Case study
ABN Amro Data Centre
Cooling for 15 high-performance servers at London data centre
Key information
Client:
ABN Amro Data Centre
Supplier:
Star Refrigeration Ltd Trox AITCS Ltd
Type of facility:
Two-stage refrigeration facility
System start-up:
2006
The Dutch bank ABN Amro works with 15 high-performance servers at the data centre of its London branch. To provide a controlled climate for this hardware, the refrigeration systems manufacturer Star Refrigeration built a low-energy-consumption carbon dioxide facility.
Requirements
The facility should protect the servers from overheating in an environmentally friendly and efficient manner.
Solution
Star Refrigeration designed a refrigeration system that uses carbon dioxide to generate a total output of 300 kilowatts. The carbon dioxide is recondensed with water at 6°C via an indirect chilling cycle. The cooling is handled by ventilator units on the back of the server cabinets, where the carbon dioxide evaporates at 14°C and absorbs the heat siphoned off by the fans.
Technical data
Cooling capacity:
15 x 20 kW
Refrigerant volume:
n/a
Evaporating temperature:
14 ºC
Main components:
15 ventilator units, CO2 condenser, heat exchangers, gravity flow pumps
Special features:
Carbon dioxide is an ideal refrigerant for IT climate control because it does not conduct electricity, which makes for safe operation. Its high effectiveness allows for fitting the cabinets with more servers than usual, resulting in space savings of over 50 percent. The operator has energy savings of 30 percent compared with pure cold-water cooling.
The facility has a CO2 detector system for leak detection
