March 10, 2009--Belden has introduced an adaptive enclosure heat containment (AEHC) system for data centers designed to ensure the entire room is normalized with cold air, with no oversupply of cooling.
A pressure reading made by a sensor inside the enclosure plenum modulates the rotational speed of the fans in the two cartridges mounted atop the enclosure. Belden says the speed is varied so that the fans pull out the correct amount of air from the enclosure and send it back to the air conditioner return via a ceiling plenum.
The AEHS system is designed to completely separate the hot and cold side of operations, making the room "normalized" with cool air that never mixes with exhaust heat from the enclosure. Belden says that with its heat containment system, the physical position of the CRAC unit and its proximity to the
enclosures are no longer a concern. Cool air can be fed to the computer room via a raised floor or an overhead duct.
When designing a totally new data center with the AEHC system, Belden says contractors can install bigger and fewer CRAC units, instead of relying on many
smaller units that can be less efficient. When retrofitting an existing
room with an AEHC, the company says designers can use the same amount and type of cooling equipment currently installed. In either scenario, advanced
management software is designed to help data centers users obtain real-time assessment of enclosure cooling load or demand.
The system also allows data center managers to deploy more IT load in the same room, and if space is available in enclosures but more devices aren't being deployed because cooling system is already at full capacity, Belden says the AEHC system can be retrofitted on those enclosures that have the highest heat loads to enable hosting of more IT equipment.
The AEHC system is deigned to increase the temperature differential
between the inlet and outlet temperatures of the CRAC unit for
greater operational efficiency. With no mixing of hot and cold air, Belden says it is possible to raise the temperature of the cooling air supplied to enclosures to be closer to the ASHRAE-recommended upper limit.
On the Web: www.belden.com