Posted on February 15, 2024
Data centers have become critically important today, and ensuring the best conditions exist in these buildings includes precise humidity control. Fisair’s experts specialize in psychrometry and the principles and benefits of humidity control across a wide range of sectors, including data processing centers.
Working with businesses across the Southeast, TBCo has worked on a broad range of humidity control projects. Today, with the technology offered through Fisair, we are able to offer a new solution to address precise humidity control in all types of applications and also offer the benefits of energy efficiency and ease of installation.
Evaporative Principle
Dry air has an enormous natural ability to cool itself by exchanging heat with water. Water absorbs a large amount of heat from the air to evaporate. As a result of this exchange between air and water, the temperature of the air decreases. This air cooling process uses much less energy than the traditional cooling processes used by typical air conditioning systems.
A wet media cooler basically uses this principle to cool hot air by forcing it through a large surface area of inorganic panel that is moistened with water (works like a sponge). In this type of cooling, no energy is consumed to evaporate the water. The media itself has an air pressure drop that will represent a small increase in the power consumption of the fans, and a small circulation pump is used to distribute the water through the panels. The total energy consumption resulting from the additional air pressure drop and the water recirculation pump is not significant in the total energy consumption of the data center cooling system.
Where Evaporative Cooling Works
The evaporative cooling effect is directly associated with the air’s ability to absorb water. In other words, it depends on the difference between the dry bulb temperature and the wet bulb temperature. The greater the difference, the greater the cooling effect. Evaporative cooling can significantly reduce, or even sometimes eliminate, compressor cooling equipment in data centers, depending on indoor and outdoor air conditions and the type of cooling solution implemented.
With that said, there are some places in the world that are better suited for the use of evaporative cooling than others. The wet bulb temperature will set the theoretical minimum temperature to which the air can be cooled during the evaporative cooling process, assuming the saturation efficiency of the process is 100%. It is therefore very important to consider the distribution of the outdoor wet bulb temperature around the world to identify the most suitable places for the use of evaporative cooling.
Typically, for data center applications, locations where the wet bulb temperature is> 25°C are considered to have low potential for implementing evaporative cooling solutions.
Advantages of Using Fisair's Contact Panel Evaporative Cooling
- Maximum levels of energy efficiency (annual pPUE)
- The best saturation efficiency on the market
- The media with the lowest pressure drop on the market
- Reduced water usage (pWUE), compared to other evaporative cooling solutions
- A reduced emergency water storage compared to other evaporative cooling solutions.
- Operation with all types of water (without water treatment)
- There is no risk of water droplets on the inside of the enclosure or on the components (for example, the air-air plate heat exchanger)
- Allows cooling solutions without the use of a compressor (“mechanical cooling”)
- Reduced electrical infrastructure
- Reduced CapEx, OpEx and cost of capital
Small to large-scale data centers: HEF2E for integration in air handling units (AHU)
Features and main advantages:
- Low energy consumption.
- Made entirely of AISI304 stainless steel, optionally AISI 316.
- High efficiency / hygienic evaporative panel. Non-flammable and inorganic.
- Glueless assembly, which provides high saturation efficiency, very low pressure drop and a long life cycle.
- Operation with all types of water, including demineralized water.
- Silver ions on the surface of the evaporative panel (antibacterial and protection against mold formation).
- Standard cassettes for easy maintenance.
- Allows maintenance from the sides or from the front of the unit.
- Quick and easy assembly in the AHU.
- Hygienic certificate according to VDI6022.
Small-scale data centers: online conduit – HEF3-CAD
Features and main benefits:
For direct water pipeline applications.
- 6 standard sizes with airflows up to 3,700 m3 / h without droplet carry-over.
- Optimal performance with minimal operating costs.
- Easy installation and maintenance.
- High increase in heat recovery efficiency in the return air
- AISI-304 stainless steel, in the basin and structure.
- Complete emptying of the tray.
- Easy to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance purposes.
- Accessible on all faces.
Contact your local TBCo branch location to learn more about these products and others to address data processing center applications.