The control of data center airflow should adhere to a fundamental rule. Only cool air should ever enter any IT gear. The strategy frequently results in overcooling some sections of the data center. Getting rid of the hotspots while not overcooling is key to efficiency. A key factor for a data center administrator is controlling the airflow and ensuring the cold air gets to where it needs to be.
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What is Airflow Management in a Data Center?
Data center airflow management regulates the temperatures within and around IT equipment to maintain and improve efficiency. Poor airflow can keep cold air from cooling down overheated parts or keep warm air confined to one place. Your IT components and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems will work more than necessary to maintain perfect conditions if there is improper air circulation. Costs might soar, and production could be hindered due to this issue.
Data center airflow management solves typical issues by putting into practice methods that regulate room temperatures, lower fan speeds, and generate appropriate air circulation channels. The floor, racks, rows, and the room itself are the main areas of attention for data center air management solutions:
- Floors: Managing the temperature of a data center has special difficulties. Raised flooring can leak air into unintended places, whereas standard floors frequently obstruct ventilation.
- Racks: Air must be able to move freely around the racks containing your servers and other equipment, but too much space might lead to air pockets that prevent air from escaping.
- Rows: Multiple cabinets should be arranged in rows to maximize space economy, but for the best temperature management, aisles should be divided by hot and cold air.
- Room: To get the most out of airflow management strategies, actively manage the temperature of a data center.
Common Airflow Issues
Significant improvements in monitoring airflow controls in data center components will result in better, more specialized solutions for individual airflow problems. Some typical air difficulties are caused by subpar air management from the essential data center components.
- Bypass Air: Bypass airflow describes air dynamics in which cooled air returns to the cooling unit without passing an IT device. Bypass air negates the basic principle of effective air management. It does not flow through IT hardware, making the equipment’s ability to cool useless.
- Air Recirculation: Recirculation is circulating supply air through IT equipment to remove heat. The problem occurs when the IT hardware breathes that air in again. Since the air was being cycled, it gathered extra heat, which was then transferred to the IT equipment. That will raise the temperature there even further.
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Common Solutions for Airflow
To control the airflow in a data center, warm and cold air must be circulated. The main objective of airflow management is to direct cold and warm air to desired areas while creating pathways for heated air to disperse and cool air to cool down overheating equipment. For cold and hot air management, floors, cabinets, and temperature-separated passageways are key battlegrounds. Here are a few typical methods for air management solutions in data centers:
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Brush grommets:
While it is beneficial to circulate cold air over heated equipment, a lot of air can escape via the gaps where wires can enter the room. Cables may travel through brush grommets while they also keep cold air where it belongs sealed.
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Curtains:
To optimize the effectiveness of any airflow regulation strategy, separate hot and cold cabinet aisles. Heavy drapery elements like plastic drapes, blankets, or other heavy things are simple to install and have obvious effects.
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Rack chimneys:
Hot air rises, and if it has nowhere to go, it will accumulate on top of IT equipment, making cooling operations more difficult. The warm air rising from the ground can exit the building through HVAC ducts thanks to chimney constructions.
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End-of-row doors and aisle ceilings:
These architectural elements enclose hot and cold lanes to keep the air in one area where it can efficiently cool down overheated equipment and move in a regulated manner into HVAC ducts.
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Filler panels:
Inner-rack recirculation occurs when gaps along a cabinet aisle go unfilled. This procedure makes temperature fluctuations possible, thereby reducing the impact of containment stands circulation attempts. It is simpler to control airflow because filler or blanking panels stop hot and cold air from passing to empty regions.
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Conclusion
Cables typically run overhead and under the data center server room floor. When adding server racks, they drill more floor cutouts, causing the hot and cold air to mingle. In such a case, the data center’s utilization of underfloor space for air system control is one alternative. We know the requirement for a complete, proactive airflow control system at EB Air Control.