A review and analysis of HVAC technologies in data centre configurations in Malta

Abstract

Data centres are industrialised computing infrastructures which accommodate the requirements of servers that are responsible for data storage and data communication. These data centres are coupled with mechanical cooling which allows these servers to operate for twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week all year round. These cooling technologies have a large impact on the overall energy performance of these data centres. Furthermore, the cooling technologies present within data centres are responsible for ensuring that the data centre is operating at the optimum conditions. Any deviations from the operating conditions may be detrimental and may lead to system failure and consequent downtime. This can be detrimental for some businesses. In this dissertation, a study on the effects of data centre cooling technologies and the operating parameters has been carried out on three data centres in Malta. Temperature and humidity logging was carried out to analyse the data centres operating conditions in conjunction with the cooling system present within the data centre. Furthermore, an energy performance metric was then used to be able to compare energy performance efficiencies of these data centres. A comparative analysis of the cooling technologies and operating conditions was then related to the energy efficiency of the data centre and recommendations were done with the aim of potential improvements on the overall energy consumption. The results obtained reveal that the use of CRAC cooling in Malta is predominant and the most energy efficient data centre considered in this study made use of segregated cold and hot aisle cooling. Works carried out reveal the importance of the cooling strategy employed on the overall data centre efficiency. Additional investigation would be required to study the effects of the cooling strategy which varies with different ambient temperatures.