ATLANTA - Data centers are becoming increasingly more difficult to adequately cool, due to increased datacom performance that results in increased heat dissipation. Even though performance has increased at a more rapid rate than power, the power required and the resulting heat dissipated by the datacom equipment is putting a strain on data centers. Case studies and guidance on cooling data centers is now available in a new book from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), High Density Data Centers – Case Studies and Best Practices.

“In the struggle to improve the thermal management characteristics of data centers, it is important to assess today’s data center designs,” said Roger Schmidt. “This book provides case studies of high density data centers and a range of ventilation schemes that demonstrate how loads can be cooled using a number of different approaches.”

Schmidt is a member of ASHRAE’s technical committee on mission control facilities, technology spaces and electronic equipment, which wrote the book.

Case studies featured in the book include the National Center for Environmental Prediction, the IBM Test Facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Lawrence Livermore National Lab Data Center, the NYC Financial Services Data Center, the Georgia Institute of Technology Data Center, the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Data Center, and the Hewlett-Packard Richardson Datacool™ Data Center.

The book is part of the ASHRAE Datacom Series, developed to provide a more comprehensive treatment of datacom cooling and related subjects. Other books in the series are ASHRAE’s Design Considerations for Datacom Equipment Centers, Best Practices for Datacom Facility Energy Efficiency, Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments, Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers, Datacom Equipment Power Trends and Cooling Applications, and Structural and Vibration Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers.

The cost of High Density Data Centers – Case Studies and Best Practices is $54 (ASHRAE members, $43). To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, or visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

Publication date: 05/12/2008