KEYTER brings its expertise in refrigeration to the Data Processing Center sector at DCD Connect Madrid
Cooling and air conditioning solutions play a critical role in ensuring the stability, performance, and longevity of critical systems in Data Processing Centers (DPC). Maintaining controlled temperature and humidity levels is crucial for achieving this. Inadequate cooling can lead to overheating, which in turn can cause failures, service interruptions, and damage to components.
Moreover, it is essential to select high-efficiency equipment that minimizes energy consumption and carbon emissions, contributing to long-term sustainability. An efficient and reliable cooling solution is crucial for optimizing the operation of data centers and reducing operational costs.
The challenges of the present
There are several challenges in cooling Data Processing Centers (DPC):
- Efficient management of heat generated by high-density computing equipment.
- Ensuring uniform distribution of cold air to avoid hot spots that may lead to localized overheating.
- Maintaining adequate relative humidity to prevent corrosion and static problems in the equipment.
- Considering load fluctuations and cooling demand peaks, adapting systems to provide flexible responsiveness.
- Achieving high energy efficiency in cooling systems, minimizing electrical consumption and carbon emissions.
- Utilizing the large amount of heat extracted from these centers through heat recovery systems.
Decarbonization and environmental action
Data centers of the future have an environmental responsibility and must integrate decarbonization from the early stages of design. Equipment selection should be responsible, always seeking a solution that contributes to the decarbonization goal. To achieve this, the following milestones need to be reached:
- Achieving high energy efficiency (PUE, Power Usage Effectiveness) in cooling systems, minimizing electrical consumption and, therefore, carbon emissions.
- Intelligent use of energy and heat (heat recovery, free cooling).
- Limiting the need for equipment replacement.
- Real-time measurement of machine inventory consumption, etc.
- Use of natural refrigerants with low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
- Integration of Renewable Sources – Combining cooling systems with renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, to reduce the carbon footprint.
Monitoring and Intelligent Control: Fighting Corrosion
Advanced monitoring and intelligent control of cooling systems enable continuous optimization of performance and efficiency with the goal of reducing PUE. But as important as this, controlling temperature, humidity, and air quality is a critical element to prevent future failures in electronics.
Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the materials that make up a motherboard, a graphics card, or a DIMM, among others. The possibility of corrosion of these materials, mostly metallic, is very high. Along with high humidity, the presence of gases within the rooms, such as Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Oxides, or Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), can cause irreversible damage to DPC components and lead to data and economic losses of extraordinary severity.
Investing in a precise control system is essential when designing the cooling system for the rooms. The goal is to maintain a minimum air quality, adapting this control to the particular needs of each installation based on their location and adjusting to potential future changes, both in the room’s configuration and its environment.
KEYTER in Data Centers: Technology and Service
At KEYTER, we have accumulated over 35 years of experience in the air conditioning and refrigeration sector, enabling us to offer a wide variety of solutions applicable to various techniques used for cooling rooms with computer equipment. Additionally, we provide continuous improvement services and consultancy to synergize with data center designers and achieve the best final result. Our teams, both human and material, provide:
- Cooling Capacity – Assessing the cooling power required to dissipate the heat generated by computer equipment, considering peak loads and future growth.
- Energy Efficiency – Prioritizing high-efficiency cooling systems to reduce electrical consumption and carbon emissions, maximizing the sustainability of the data center.
- Reliability and Redundancy – Ensuring service continuity with robust cooling equipment and built-in redundancy, avoiding single points of failure and guaranteeing data center availability.
- Ease of Maintenance – Selecting cooling systems that facilitate preventive and corrective maintenance tasks, reducing downtime and optimizing operational costs.
- In-House Development of Control Systems – With a team of experts in control systems, we can tailor the development of the control system to the needs of each center.
- Continuous Optimization – At KEYTER, experts in refrigeration and energy efficiency, we can assist data center designers in implementing continuous improvements.
KEYTER Products Serving Data Centers
The range of products manufactured by KEYTER covers all possible cooling methods that can occur in Data Processing Centers (DPCs). As specialists in water chillers, we offer outdoor units with a wide range of capacities and configurations:
- High-efficiency air-cooled chillers range: Featuring Full Inverter technology, designed for MEDIUM AND HIGH capacities, available with free cooling and heat recovery systems to increase overall efficiency by harnessing the extracted heat from the room for various external uses. Available with natural refrigerants like Propane or very low GWP refrigerants like 1234ze.
- Water-cooled chillers and Heat Pumps range: Equipped with multiScroll compressors for medium capacity and Inverter screw compressors suitable for high-power centers (up to 1.5 MW). Direct heat extraction with the secondary fluid allows heat recovery. Also available with low GWP refrigerants, aligning with the commitment to reduce environmental impact and support EU targets regarding refrigerants.
- Indoor units, close control: Units designed for precise control of humidity and temperature with scroll compressors and a wide range of capacities (6-150 kW). With multiple operating possibilities, including free cooling and dual-cooling.
As an added service to cooling Data Processing Centers (DPCs), at KEYTER, we offer cooling systems for power electronics rooms, whose special cooling needs are also high. Companies like General Electric trust the technology developed by us to ensure the proper operation of their systems.
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