Electrical equipment, in general, generates a lot of heat as part of their everyday operations. Powerful data center equipment is no exception to this phenomenon. As a result, extensive heat tends to build up in data centers, leading to servers crashing or damaging them in the long run.

This shortens the lifespan of expensive IT equipment and results in increased downtime. Other factors such as humidity and dust also play a role in retaining and damaging IT equipment.

Data centers with less humidity can cause more electrostatic discharge and damage to the equipment. More humidity can lead to rust and corrosion, harming the equipment. Dust in a high humidity environment settles down on IT equipment and further reduces heat transfer.

Also read: How HVAC Consultants Can Help Optimize the Health of Your Data Center

Datacenter design plans are evaluated to understand the heat it produces and counter it with appropriate cooling technology to solve these problems. Ideal temperatures in data centers ensure that IT equipment remains intact for more extended and enhances its performance.

How to calculate Ideal Temperature for a Data Center Design?

An ideal data center temperature is when IT equipment can operate with maximum efficiency and safety. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) released guidelines for the ideal temperatures at which data centers can reliably operate without causing damage to equipment and personnel.

Most IT equipment in the ASHRAE categories of A1 to A4 is recommended to operate under the following conditions:

• 18 and 27 degrees Celsius (°C) or 64 and 81 degrees Fahrenheit (°F)

• dew point (DP) of -9˚C DP to 15˚C DP

•  relative humidity (RH) of 60 percent

Using these recommendations, the data center temperature can be adjusted using cooling technology to maintain the ideal temperature mentioned under the ASHRAE  recommendations and guidelines.

Once you have identified the ideal temperature to sustain the IT equipment for your data center, you must calculate the cooling requirements for your data center to maintain the perfect temperature.

Calculating Cooling Requirements for your Data Center

To determine how much cooling is required, the total heat produced in the data center must be determined. This helps to understand what cooling method works best and the intensity required to maintain optimal temperatures within the facility.

Cooling technology is expensive as they take up more power during operation. Estimating exactly what your data center needs can save you money by keeping you from overspending on cooling technology.

Also read: Five Common Mistakes in CFD Analysis and How to Overcome Them

Here’s a simple method to help you find adequate cooling requirements for your data center.

Measure the heat output 

All IT equipment produces heat. The energy is converted into heat and released into the surrounding. This heat produced by the systems is calculated with various measuring units like British thermal units (BTU), tons, calories, and joules.

BTU per hour, tons per day, and joules per second are equal to watts, making it a better choice to measure the heat output of systems.

If there are other units used to measure heat output, they can be converted to watts by using the following conversions:

• For example, to convert BTU per hour into watts, multiply by 0.293.

• Likewise, to convert tons into watts, multiply by 3,530.

Almost all the power consumed by the  IT equipment’s AC power mains is converted to heat. So, the thermal output of the system will be equal to the power consumption of the equipment in watts.

Total heat output of the system

The total heat output of the system can be measured by adding up all the heat outputs of individual designs.

UPS and power distribution units have a fixed loss and directly depend on operating power. Heat output of lighting can also be taken from the specifications mentioned by the brands and equipment model as they remain more or less consistent.

Cooling unit fans and compressors do not add to the data center’s heat load as they are released outside.

The floor area in square feet and the rated electrical system power are other details to calculate the heat output.

Use the following calculations to find the total heat output of the system:

• The sum of the  load power of all IT equipment=heat output

• For the UPS heat output, use this formula:  (0.04 x Power system rating) + (0.05 x Total IT load power)

• For Power distribution system, use this formula:  (0.01 x Power system rating) + (0.02 x Total IT load power)

• To calculate heat output of lighting, use this formula:2.0 x floor area in square feet or 21.53 x floor area in square meters.

• To calculate heat produced by the people in the data center, the maximum number of people in the facility at a time is multiplied by 100.

By adding up all these figures, you will get the total heat output of the systems.

Cooling Requirements for Data Center Design

Factors such as sunlight and outdoor heat can contribute to the heat inside a data center. Consulting an HVAC expert like Mechartes to determine your cooling option can be helpful to decide on the maximum thermal load of the building and the cooling requirements to counter it.

Redundancy is significant for data centers. Cooling equipment also runs in rotation as part of operational maintenance. Therefore, the cooling requirements are also dependent on the redundancy equipment, future growth needs, and, most notably, the budget for cooling technology.

Also read: Effectiveness Of Simulation In The Building Design Process

Oversizing your cooling equipment may lead to unnecessary investments and energy costs from running the equipment. Hence, it is better to run an accurate calculation of cooling requirements before taking a giant leap on it.

With Mechartes, you can understand the heat output of your systems and other contributing factors to the facility’s thermal load. As a result, they can help you know cooling requirements and the right technology for maximum cost savings and efficient performance of data centers.

Some of the common cooling methods used in data center design are:

• Chillers

• Cold aisle containment systems

• Hot aisle containment systems

• Blanking Panels

• Directional or high-flow floor tiles

• Downflow cooling

• In-row cooling

• Portable cooling

• Rack door heat exchangers

• Rack-mounted cooling

Calculating heat output for your data center helps plan your budgets accordingly, predict future scaling needs and accommodate the growth of the data center.

Also read: Finite Element Method: FEA and FEM Explained

This is also necessary to minimize damage to IT equipment and ensure safety by eliminating accidents due to immense heat generated in the facility.

Using adequate cooling with the right method can help keep IT equipment healthy and push for better performance for a longer time. Data center design experts in Mechartes can also help you adapt natural and eco-friendly cooling methods based on the data center facility for sustainable and efficient cooling.  For more information, contact us today!