Data centers are more critical to the operation of our businesses than they have ever been in the past, and the criticality increases every day. In fact, they are not just critical to our businesses but to our daily way of life. It is also understood that the power densities in data centers continue to increase on a scale never seen before. Which is why, similar to the electrical distribution systems, properly designing, building, and controlling the HVAC cooling systems in the data center white space today is more critical than ever. The following is intended to be a high-level description of the HVAC control systems in data centers.
Before we discuss data center cooling control schemes, we must first make sure the cooling systems are properly sized from a cooling and efficiency standpoint. Even though data centers differ significantly from most building types, designing the HVAC and HVAC control systems are not unlike other building types. Where instead of designing a system for comfort cooling, we’re designing a system to maintain the proper cooling needed for the data center technology (servers).