Green Data Center: Ice Balls Thermal Storage System
Project and Program:
Enterprise Data Center,
Data Center Management
Tags:
Proceedings,
SHARE in Anaheim 2011,
2011
Looking for ways to possibly reduce the cost of running your data center? One innovative way is to use thermal storage systems to remove the heat produced by a data center. Our speaker will provide an overview of the technology used by Cryogel's Ice Ball Thermal Storage and discuss how you can save money by storing your BTU's (produced by the data center) in ice-balls during the day and then use electricity to remove the BTUs from the ice-balls at night when your electric rates are much lower.
The ice balls -- water-filled, dimpled plastic spheres a little larger than a softball -- can be used to feed the air conditioning system. This may literally be the coolest technology around! Although your data center's overall electrical use may not be reduced, changing the time of its usage may be significant.
In a data center you use electricity to make things cold by removing BTUs of heat. This can either be done by directly pumping the BTUs out of the computers in the daytime (like most data centers) or by storing the BTUs in ice-balls during the day, and then use electricity to pump those BTUs out of the ice-balls at night when electricity rates are much lower.
The same cooling equipment is used to remove the same number of BTUs. They're either cooling computers or ice-balls, but the amount of heat removed is the same.
Another advantage is that the cooling system can work at night. Cooling systems transfer heat from one location to another; collect the heat from a computer, 'concentrate' it to raise the temperature, then get rid of this concentrated heat through radiators (cooling towers or condensers). The greater the temperature difference between the radiator and the outside environment, the more efficient the process. Cooling at night, when outdoor temperatures are lower, could improve efficiency enough to overcome the energy consumption of glycol pumps and transferring between cooling mediums.
Join us for an interesting look at an innovative technology that can possibly improve your data center's overall costs.
Presenter(s): Victor J. Ott, Cryogel
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