effectively reduces the amount of supply air and available capacity. It further encourages the undesirable airflow patterns in data center rooms, such as wrap around and recirculation between the hot and cold aisles. This can result in higher inlet air temperatures to servers and reduced energy efficiency of a data center.”
As data center capacity and consumption continue to escalate, so do their expenses. Many businesses are beginning to take a close look at where and how data centers spend their money. Taking proactive steps to address energy efficiency will make you look like the hero you are and have that CIO loving you.
Ken Koty
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For links to these articles, click here.
Why your CFO cares about air-flow management in your data center
Air Flow Management Strategies for Efficient Data Center Cooling
Cable Cutouts in Data Center Can Lead to Loss in Cooling Capacity