Airflow distribution in telecommunications equipment rooms

A high efficiency air conditioning system has been developed for application to telecommunications equipment rooms. The design specifically addresses the cooling characteristics of natural cooling equipment and the uneven distribution of heat in equipment rooms. The system can also flexibly accommodate different equipment layouts in the room. Excellent efficiency of natural cooling equipment is achieved through the use of chambers under a raised floor for air supply and above a suspended ceiling for air return to the cooling unit. A method of calculating the air supply/return distribution is presented to optimize the airflow distribution. It is shown that rearranging the perforated raised floor panels is a practical and economical way of delivering the exact required air volume to the room. Installing the system in some actual equipment rooms, measurements were taken of the room temperature distribution and performance of the cooling system. Satisfactory results were obtained for the volume and temperature distributions. It is further found that the volume of air circulated by the cooling unit fans can be substantially reduced compared to a conventional cooling system.<>