Inefficient Cooling in Smaller Data Centers - A Problem?

Maintaining complex centers is becoming an essential task as reliance on data centers to store and facilitate IT operations and equipment snowballs.

One of the most critical aspects of data center maintenance is keeping them adequately cool. For instance, a lack of cooling can lead to various problems that can be highly detrimental to the end users. In particular, the issue of inefficient cooling is one that often affects small data center designs.

That being said, let us understand why cooling a data center is essential in the first place.

Why Is Cooling a Data Center Important?

Data centers are essential to store IT equipment for organizations and enable large and complex servers. However, as more and more companies use technologically intensive tasks, these data centers use increasing amounts of power.

In 2020, data centers were responsible for using 1% of the world’s electricity and were estimated to use up to 1/5th by 2025. With this immense power requirement, one thing that is bound to follow is heat. These systems generate enormous amounts of heat since they’re often running 24/7.

While they can withstand temperatures to an extent, continuously high temperatures can lead to slower speeds, hardware damage, and even data loss.

Due to these factors, cooling the data center is critical. However, cooling is also a complex process that consists of many factors.

Factors that Affect Data Center Cooling

Now that it is abundantly clear cooling is critical for data centers, it’s time to know about some notable factors that affect data center cooling:

Cable management

While it is often overlooked, cable management is essential for maintaining efficient cooling in any data center. Cables are responsible for various important aspects of data centers, such as adding new hardware, the overall airflow, and even the longevity of the data center’s connections.

One of the most critical ways proper cable management can help you maintain effective cooling in your data center is by allowing air to pass through freely.

This is because bundled-up and messy cables can lead to air dams that block air from flowing, gradually reducing circulation and raising temperatures in the surrounding area.

Consistency of temperature

When you are cooling a data center, it is important to maintain a consistent temperature range at all times. This is because consistent temperatures reduce the possibility of issues such as condensation or moisture that can build up on glass or other surfaces in data centers.

The best way to do this is to use a system to monitor thermal requirements and keep the temperature within specified limits.

Placement & design

From the initial stages of planning a data center, cooling is required for efficient system performance. This means designing the overall placement of components such as servers and aisle to allow maximum airflow.

To be more specific, one of the most common methods for data center servers is in the hot and cold aisle layout. This layout works by having two servers facing each other on opposite sides of an aisle so that the cold air is drawn inwards from both sides. This allows for a specified route for cold air, improving the flow and efficiency of the cooling system.

Hot & cold air separation

Keeping the hot and cold air separated is important for a data center cooling system to work efficiently. The cold air must reach IT equipment, while the air cooling system should expel hot air.

If these air flows start intermixing, it can lead to the incorrect air temperature going to the servers/cooling system, reducing the data center’s cooling efficiency.

Maintaining an efficient cooling system can be tricky with all these factors. In particular, this problem of inefficient cooling is often seen in smaller data centers. So, let’s understand why it is such an issue for small to medium-sized data centers.

Difficulties Faced by Small Data Center Design

When it comes to smaller data center designs, a lack of proper infrastructure and funds can often lead to inefficient cooling. This situation ranges from issues in the technology used to the energy wastage in keeping multiple servers cool.

As more companies require data centers, this ballooning problem leads to considerable energy wastage. Some of the primary difficulties faced by smaller data centers are:

Overcooling

As the name suggests, overcooling refers to cooling a data center beyond the required limits. Improper air management systems usually cause this as you need to increase cooling to keep the hotter equipment in average temperatures. This, in turn, ends up cooling the servers with proper airflow excessively, which can lead to various issues in the long run.

Overcooling is especially prominent in small data center designs as they usually don’t have proper air management systems to control the airflow across the systems.

Lack of separation between hot and cold air

Also caused by a lack of proper cooling systems, mixing hot and cold air is another common problem that smaller data centers face. In an ideal scenario, the different air temperatures are separated to ensure a clear airflow, and the right routes suck in cold air and exhaust hot air.

Intermixing these systems can cause various problems, such as hot air being sucked into the servers or cold air getting into the cooling system, which is not ideal.

Can This Problem Be Solved?

Inefficient cooling in small data center design is a cause of concern due to the amount of energy wastage that it usually causes. This will only worsen as data centers increase and the global share of power they consume.

That being said, inefficient data center cooling is not easy to solve. This is because it requires attention from getting the job done and getting it done efficiently.

If you want to make sure your data center is cooling efficiently, we at Mechartes can help you out. We can offer experienced insights and in-depth analysis of factors such as your data center’s Hot and Cold aisle arrangement. So, if you want to work towards a greener future and have a cost-effective cooling system, contact us today!