Cooling efficiency is a top priority for today’s data center operators. Increased data center densities enable operators to deliver more processing power in the same amount of space to meet the demands of cloud and hyper-scale environments. As more power is consumed per rack, however, heat becomes a big problem, and traditional computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units are unable to keep up.

Most modern data centers have adopted some sort of aisle-containment solution to minimize the mixing of hot and cold air. With cold-aisle containment, racks are positioned in rows with their fronts facing the aisle, which is enclosed to contain the cold intake air. Hot air from the rear of the equipment is exhausted into the room, which becomes a large hot-air plenum.

A hot-aisle containment system mirrors this approach — the rears of the racks face the aisle, which contains the hot air and exhausts it into a drop ceiling void, return system or computer room air handler (CRAH). Hot-aisle containment is more efficient than cold-aisle containment because it leverages the fact that hot air rises. It also creates a more comfortable environment for data center staff and non-racked equipment.

Either way, aisle containment makes it possible to set cooling systems to a higher temperature while still maintaining a safe operating temperature for the equipment. It also minimizes the risk of hot spots, and reduces the need for humidification and dehumidification. All of this reduces costs by reducing power consumption.

However, aisle-containment with a CRAC unit is not as efficient as in-row cooling. As the name implies, in-row cooling places a cooling unit directly in the row of racks. The unit may be suspended from the ceiling, placed on top of a cabinet or mounted on the floor. Because the cooling unit is closer to the equipment, the cold air doesn’t have to travel as far and heat can be dissipated faster. In-row cooling can be used to supplement room cooling, or installed in a closed-loop arrangement with a cold-aisle containment enclosure.

In-row cooling units may use refrigerant or chilled water, and incorporate fans to distribute the cold air. State-of-the-art units have built-in intelligence, varying cooling capacity and fan speeds according to the load.

There are several obvious use cases for in-row cooling. It may be used for a lab environment within a data center, or to provide more efficient cooling for a customer in a colocation facility. In-row cooling is also ideal for extremely dense environments, particularly those that use power-hungry GPU clusters for machine learning and other artificial intelligence applications.

Rahi’s new line of in-row cooling units is designed to meet customer demand for higher capacity to address today’s heat loads. These 45U-high, 1200mm-deep and 600mm- or 900mm-wide units fit comfortably in any data center environment yet can deliver more than 100kW of cooling capacity. They are available in condenser water, chilled water and DX air- and water-cooled configurations to meet a wide range of needs. They feature a wall of variable-speed, hot-swappable fans and dual power supplies. They are easy to install and service and have an intuitive, touch-screen interface.

Our in-row cooling technology is a key component of our new FlexIT Pod solution, which we’ll talk about in a future post.

 

 

Rahi is a Global IT Solutions Provider. We are uniquely capable of combining data center, IT and audio/video solutions to create an integrated environment that drives efficiencies, enhances customer service and creates competitive advantages. We offer a full suite of products in physical infrastructure, storage, compute, networking, power and cooling, and audio / video. In addition, Rahi offers professional and managed services to aid customers in logistics, delivery, set-up, and ongoing support of their technology solutions.

About Rahi

Rahi is a subsidiary of Wesco Distribution, a Fortune 200 Company with operations in 50+ countries and annual revenues over USD 19B. Rahi delivers comprehensive data centre solutions for global enterprises, hyperscalers, and multi-tenant data centres. Rahi provides IOR, local currency billing, and RMA services, enabling businesses to operate efficiently anywhere.
Since being acquired in Nov. 2022, Rahi’s global presence and analytical expertise help clients achieve their business and IT requirements.

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