According to ASHRAE data center standards, cooling infrastructure consumes about 50% of the total electricity in a data center. That is followed by servers and storage systems that consume about 26% of the total electricity.

ASHRAE’s studies come as an eye-opener to several companies, who have now sought the help of HVAC Consultants to address this issue.

One reason companies prefer HVAC consultants is that they are updated with the latest products in the HVAC space. Additionally, HVAC consultants also undergo special training in installing and maintaining new products that arrive in the industry.

On top of that, consultants also understand the challenges data centers face and readily work with engineers to improve the overall health and efficiency of the centers.

Changing regulations and energy guidelines mean HVAC professionals are forced to channel their efforts in designing sustainable, energy-saving solutions for the data centers.

Here is how HVAC consultants can help optimize the health of your data centers.

HVAC Consultants Bring Innovative Solutions To Improve Efficiency 

HVAC consultants can integrate data centers with advanced technologies such as IoT and automation to optimize your data center and make it more power-efficient.

Additionally, these consultants can enhance the cooling capabilities within your data center by combining air-side economizers, energy-harvesters, and traditional cooling equipment without altering the integrity of the data center and servers.

Consultants can also introduce modern HVAC systems with vigilant solutions to cope with system failure. It can also address cases related to a sudden increase in the threshold temperature.

Apart from temperature and humidity monitoring, these intelligent systems can also check your data center’s indoor air quality, leak detection, and power monitoring, reason companies prefer to name a few.

HVAC Consultants Can Offer Insights on Air Flow using CFD Modelling

HVAC consultants can offer insights on airflow in the data center with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling.

Consultants can fight against cooling problems and hot spots found in the data center, especially the old ones that have adopted the conventional approach of placing more cooling systems as the data center expands.

HVAC consultants can also use CFD to understand the floor space for better airflow, thereby reducing the need for more air-conditioners even as you expand your data center.

Mechartes, a well-known HVAC consultant in the industry, provides Data center architecture to their clients using CFD on a stage-by-stage basis. This helps data centers evaluate new designs and alter existing ones under ASHRAE data center standards.

Similarly, HVAC consultants can now provide design strategies based on environmental conditions (geographical locations, climate, etc.), infrastructure topology, and available cooling systems to maximize cooling efficiency.

The consultants can also offer insights on air recirculation, bypass, mixing to the engineers in charge of data centers and IT infrastructure.

Implementing Best Practices- Proper Ventilation & Air Flow  Management Strategies 

Data centers as they expand tend to end up using flawed designs for cooling, especially when it comes to server rooms where IT equipment is located. For instance, when exposed to too much heat or too much cold temperature, server rooms can result in equipment failure.

This causes capital loss in terms of repairing and replacing the IT devices, additionally, the companies will also have to deal with operational loss due to downtime caused by equipment failure.

Seeking the help of HVAC consultants and implementing best cooling practices can resolve problems related to hardware failures while optimizing the performance of your servers and storage devices.

Some of the best practices used by HVAC consultants for improving the cooling efficiency of the data centers include:

• Identifying and removing unnecessary heat sources such as new plugged servers, light bulbs, baseboard heaters, etc., can save energy costs and minimize heat in the data centers.

• Using proper ventilation techniques such as hot-aisle/cold-aisle arrangements and using side and blanking panels to funnel heat in a specific direction can reduce the amount of energy required to cool a data center.

• Include redundancy in critical areas to minimize downtime.

• Maintaining room tightness by plugging leakages, service holes, and cracks to rely less on outdoor airflow provides the desired room overpressure.

• Similarly, sealing less frequently used doors such as hauling can reduce uncontrollable airflow.

• Finally, as an owner of a data center, HVAC consultants will help you understand your premises’ limitations and advantages, which plays a crucial role in future planning.

Final Thoughts

Apart from the fundamental ways mentioned above to optimize the health of your data center, HVAC consultants also offer customized solutions to meet the different requirements of the large companies that rely on IT infrastructure.

Customized solutions include targeted and precision cooling for server rooms, use of chillers, liquid cooling systems, to name a few.

You can also save money by buying equipment from the consultants rather than directly purchasing from the manufacturers. Again, this is because these consultants have a place in the supply chain of HVAC equipment.

You can also avail their services by signing a contract for the annual maintenance of your data centers and HVAC systems. Here both sides win, wherein the consultants can offer their services while you can optimize the health of your data center in a cost-effective and time-saving manner.

At Mechartes, we have professionals who are skilled in installing, maintaining, and repairing various HVAC products to suit the needs of the data centers. We also compare how different cooling strategies work in a data center using CFD modeling.

We have completed HVAC projects in data centers related to telecom sectors, healthcare, and media sectors with high-profile clients such as Etisalat, OSN to name a few. If your business requires frequent up-gradation and maintenance of HVAC systems, then we are here to serve you. Get in touch with us today to know more about our services.