Influence of floor air supply methods and geometric parameters on thermal performance of data centers

• Published in: Journal of thermal analysis and calorimetry 2023-08, Vol.148 (16), p.8477-8496
• Main Authors: Feng, Yanzhen, Liu, Peng, Zhang, Zhongbin, Zhang, Wenting, Li, Linda, Wang, Xiaolin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air supplies; Analytical Chemistry; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cold; Data centers; Inorganic Chemistry; Mathematical models; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Optimization; Performance evaluation; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Room temperature; Static pressure; Temperature profiles; Thermal environments
• ISSN: 1388-6150; 1588-2926
• DOI: 10.1007/s10973-023-12188-z

This paper compares four commonly used air supply methods, namely hot and cold aisle open air supply systems, hot aisle sealed air supply systems, under-rack cold aisle air supply systems and cold aisle sealed air supply systems. For each air supply method, the effects of geometric factors, including static pressure box height (0.4–0.6 m in steps of 0.1 m), perforation rate (10%-40% in steps of 10%), baffle position shape (\/-shaped and /\- shaped) and baffle angle (30°/45°/60°), on the thermal environment of the data center are numerically calculated (288 cases in total). Thereafter, the numerical calculation results of the optimal structure were verified through comparison with the results of measurement of the average rack temperature, the average hot spot temperature, the thermal performance evaluation index and the return temperature index on site. The results show that by increasing the height of the static pressure box or reducing the perforation rate within range of 10–30%, the thermal performance of the static pressure box can be improved. Taking into account the room temperature profile and the evaluation indicators ( β , RTI), the best overall performance is achieved in the case of cold aisle containment. Finally, \/-shaped and /\-shaped baffles are compared in the model with cold aisle contained, and the results show that the perforation rate is 20% for both \/-shaped and /\-shaped baffles, and the optimum static pressure heights are 0.5 m and 0.6 m for \/-shaped and /\-shaped baffles, respectively. Overall, \/-shaped baffles have better temperature uniformity than /\-shaped baffles. It is found that the best performance for the CACS model is the configuration with \/-shaped baffle at the angle of 60°, the plenum height of 0.5 m and a perforation rate of 20%.