The importance of cooling in data centres located in southern Africa cannot be overestimated, as demonstrated by a cooling solution designed and implemented by the applied technology solutions division of the JSE-listed Square One Solutions Group for engineering consumable products distributor Bearing Man.
Located at Bearing Man's head office complex at the Gateway development north of Durban, the data centre's conventional air conditioning system struggled to cope with the heat generated by the racks of blade and storage servers managing data from Bearing Man's more than 100 branches located throughout South Africa and in Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique.
Square One sales executive and account manager Gavin Blunt said a solution based on an American Power Conversion (APC) InfraStruXure InRow SC air-cooled, self-contained cooling-only air conditioners was proposed for Bearing Man.
"The solution allows Bearing Man to increase the server capacity by 50% without any problem, at an outlay cost that is minimal against the downtime that is being saved."
Blunt added that the InRow design allows waste heat from the IT equipment to be drawn into the return of the SC unit. "This means the hot air generated by the server equipment is neutralised before it can mix with the air in the data centre. At the same time the unit discharges conditioned air into the cold aisle for immediate use by the server equipment."
The next step involves removing the air stream that has absorbed heat from the room. Blunt said this is achieved by the condenser section of the upper half of the InRow SC enclosure, which is connected to a drop ceiling plenum through which the hot air is directed out of the centre.
"Blade servers need to run in environments where the temperature is maintained below 25^0C. The Bearing Man data centre is now maintained at 20^0C and Square One technical support specialist Ryan Kett said in Durban's high humidity environment, it was important not to run too cool because of the danger posed by condensation.
"The SC unit is designed to minimise condensate and is equipped with a condensate pump that can remove up to six litres of condensate an hour. Temperature probes built in to the system continually monitor and measure the mean temperature in the data centre and ensure that the fans automatically speed up or slow down to maintain absolute consistency."
The Bearing Man Group is a leading African distributor of engineering consumables, offering proven, leading brand products and services sourced from around the world. Accredited to the ISO 9001:2000 quality management standard, Bearing Man specialises in bearings, seals, fasteners, power transmissions, power and electric drives, conveyor belting, gearboxes and adhesives, among others.
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