Research of an integrated cooling system consisted of compression refrigeration and pump-driven heat pipe for data centers

• Published in: Energy and buildings Vol. 187; pp. 16 - 23
• Main Authors: Sun, Yutao, Wang, Tiejun, Yang, Lei, Hu, Liwen, Zeng, Xiaocheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 15.03.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Air cooling; Compression; Compressors; Computer centers; Cooling; Cooling systems; Data center; Data centers; Dual mode; Energy consumption; Energy conversion efficiency; Energy efficiency; Energy management; Environmental control; Heat; Heat pipe; Heat pipes; Integrated system; Natural cooling; Refrigeration; Temperature effects; Vapor compression refrigeration; Vapors; Volume controls; Integrated system; Data center; Dual mode; Heat pipe; Natural cooling
• ISSN: 0378-7788; 1872-6178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.01.050

•Presented a new cooling system for data centers.•The system can operate on three different modes with good reliability and performance based on the ambient temperature.•The theoretical analysis and comparison show the most energy saving potential and the highest energy efficiency than other types of cooling systems for data center. An integrated cooling system is developed for the environmental control of all-year-round running data centers with high heat load. The system is consisted of a vapor compression refrigeration unit connected with a separated heat pipe unit by an evaporative condenser. Based on the outdoor temperature, the system can operate on three modes: vapor compression mode, dual refrigeration mode and heat pipe mode. The cooling capacity of vapor compression unit is regulated via volume control of six paralleled scroll compressors, while that of heat pipe unit is adjusted by frequency conversion outdoor fan. The experimental results indicate that the cooling capacity of the system has a nearly constant value of 200 kW, and EER changes from 21.2 to 3.1 when the outdoor temperature increases from −5 °C to 45 °C. The theoretical calculation and analysis show that, compared with air cooling direct expansion unit and air cooling dual source chiller, the proposed system has the lowest annual energy consumption with highest energy efficiency. So it can be the preferred choice for all-year-round running data centers especially in regions with low average annual temperature.