Raised Floor Computer Data Center: Effect on Rack Inlet Temperatures When High Powered Racks are Situated Amongst Lower Powered Racks

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect on inlet rack air temperatures when high-powered racks are situated amongst lower powered racks in a raised floor data center. Only the above floor (raised floor) flow and temperature distributions were analyzed for various flowrates exhausting from the perforated tiles and with one or two high powered racks placed at various locations amongst the lower powered racks. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model was generated for the room with electronic equipment installed on a raised floor with particular focus on the effects on rack inlet temperatures of these high powered racks. Forty racks of data processing (DP) equipment were arranged in rows in a data center cooled by chilled air exhausting from perforated floor tiles. The chilled air was provided by four A/C units placed inside a room 12.1 m wide × 13.4 m long. Since the arrangement of the racks in the data center was symmetric only one-half of the data center was modeled. The numerical modeling was performed using a commercially available finite control volume computer code called Flotherm (Trademark of Flomerics, Inc.). The flow was modeled using the k-e turbulence model. Results are displayed to provide some guidance on the design and layout of a data center.