Raised floor computer data center: effect on rack inlet temperatures of chilled air exiting both the hot and cold aisles

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect of the rack inlet temperatures resulting from chilled air exhausting from perforated tiles situated in both the hot and cold aisles of a raised floor data center. Only the above floor (raised floor) flow and temperature distributions were analyzed for various flowrates exhausting from the perforated tiles. A Computational Fluid Dynamic(CFD) model was generated for the room with electronic equipment installed on a raised floor with particular focus on the effects on rack inlet temperatures of equipment heat load, placement of air conditioning (A/C) units and chilled air flowrates. Forty racks of data processing (DP) equipment were arranged in rows in a data center cooled by chilled air exhausting from perforated floor tiles. The chilled air was provided by four A/C units placed inside a room 12.1 m wide x 13.4 m long. Since the arrangement of the racks in the data center was symmetric only one-half of the data center needed to be modeled. The numerical modeling was performed using a commercially available finite control volume computer code called Flotherm (Trademark of Flomerics, Inc.). The flow was modeled using the k-e turbulence model. Results are displayed to provide some guidance on the design and layout of a data center.