Four indirect evaporative cooling units built by Munters Corporation were recently installed at the California Department of General Services, Office of State Publishing in Sacramento, Calif., – making it the largest IEC project in the state.
The Munters Oasis IEC modules (pictured), have a total air flow capacity of 354,000 cubic feet per minute and can produce 704 tons of cooling. They provide preconditioning for the 100 percent outdoor air required for the plant’s production area, Munters says.
Unlike direct evaporative cooling systems that cools outdoor air by the evaporation of water which enters the building, IEC or dry evaporative cooling uses a horizontal polymer tube air-to-air heat exchanger.
For 50 years prior to this installation, the state of California’s publishing facility pre-cooled outdoor air entering the facility with heated water pumped from a well and fed to chilled water coils located on the roof. The warm water leaving the coils was discharged into the American river.
This process had to be altered when it was discovered that the well water was polluted, and the EPA threatened to fine the state for discharging the polluted water into the river, Munters says.
Earlier this year, HP announced plans to install an evaporative cooling system at a new Sydney data center, which will replace four existing facilities. The center will have a power usage effectiveness rating of 1.2.