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If a data center experiences a system outage or fault conditions, it becomes difficult to provide a stable and continuous information technology (IT) service. Therefore, it is critical to design and implement a backup system so that stability can be maintained even in emergency (unforeseen) situations. In this study, an actual 20 MW data center project was analyzed to evaluate the thermal performance of an IT server room during a cooling system outage under six fault conditions. In addition, a method of organizing and systematically managing operational stability and energy efficiency verification was identified for data center construction in accordance with the commissioning process. Up to a chilled water supply temperature of 17 °C and a computer room air handling unit air supply temperature of 24 °C, the temperature of the air flowing into the IT server room fell into the allowable range specified by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers standard (18–27 °C). It was possible to perform allowable operations for approximately 320 s after cooling system outage. Starting at a chilled water supply temperature of 18 °C and an air supply temperature of 25 °C, a rapid temperature increase occurred, which is a serious cause of IT equipment failure. Due to the use of cold aisle containment and designs with relatively high chilled water and air supply temperatures, there is a high possibility that a rapid temperature increase inside an IT server room will occur during a cooling system outage. Thus, the backup system must be activated within 300 s. It is essential to understand the operational characteristics of data centers and design optimal cooling systems to ensure the reliability of high-density data centers. In particular, it is necessary to consider these physical results and to perform an integrated review of the time required for emergency cooling equipment to operate as well as the backup system availability time.

Removing heat from high-density information technology (IT) equipment is essential for data centers. Maintaining the proper operating environment for IT equipment can be expensive. Rising energy cost and energy consumption has prompted data centers to consider hot aisle and cold aisle containment strategies, which can improve the energy efficiency and maintain the recommended level of inlet air temperature to IT equipment. It can also resolve hot spots in traditional uncontained data centers to some degree. This study analyzes the IT environment of the hot aisle containment (HAC) system, which has been considered an essential solution for high-density data centers. The thermal performance was analyzed for an IT server room with HAC in a reference data center. Computational fluid dynamics analysis was conducted to compare the operating performances of the cooling air distribution systems applied to the raised and hard floors and to examine the difference in the IT environment between the server rooms. Regarding operating conditions, the thermal performances in a state wherein the cooling system operated normally and another wherein one unit had failed were compared. The thermal performance of each alternative was evaluated by comparing the temperature distribution, airflow distribution, inlet air temperatures of the server racks, and recirculation ratio from the outlet to the inlet. In conclusion, the HAC system with a raised floor has higher cooling efficiency than that with a hard floor. The HAC with a raised floor over a hard floor can improve the air distribution efficiency by 28%. This corresponds to 40% reduction in the recirculation ratio for more than 20% of the normal cooling conditions. The main contribution of this paper is that it realistically implements the effectiveness of the existing theoretical comparison of the HAC system by developing an accurate numerical model of a data center with a high-density fifth-generation (5G) environment and applying the operating conditions.

As the demand for data centers rises, efficient cooling systems are becoming increasingly vital to ensure uninterrupted operations and adaptability to changes in IT services. This research focuses on quantitatively comparing the thermal performance of cooling systems capable of handling high-density IT power. Its objective is to provide objective criteria for selecting suitable cooling solutions, including an assessment of three 150 kW IT and facility modules. The study evaluates room-based, row-based, and rack-based cooling options based on the configured ITE power density, ensuring that all three solutions meet ASHRAE’s recommended IT operating environment through CFD analysis.

Growths in population, increasing demand for health care services and comfort levels, together with patients on the rise in time spent inside hospitals, assure the upward trend that energy demand will continue in the future. Since the hospital buildings operate 24 hours, 365 days a year for the treatment and restoration of patients, they are approximately 2–3 times more energy-intensive than normal buildings. For this reason, energy efficiency in hospitals is one of the prime objectives for energy policy at regional, national and international levels. This study aims to find how meaningful energy performance, reflecting good energy management and energy conservation measures (ECMs), can be operated for hospital buildings, a category encompassing complex buildings with different systems and large gaps between them. Energy audit allows us to obtain knowledge from the healthcare facility, in order to define and tune data driven analysis rules. The use of benchmarking in the energy audit of healthcare facilities enables immediate comparison between hospitals. Data driven energy analysis also allows ascertaining their expected energy consumption and estimating the possible savings margin by using the building energy flow chart. In the 2015–2017 periods, bench-marking of four public hospitals in Seoul were audited for the energy consumption related to weather conditions, total area, bed numbers, employee numbers, and analyzed for building energy flow by zones, energy sources, systems and equipment. This is a practice-based learning in a hospital project. The results reveal that the average annual energy consumption of a hospital under normal conditions, and energy efficiency factors are divided into energy baselines, energy consumption goals for energy saving and energy usage trends for setting ECMs, respectively. The indicator dependent on the area of inpatients (number of beds) proved to be the most suitable as a reference to quantify the energy consumption of a hospital.

Data center air containment systems are considered the most effective techniques for IT cooling control.1 Both hot- and cold-aisle containment can improve the predictability and efficiency of cold air distribution. The thermal performance of both air containment methods are analyzed and quantified in this article. Both simulation and experimental results show that using hot-aisle containment can effectively improve the thermal environment.

The increasing frequency of infectious disease outbreaks underscores the urgent need for rapidly deployable medical isolation facilities that can ensure infection control while maintaining health-care capacity. Part 1 of a two-part series presents the conceptual framework and design methodology for modular negative pressure isolation rooms (MNPIR) developed for pandemic response. Beginning with lessons from past outbreaks and evolving infection control strategies, it discusses critical design principles–airflow directionality, pressure differentials and filtration requirements–that form the basis of resilient ventilation systems. The architectural and engineering criteria for temporary but safe mobile isolation units are outlined, with particular emphasis on layout planning, patient-health-care worker flow separation and system integration. This design-based foundation provides the groundwork for subsequent engineering validation, which is detailed in Part 2.

Background: There is a global increase in interest regarding the utilization of unutilized energy to achieve carbon neutrality. Data centers, known for their high energy consumption and year-round cooling requirements, produce a significant amount of heat that requires constant removal. Approximately 95-100% of the power consumed in data centers is converted into heat, a substantial portion of which is discarded as waste heat. Purpose: To effectively recover waste heat in data centers, there must be continuous demand and economic feasibility. In the case of data centers, heat is released from the condenser (cooling tower) to the outside. However, the collected heat, typically around 35[degrees]C(95[degrees]F), is not suitable for space heating purposes. This study proposes the recovery of waste heat from data centers as a pre-heating source for domestic hot water systems, which have a year-round heating demand, and aims to assess its applicability. Method: We analyzed the potential waste heat from the annual cooling system operation of a large-scale 30 MW data center. Our proposed system involves installing a heat exchanger in the city water supply line of a nearby demand source, such as an apartment complex, to pre-heat the water by at least 5[degrees]C(41[degrees]F) and recover approximately 5-10[degrees]C(41-50[degrees]F) of waste heat from the cooling system. Results: Based on the actual water heating usage of approximately 27,000 units in a nearby apartment complex, we calculated the domestic hot water profile, considering the intermediate, summer, and winter seasons. We analyzed the energy savings and costs associated with the waste heat recovery from the data center, revealing a reduction in energy consumption by approximately 12% compared to the existing district heating system.

Background: There is a global increase in interest regarding the utilization of unutilized energy to achieve carbon neutrality. Data centers, known for their high energy consumption and year-round cooling requirements, produce a significant amount of heat that requires constant removal. Approximately 95-100% of the power consumed in data centers is converted into heat, a substantial portion of which is discarded as waste heat. Purpose: To effectively recover waste heat in data centers, there must be continuous demand and economic feasibility. In the case of data centers, heat is released from the condenser (cooling tower) to the outside. However, the collected heat, typically around 35°C(95°F) , is not suitable for space heating purposes. This study proposes the recovery of waste heat from data centers as a pre-heating source for domestic hot water systems, which have a year-round heating demand, and aims to assess its applicability. Method: We analyzed the potential waste heat from the annual cooling system operation of a large-scale 30 MW data center. Our proposed system involves installing a heat exchanger in the city water supply line of a nearby demand source, such as an apartment complex, to pre-heat the water by at least 5°C(41°F) and recover approximately 5-10°C(41-50°F) of waste heat from the cooling system. Results: Based on the actual water heating usage of approximately 27,000 units in a nearby apartment complex, we calculated the domestic hot water profile, considering the intermediate, summer, and winter seasons. We analyzed the energy savings and costs associated with the waste heat recovery from the data center, revealing a reduction in energy consumption by approximately 12% compared to the existing district heating system.

Cooling systems in data centers must balance the need to significantly reduce energy consumption with maintaining the optimal environment for IT equipment to operate without errors or interruptions. Unfortunately, a trade-off often exists between these two objectives-increasing the equipment reliability of data center operations tends to increase energy consumption, while relaxing the cooling system configuration and operating conditions to save energy may compromise equipment reliability. Therefore, achieving the goal of reducing energy consumption while maintaining data center reliability is a challenging task. Here, Cho and Lee discuss an energy-saving approach to hot-standby sparing (HSP) operation and control of cooling system redundancy equipment, which is crucial for ensuring the operational reliability of data centers. They also present a design case and quantifies the energy savings for data center cooling achieved using this approach.