New Approach Incrementally Cools Data Centers

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Technology from Inertech is enabling sister company Aligned Data Centers to add or reduce cooling capacity in 300 kW increments.

A feature at Data Center Knowledge starts with a description of the challenge: Firms want the ability to scale data center capacity up and down at will. This can be done by using a public data center such as Amazon Web Services. However, such an approach reduces the control over data that some companies want.

The answer is to modularize all phases of a colocation data center. The story says that 300 kW of additional cooling can be deployed in eight weeks. This approach represents a real world compromise – since the public (infrastructure-as-a-service) model is instantaneous. It does, however, enable the client to avoid what it sees as the drawbacks of the IaaS approach.

Inertech’s modular cooling system is called The Thermal Hub. A 100-ton Hub runs on 500 watts – compared to the 90,000 watts needed for a chiller and chiller pump system. Aligned and Inertech are parts of holding company Aligned Energy.

Data centers use extraordinary amounts of power. Ratcheting that consumption down is an important topic. Last month, Schneider Electric released a white paper that explores some of the options.

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