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Evaluation of Energy Savings Potential of an Air-Cooled Chiller System with Free Cooling Operation for Data Center Applications
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Evaluation of Energy Savings Potential of an Air-Cooled Chiller System with Free Cooling Operation for Data Center Applications
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Evaluation of Energy Savings Potential of an Air-Cooled Chiller System with Free Cooling Operation for Data Center Applications
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Journal Article
Evaluation of Energy Savings Potential of an Air-Cooled Chiller System with Free Cooling Operation for Data Center Applications
2026
Overview
The global expansion of data centers, driven by rapid digitalization and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), connected energy systems, and autonomous operations, has led to a significant rise in energy consumption and carbon emissions. This presents a critical challenge to sustainable development, particularly in managing the high energy intensity of data center cooling systems. While conventional direct expansion (DX) cooling systems often utilize free cooling with water/glycol loops, they suffer from limitations such as high fluid viscosity, reduced thermal conductivity, and increased pumping energy. To address these issues, this study proposes and evaluates a refrigerant-based free cooling strategy integrated with an air-cooled chiller system for data center applications. Unlike glycol-based systems, the refrigerant-based design eliminates the need for antifreeze agents and reduces associated pumping losses, enhancing both energy efficiency and system reliability. A new refrigerant cycle model was developed using Simulink to replicate free cooling operations, and its performance was analyzed based on data center's thermal load profiles obtained from EnergyPlus simulations. The case study involves a data center modeled as a single thermal zone with 3 MW of air-cooled information technology equipment (ITE). The proposed configuration includes an air-cooled chiller with an evaporatively cooled condenser, a fluid cooler, and a fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger, allowing the refrigerant loop to be used directly for heat rejection under favorable ambient conditions. Simulation results show that the refrigerant-based free cooling system achieves up to 35% annual cooling energy savings, depending on the climate condition. The number of available free cooling days is also increased due to the favorable thermal properties of the refrigerant compared to the case without free-cooling operation. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of refrigerant-cycle-based free cooling as an effective strategy to reduce cooling energy use and improve the sustainability of data center operations. The findings provide valuable insights for designing energy-efficient cooling systems tailored to climate conditions and operational requirements in large-scale digital infrastructure.
