13

AIR‐SIDE ECONOMIZER TECHNOLOGIES

Nicholas H. Des Champs, Keith Dunnavant and Mark Fisher

Munters Corporation, Buena Vista, Virginia, United States of America

13.1 INTRODUCTION power to perform office and scientific calculation, allowing

individuals to have access to their own “personal” comput-
The development and use of computers for business and ers. The early processors and their host computers produced
s­cience was a result of attempts to remove the drudgery of very little heat and were usually scattered throughout a
many office functions and to speed the time required to do department. For instance, an 8086 processor (refer to
mathematically intensive scientific computations. As Table 13.1) generated less than 2 W of heat, and its host
c­omputers developed from the 1950s tube‐type mainframes, computer generated on the order of 25 W of heat (without
such as the IBM 705, through the minicomputers of the monitor). Today’s servers can generate up to 500 W of heat
70s and 80s, they were typically housed in a facility that was or more and when used in modern data centers (DCs) are
also home to many of the operation’s top‐level employees. loaded into a rack and can result in very high densities of
And, because of the cost of these early computers and the heat in a very small footprint. Consider a DC with 200 racks
security surrounding them, they were housed in a secure area at a density of 20,000 W/rack that results in 4 MW of heat to
within the main facility. It was not uncommon to have them dissipate in a very small space.
in an area enclosed in lots of glass so that the computers and Of course, there would be no demand for combining
peripheral hardware could be seen by visitors and e­mployees. thousands of servers in large DCs had it not been for the
It was an asset that presented the operation as one that was at development of the Internet and launching of the World
the leading edge of technology. Wide Web (WWW) in 1991 (at the beginning of 1993 only
These early systems generated considerably more heat 50 servers were known to exist on the WWW), develop-
per instruction than today’s servers. Also, the electronic ment of sophisticated routers, and many other ancillary
equipment was more sensitive to temperature, moisture, and hardware and software products. During the 1990s, use of
dust. As a result, the computer room was essentially treated the Internet and personal computers mushroomed as is
as a modern‐day clean room. That is, high‐efficiency filtra- illustrated by the rapid growth in routers: in 1991 Cisco
tion, humidity control, and temperatures comparable to had 251 employees and $70 million in sales, and by 1997
operating rooms were standard. Since the computer room it had 11,000 employees and $7 billion in sales. Another
was an integral part of the main facility and had numerous example of this growth is shown by the increasing demand
personnel operating the computers and the many varied for server capacity: in 2011 there were 300 million new
pieces of peripheral equipment, maintaining the environ- websites created, bringing the total to 555 million by the
ment was considered by the facilities personnel as a more end of that year. The total number of Internet servers
precise form of “air conditioning.” worldwide is estimated to be greater than 75 million.
Development of the single‐chip microprocessor during As technology has evolved during the last several decades,
the mid‐1970s is considered to be the beginning of an era in so have the cooling requirements. No longer is a new DC
which computers would be low enough in cost and had the “air‐conditioned,” but instead it is considered “process cooling”

Data Center Handbook: Plan, Design, Build, and Operations of a Smart Data Center, Second Edition. Edited by Hwaiyu Geng.
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

211
212 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

TABLE 13.1 Chronology of computing processors

Processor Clock speed Introduction Mfg. process Transistors

4004 108 KHz November 1971 10 μm 2,300

8086 10 MHz June 1978 3 μm 29,000 1.87 W (sustained)

386 33 MHz June 1988 1.5 μm 275,000

486 33 MHz November 1992 0.8 μm 1.4 million

Pentium 66 MHz March 1993 0.8 μm 3.1 million

Pentium II 233 MHz May 1997 0.35 μm 7.5 million

Pentium III 900 MHz March 2001 0.18 μm 28 million

Celeron 2.66 GHz April 2008 65 nm 105 million

Xeon MP X7460 2.66 GHz September 2008 45 nm 1.90 billion 170.25 W (sustained)

Source: Intel Corporation.

where air is delivered to a cold aisle, absorbs heat as it trav- period of time a DC can be cooled by using ambient air.
erses the process, is sent to a hot aisle, and then is either For instance, in Reno, NV, air can be supplied all year at
discarded to ambient or returned to dedicated machines for 72°F (22°C) with no mechanical refrigeration by using
extraction of the process heat and then sent back to the cold evaporative cooling techniques.
aisle. Today’s allowable cooling temperatures reflect the Major considerations by the design engineers when
conceptual change from air conditioning (AC) to process selecting the cooling system for a specific site are:
cooling. There have been four changes in ASHRAE’s cooling
guidelines [1] during the last nine years. In 2004, ASHRAE (a) Cold aisle temperature and maximum temperature
recommended Class 1 temperature was 68–77°F (20–25°C); rise across server rack
in 2008 it was 64.4–80.6°F (18–27°C). In 2012, the guide- (b) Critical nature of continuous operation for individual
lines remained the same in terms of recommended range but servers and peripheral equipment
greatly expand the allowable range of temperatures and (c) Availability of sufficient usable water for use with
humidity in order to give operators more flexibility in doing evaporative cooling
compressor‐less cooling (using ambient air directly or indi- (d) Ambient design conditions, i.e., yearly typical design
rectly) to remove the heat from the DC with the goal of as well as extremes of dry‐bulb (db) and wet‐bulb
increasing the DC cooling efficiency and reducing the energy (wb) temperature
efficiency metric, power usage effectiveness (PUE). Today, (e) Site air quality, i.e., particulate and gases
the 2015 guidelines further expanded the recommended (f) Utility costs
range to a lower humidity level, reducing the amount of
humidification needed to stay within the range. Other factors are projections of initial capital cost, full‐
year cooling cost, reliability, complexity of control, main-
tenance cost, and the effectiveness of the system in
13.2 USING PROPERTIES OF AMBIENT AIR maintaining the desired space temperature, humidity, and
TO COOL A DATA CENTER air quality during normal operation and during a power or
water supply failure.
In some instances it is the ambient conditions that are the Going forward, the two air‐side economizer cooling
principal criteria that determine the future location of a approaches, direct and indirect, are discussed in greater
DC, but most often the location is based on acceptance by detail. A direct air‐side economizer (DASE) takes outdoor
the community, access to networks, and adequate supply air (OA), filters and conditions it, and delivers it directly to
and cost of utilities in addition to being near the market it the space. An indirect air‐side economizer (IASE) uses
serves. Ambient conditions have become a more important ambient air to indirectly cool the recirculating airstream
factor as a result of an increase in allowable cooling tem- without delivering ambient air to the space. Typically a
perature for the information technology (IT) equipment. DASE system will include a direct evaporative cooler
The cooler, and sometimes drier, the climate, the greater (DEC) cooling system for cooling; ambient air traverses
 13.3 ECONOMIZER THERMODYNAMIC PROCESS AND SCHEMATIC OF EQUIPMENT LAYOUT 213

the wetted media, lowering the db temperature, and is con- air is returned to the inlet plenum to mix with the incoming
trolled to limit the amount of moisture added to keep the OA to yield the desired delivery temperature. In almost all
space within the desired RH%. An IASE system typically cases, except in extreme cold climates, some level of
uses some form of air‐to‐air heat exchanger (AHX) that mechanical cooling is required to meet the space cooling
does not transfer latent energy between airstreams. requirements, and, in most cases, the mechanical supple-
Typically, plate‐type, tubular, thermosiphon, or heat pipe ment will be designed to handle the full cooling load. The
heat exchangers are used. Please refer to Ref. [2] for result is that for most regions of the world, the full‐year
information on AHXs. energy reduction is appreciable, but the capital equipment
cost reflects the cost of having considerable mechanical
refrigeration on board. Other factors to consider are costs
13.3 ECONOMIZER THERMODYNAMIC associated with bringing high levels of OA into the building
PROCESS AND SCHEMATIC OF EQUIPMENT that result in higher rate of filter changes and less control of
LAYOUT space humidity. Also, possible gaseous contaminants, not
captured by standard high‐efficiency filters, could pose a
13.3.1 Direct Air‐Side Economizer (DASE) problem.
13.3.1.1 Cooling with Ambient Dry‐Bulb Temperature
13.3.1.2 Cooling with Ambient Wet‐Bulb Temperature
The simplest form of an air‐side economizer uses ambient
air directly supplied to the space to remove heat generated If a source of usable water is available at the site, then an
by IT equipment. Figure 13.1 shows a schematic of a typical economical approach to extend the annual hours of econo-
DASE arrangement that includes a DEC, item 1, and a cool- mizer cooling, as discussed in the previous paragraph, is to
ing coil, item 2. Without item 1 this schematic would repre- add a DEC, item 1, as shown in Figure 13.1. The evaporative
sent a DASE that uses the db temperature of the ambient air pads in a DEC typically can achieve 90–95% efficiency in
to cool the DC. For this case, ambient air can be used to cooling the ambient air to approach wb temperature from db
perform all the cooling when its temperature is below the temperature, resulting in a db temperature being delivered to
design cold aisle temperature and a portion of the cooling space at only a few degrees above the ambient wb tempera-
when it is below the design hot aisle temperature. When ture. The result is that the amount of trim mechanical cooling
ambient temperature is above hot aisle temperature, or ambi- required is considerably reduced from using ambient db and
ent dew point (dp) exceeds the maximum allowed by the in many cases may be eliminated completely. In addition,
design, then the system must resort to full recirculation and there is greater space humidity control by using the DEC to
all mechanical cooling. When ambient temperature is below add water to the air during colder ambient conditions. The
the design cold aisle temperature, some of the heated process relative humidity within the space, during cooler periods, is

Relief air Heated air

Shutoff
Control dampers dampers Hot
Return air aisle
Rack

Rack

Outside Fan
air
Cold aisle
Supply plenum
air

Roughing filter and higher (1) Evaporative pads (2) cooling

efficiency filter with face and bypass coil
damper
FIGURE 13.1 Schematic of a typical direct air‐side economizer.
214 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

controlled with the face and bypass dampers on the DEC. It ment. With an ambient design wb of 67.7°F and a 90% effec-
is important that the system is designed to prevent freeze con- tive evaporative process, the supply air (SA) to the space can
ditions at the DEC or condensate formation in supply duct- be cooled to 70°F from 91.2°F, which is lower than specified.
work or outlet areas. There would be no humidity control Under this type of condition, there are several control schemes
however d­ uring the warmer ambient conditions. In fact, lack that are used to satisfy the space cooling requirements:
of humidity control is the single biggest drawback in using
DASE with DEC. As with the db cooling, factors to consider 1. Reduce the process air flow to maintain the hot aisle
are costs associated with bringing high levels of OA into the temperature at 95°F, which increases the ΔT between
building, which results in higher rates of filter changes and the hot and cold aisles. Decreasing the process airflow
less control of space humidity. Also, possible gaseous con- results in considerably less fan power. This scheme is
taminants, not captured by standard high‐efficiency filters, shown as the process between the two square end
could pose a problem. Even with these operating issues, the marks.
DASE using DEC is arguably the most efficient and least 2. Maintain the specified 20°F ΔT by holding the
costly of the many techniques for removing waste heat from process airflow at the design value, which results
DCs, except for DASE used on facilities in extreme climates in a lower hot aisle temperature. This is shown in
where the maximum ambient db temperature never exceeds the horizontal process line starting from “Out of
the specified maximum cold aisle temperature. DEC” but only increasing up to 90°F db return
A DASE with DEC cooling process is illustrated in temperature.
Figure 13.2. In this instance, the cold aisle temperature is 3. Use face and bypass dampers on the DEC to control
75°F, and the hot aisle is 95°F, which is a fairly typical 20°F the cold aisle SA temperature to 75°F as shown in the
temperature difference, or Delta T (ΔT) across the IT equip- process between the two triangular end marks.

Arrangement of Direct Adiabatic Evaporative Cooler

80 150

75 140

D 130
75
120

Humidity ratio - grains of moisture per pound of dry air

E 70

110
Out of DEC 25°ΔT 95°F
70
P 75°F 20°ΔT 95°F Hot aisle 100

F 90
B 65
80
E = Evaporation Design WB 67.7°F
60 70
B = Bleed-off
F = Fresh water 60
55 Class A4
D = Distribution Recommended
P = Pump capacity 50
Design DB 95.3°F

40 45 40
Class A1
40
30
35
Class A3 20
Class A2
10

40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115

FIGURE 13.2 Direct cooling processes shown with ASHRAE recommended and allowable envelopes for DC supply temperature and
moisture levels.
 13.3 ECONOMIZER THERMODYNAMIC PROCESS AND SCHEMATIC OF EQUIPMENT LAYOUT 215

FIGURE 13.3 At left: cooling system using bank of DASE with DEC units at the end wall of a DC; at right: the array of evaporative cooling
media. Source: Courtesy of Munters Corporation.

13.3.1.3 Arrangement of Direct Adiabatic Evaporative technique allows for much more stable humidity control and sig-
Cooler nificantly reduces the potential of airborne contaminants
entering the space compared to DASE designs. When cooling
A bank of multiple DASE with DEC units arranged in parallel
recirculated air, dedicated makeup air units are added to the
is shown in Figure 13.3. Each of these units supplies 40,000 cubic
total cooling system to control space humidity and building
feet per minute (CFM) of adiabatically cooled OA during warm
pressure. An AHX serves as the intermediary that permits the
periods and a blend of OA and recirculated air, as illustrated in
use of ambient OA to cool the space without actually bringing
Figure 13.1, during colder periods. The cooling air is supplied
the ambient OA into the space. The most commonly used
directly to the cold aisle, travels through the servers and other IT
types of AHX used for this purpose are plate and heat pipe as
equipment, and is then directed to the relief dampers on the
shown in Figure 13.4. Sensible wheel heat exchangers have
roof. Also shown in Figure 13.3 is a commonly used type of
also been used in IASE systems, but are no longer recom-
rigid, fluted direct evaporative cooling media.
mended due to concerns with air leakage, contaminant and/or
humidity carryover, and higher air filtration requirements
13.3.2 Indirect Air‐Side Economizer (IASE) when compared with passive plate or heat pipe heat exchang-
ers. Please refer to Ref. [2], Chapter 26, Air‐To‐Air Energy
13.3.2.1 Air‐to‐Air Heat Exchangers
Recovery Equipment, for further information regarding per-
In many Datacom cooling applications, it is desirable to indi- formance and descriptions of AHX. Figure 13.5 illustrates
rectly cool recirculated DC room air as opposed to delivering the manner in which the AHX is used to transfer the heat
ambient OA directly into the space for cooling. This indirect from the hot aisle return air (RA) to the cooling air, com-

FIGURE 13.4 Plate‐type (left) and heat pipe (right) heat exchangers.
216 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

If DX then optional
location of condenser
Filter DEC Scavenger fan
Scavenger
air

1⃝ 2⃝ 3⃝ 4⃝ 5⃝

Recirculating fan
9⃝ 8⃝ 7⃝

6⃝
Cooling coil
Filter
Air-to-air Hot aisle return
Cold aisle supply
heat exchanger
FIGURE 13.5 Schematic of typical indirect air‐side economizer.

monly referred to as scavenger air (ScA) since it is discarded t­emperature is above the RA. Under these circumstances,
to ambient after it performs its intended purpose, that of there should be a means to prevent the AHX from transfer-
absorbing heat. The effectiveness of an AHX, when taking into ring heat in the wrong direction; otherwise heat will be trans-
consideration the cost, size, and pressure drop, is usually ferred from the ScA to the recirculating air, and the trim
selected to be between 65 and 75% when operating at equal mechanical refrigeration will not be able to cool the recircu-
airflows for the ScA and recirculating air. lating air to the specified cold aisle temperature. Vertical
Referring to the schematic shown in Figure 13.5, the heat pipe AHXs automatically prevent heat transfer at these
ScA enters the system through a roughing filter at ① that extreme conditions because if the ambient OA is hotter
removes materials that are contained in the OA that might than the RA, then no condensing of the heat pipe working
hamper the operation of the components located in the fluid will occur (process ② to ③ as shown in Fig. 13.5), and
scavenger airstream. If a sufficient amount of acceptable therefore no liquid will be returned to the portion of the
water is available at the site, then cooling the ScA with a heat pipe in the recirculating airstream (process ⑦ to ⑧).
DEC before it enters the AHX at ② should definitely be With the plate heat exchanger, a face and bypass section to
considered. Evaporatively cooling the ScA will not only direct ScA around the AHX may be necessary in order to
extend the energy‐saving capability of the IASE over a prevent heat transfer, or else the condenser will need to be
greater period of time, but it will and also reduce the in a separate section, which would allow the scavenger fans
amount of mechanical refrigeration required at the extreme to be turned off.
ambient design conditions. The ambient conditions used As an example, when using just an AHX without DEC
for design of cooling equipment are generally extreme db and assuming an effectiveness of 72.5% (again using 75°F
temperature if just an AHX is used and extreme wb tem- cold aisle and 95°F hot aisle), the economizer can do all of
perature if a form of evaporative cooling is used to precool the cooling when the ambient db temperature is below
the ScA before it enters the heat exchanger. Extreme ambi- 67.4°F. At lower ambient temperatures the scavenger fans
ent conditions are job dependent and are usually selected are slowed in order to remove the correct amount of heat and
using either Typical Meteorological Year 3 (TMY3) data, save on scavenger fan energy. Above 67.4°F ambient the
the extreme ASHRAE data, or even the 0.4% ASHRAE mechanical cooling system is staged on until at an ambient
annual design conditions. of 95°F or higher the entire cooling load is borne by the
When DEC is used as shown in Figure 13.5, and trim mechanical cooling system.
direct expansion refrigeration (DX) cooling is required, then When precooling ScA with a DEC, it is necessary to dis-
it is advantageous to place the condenser coil in the leaving cuss the cooling performance with the aid of a psychromet-
scavenger airstream since its db temperature, in almost all ric chart. The numbered points on Figure 13.6 correspond to
cases, is lower than the ambient db temperature. If no DEC the numbered locations shown in Figure 13.5. On a design
is used, then there could be conditions where the ScA wb day ① of 92°F db/67.7°F wb, the DEC lowers the ScA db
 13.3 ECONOMIZER THERMODYNAMIC PROCESS AND SCHEMATIC OF EQUIPMENT LAYOUT 217

80 150

75 140

130
75
120

Humidity ratio - grains of moisture per pound of dry air

70

110
2- Scavenger Out DEC 3- Scavenger out HX
70
65 100

90
65
60
80
IECX supply 1- Design WB 67.7°F
55 60 70
8- Supply 6- 95°F Hot aisle
55 60
50 Class A4
Recommended
45 50
50 1- Design DB 95.3°F
0 45 Class A1 40

40 30
35
Class A3 20
Class A2
10

40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115

FIGURE 13.6 Psychrometric chart showing performance of IASE system with DEC precooling scavenger airstream.

temperature from 92 to 70.1°F ②. The ScA then enters the note that with this ­process the evaporative cooling effect is
heat exchanger and heats to 88.2°F ③. During this process, achieved indirectly, meaning no moisture is introduced into
air returning from the hot aisle ⑥ is cooled from 95°F (no fan the process airstream.
heat added) to 77.2°F ⑧, or 89% of the required cooling Configuration of a typical IECX is illustrated in
load. Therefore, on a design day using DEC and an AHX, Figure 13.7. The recirculating Datacom air returns from the
the amount of trim mechanical cooling required ⑨ in hot aisle at, for example, 95°F and enters the horizontal
Figure 13.5 is only 11% of the full cooling load, and the trim tubes from the right side and travels through the inside of
would only be called into operation for a short period of time the tubes where it cools to 75°F. The recirculating air cools
during the year. as a result of the indirect cooling effect of ScA evaporating
water that is flowing downward over the outside of the
tubes. Because of the evaporative cooling effect, the water
13.3.2.2 Integral Air‐to‐Air Heat Exchanger/Indirect
flowing over the tubes and the tubes themselves approach
Evaporative Cooler
ambient wb temperature. Typically, an IECX is designed to
The previous section used a separate DEC and AHX to have wb depression efficiency (WBDE) in the range of
­perform an indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) process. The 70–80% at peak ambient wb conditions. Referring to
two processes can be integrated into a single piece of Figure 13.6, with all conditions remaining the same as the
equipment, known as an indirect evaporative cooling heat example with the dry AHX with a DEC precooler on the
exchanger (IECX). The IECX approach, which uses wb ScA, a 78% efficient IECX process is shown to deliver
temperature as the driving potential to cool Datacom facili- a cold aisle temperature of 73.7°F, shown on the chart as a
ties, can be more efficient than using a combination of DEC triangle, which is below the required 75°F. Under these
and AHX since the evaporative cooling process occurs in ­conditions the ScA fan speed is reduced to maintain the
the same area as the heat removal process. It is important to specified cold aisle temperature at 75 instead of 73.7°F.
218 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

Ambient air is
Cold aisle supply exhausted
75°F

Water sprays

Polymer
tube HX

Hot aisle
Scavenger return
ambient air 95°F
67°F wet bulb
Pump

Welded stainless
steel sump

FIGURE 13.7 Indirect evaporative cooled heat exchanger (IECX). Source: Courtesy of Munters Corporation.

A unit schematic and operating conditions for a typical DX then cools the supply to the specified cold aisle
IECX unit design are shown in Figure 13.8. Referring to the ­temperature of 76°F. At these extreme operating conditions,
airflow pattern in the schematic, air at 96°F comes back to the IECX removes 67% of the heat load, and the DX removes
the unit from the hot aisle ①, heats to 98.2°F through the fan the remaining 33% of the heat. This design condition will be
②, and enters the tubes of the IECX where it cools to 83.2°F a rare occurrence, but the mechanical trim cooling is sized to
③ on a design ambient day of 109°F/75°F (db/wb). The trim handle this extreme. For a facility in Quincy, WA, operating

Condenser coil

6
Cooling coil

1 2 Heat exchanger 3 4

Operating Critical Normal

Point DB (°F) WB (°F) ACFM DB (°F) WB (°F) ACFM
T1 96.0 68.9 65,910 96.0 68.9 53,926
T2 98.2 69.5 66,171 97.6 69.4 54,081
T3 83.2 65.0 64,392 82.5 64.8 52,616
T4 76.0 62.6 63,538 76.0 62.6 51,985
T5 109.0 75.0 43,859 109.0 75.0 33,855
T6 81.0 78.5 41,940 81.0 78.5 34,286
T7 93.9 81.5 42,939 94.2 81.6 35,123
ITE load rejected 380.7 kW ITE load rejected 311.5 kW

FIGURE 13.8 Schematic of a typical DC cooling IECX unit. Source: Courtesy of Munters Corporation.
 13.3 ECONOMIZER THERMODYNAMIC PROCESS AND SCHEMATIC OF EQUIPMENT LAYOUT 219

with these design parameters, the IEC economizer is pre- efficiency of the IECX and the site location. For example,
dicted to remove 99.2% of the total annual heat load. if the economizer at a given location reduced the time that
The period of time during the year that an economizer is the mechanical refrigeration was operating by 99.7%
performing the cooling function is extremely important during a year, then the cooling costs would be reduced by a
because a Datacom facility utilizing economizer cooling factor of around 5 relative to a DC with the same server
has a lower PUE than a facility with conventional cooling load operating at a PUE of 2.0.
using chillers and computer room air handler (CRAH) Typically, in a DC facility where hot aisle containment is
units or computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units. PUE in place, the IECX system is able to provide cooling benefit
is a metric used to determine the energy efficiency of a even during the most extreme ambient design conditions. As
Datacom facility. PUE is determined by dividing the a result, the mechanical refrigeration system, if it is required
amount of power entering a DC by the power used to run at all, is in most cases able to be sized significantly smaller
the computer infrastructure within it. PUE is therefore than the full cooling load. This smaller amount of refrigera-
expressed as a ratio, with overall efficiency improving as tion is referred to as “trim DX,” since it only has to remove a
the quotient decreases toward 1. There is no firm consensus portion of the total heat load. A further benefit of the IECX
of the average PUE; from a survey of over 500 DCs con- system is that, referring again to Figure 13.8, the ScA leav-
ducted by the Uptime Institute in 2011 the average PUE ing the IECX ⑥ is brought close to saturation (and thus
was reported to be 1.8, but in 2012 the CTO of Digital cooler than the ambient temperature) before performing its
Realty indicated that the average PUE for a DC was 2.5. second job, that of removing heat from the refrigeration con-
Economizer PUE values typically range from as low as denser coil. This cooler temperature entering the condenser
1.07 for a DASE using DEC to a high of about 1.3, while coil improves compressor performance with the resulting
IECX systems range from 1.1 to 1.2 depending upon the lower condensing temperature.

Power consumption vs ambient WB

⁎
1500 kW data center (452.9 tons heat rejection)
75°F cold aisle/100°F hot aisle
*Supply fan heat included, 1.5 in wc ESP allowed
300 500

450
250
400

350
200
300
Power (kW)

Bin hours

150 250

200
100
150

100
50
50

0 0
–9 –5 –1 3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 51 55 59 63 67 71 75 79
Ambient wb bin (°F)
Bin hours Pump motor Air cooled condensing unit
Supply fan motor Scavenger fan motor Total power

FIGURE 13.9 Power consumption for a typical IECX IASE cooling unit. Source: Courtesy of Munters Corporation.
220 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

Figure 13.9 shows a graph of operating power vs. ambi- partial loads below the design capacity (and higher effi-
ent wb condition for a typical IECX unit, and the shaded ciency points) of the equipment.
area represents the number of hours in a typical year that In order to give even a better understanding of how the
each condition occurs in a given location, providing a set of IECX performs at different climatic conditions and altitudes,
bin hours (right ordinate) at which the IECX might operate Figure 13.11 shows the percentage of cooling ton‐hours per-
at each wet bulb. Most of the hours are between about 11 and formed during the year: first the IECX operating wet (warm
75°F. The upper curve, medium dashed line, is the total oper- conditions using wb temperature), then second the IECX
ating power of the economizer cooling system. The short‐ operating dry (cool conditions using db temperature), and
dashed curve is the DX power and the dot‐dash curve is the third at extreme conditions the operation of DX. Fifteen
scavenger fan motor, both of which operate at full capacity cities are listed with elevations ranging from sea level to
at the extreme wb temperatures. The average weighted total over 5,000 ft. The embedded chart gives a graphical repre-
power for the year is 117 kW. Typically, the lights and other sentation of the energy saved during each operating mode.
electrical within the DC are about 3% of the IT load, so the The last column is the percentage of time during the year
total average load into the facility is 1500 kW × 1.03 + 117 kW that there are no compressors staged on and the IECX is han-
or 1662 kW. This yields an average value of PUE of dling the entire cooling load.
1662/1500 or 1.108, an impressive value when compared
with conventional cooling PUEs of 1.8–2.5. For this exam-
13.3.2.3 Trim Cooling Drain Trap Considerations
ple, the onboard trim DX represented 24% of the 452.9 tons
of heat rejection, which results in a lower connected load to When using an indirect economizer in combination with a
be backed up with generators, as long as short‐term water cooling coil used for trim cooling, there will be extended
storage is provided. periods of time when mechanical cooling is not active. This
One company that has experienced great success imple- can lead to “dry-out” of the condensate traps, resulting in air
menting IECX systems is colocation provider Sabey Data leakage in or out of the recirculating air handler. This situa-
Centers Inc. Figure 13.10 illustrates an aerial view of one of tion can impact pressurization control within the DC, and
several Sabey DC facilities at their Intergate campus located can also increase the amount of conditioned make-up air
in Quincy, WA. This campus has one of the largest IECX required. It is recommended that the cooling coil drain traps
installations in the Western United States with a reported be designed to prevent dry-out and the resulting airflow
annual PUE of 1.13. Overall, the annual PUE of the campus is within the condensate drain line, such as use of an Air-Trap
less than 1.2, which is impressive considering that these colo- (which uses the fan pressure to trap air) instead of a P-Trap
cation facilities have variable loads and are often operating at (which uses water to trap air).

FIGURE 13.10 Aerial view of (42) indirect air‐side economizers (IASEs). Source: Courtesy of Munters Corporation.
 13.4 COMPARATIVE POTENTIAL ENERGY SAVINGS AND REQUIRED TRIM MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION 221

0.4% WB % reduction of peak % annual ton- % annual hours

% annual ton- % annual ton-
Location Elevation (ft) design mechanical cooling hours mechanical mechanical
(MCDB/WB °F) requirement* hours IASE (wet) hours IASE (dry) cooling cooling is off
Ashburn, VA (IAD) 325 88.8/77.7 65.7 53.0 44.1 2.9 78.7
Atlanta, GA 1,027 88.2/77.2 67.2 73.7 22.0 4.3 70.8
Boston, MA 0 86.3/76.2 70.1 51.5 47.8 0.7 91.6
Chicago, IL 673 88.2/77.9 65.1 46.4 52.3 1.3 88.8
Dallas, TX 597 91.4/78.6 63.0 69.8 22.8 7.4 62.1
Denver, CO 5,285 81.8/64.6 100.0 51.3 48.7 0.0 100.0
Houston, TX 105 89.0/80.1 58.4 74.8 15.2 10.0 48.0
Los Angeles, CA 325 78.0/70.2 87.4 99.2 0.7 0.1 97.9
Miami, FL 0 86.8/80.2 58.1 84.1 0.3 15.6 24.5
Minneapolis, MN 837 87.5/76.9 68.1 46.4 52.3 1.3 90.3
Newark, NJ 0 88.8/77.7 65.7 54.6 43.7 1.7 84.9
Phoenix, AZ 1,106 96.4/76.1 70.3 83.1 14.5 2.4 80.7
Salt Lake City, UT 4,226 86.8/67.0 95.9 50.1 49.9 0.0 99.8
San Francisco, CA 0 78.2/65.4 100.0 70.7 29.3 0.0 100.0
Seattle, WA 433 82.2/66.5 97.5 58.6 41.4 0.0 99.8

System design parameters: Percentage of annual cooling contribution with

1 MW load, n = 4 IECX IASE
Target supply air = 75°F, target return air = 96°F
N+1 redundancy, with redundant unit operating for annual analysis Ashburn, VA (IAD)
Atlanta, GA % Annual ton-
MERV 13 filtration consolidated in only (2) units hours (wet)
Boston, MA
Water sprays turned off below 50°F ambient db Chicago, IL
1.0" ESP (supply + return) Dallas, TX % Annual ton-
Denver, CO hours (dry)
IECX WBDE ͌ 75% and dry effectiveness ͌ 56%
Houston, TX
Notes: % Annual ton-
Los Angeles, CA
System (wet) rejects 100% of ITe load when ambient wet bulb hours mechanical
Miami, FL
temperature is below 67°F Minneapolis, MN cooling
System (dry) rejects 100% of ITe load when ambient wet bulb Newark, NJ
temperature is below 55°F Phoenix, AZ
Salt Lake City, UT
System does not introduce any outside air into data hall, all San Francisco, CA
cooling effects are produced indirectly Seattle, WA
*Percentage reduction in mechanical cooling equipment normally

10
0%

20

40

60

80
required at peak load based on N units operating

0%
%

%
FIGURE 13.11 Analysis summary for modular DC cooling solution using IECX.

13.3.2.4 Other Indirect Economizer Types 13.4 COMPARATIVE POTENTIAL ENERGY

SAVINGS AND REQUIRED TRIM MECHANICAL
There are other types of indirect economizers that can be con-
REFRIGERATION
sidered based on the design of the DC facility and cooling
systems. These are indirect water-side economizer (IWSE)
Numerous factors have an influence on the selection and
and indirect refrigerant‐side economizer (IRSE), and the pri-
design of a DC cooling system. Location, water availability,
mary difference between these and the IASEs discussed in
allowable cold aisle temperature, and extreme design condi-
this chapter is the working fluid from which the economizer
tions are four of the major factors. Figure 13.12 shows a
is removing the heat energy. Where heat energy is being
comparison of the cooling concepts previously discussed as
transported with water or glycol, an IWSE can be imple-
they relate to percentage of cooling load during the year that
mented. Similarly, in systems where a refrigerant is used to
the economizer is capable of removing and the capacity of
transport heat energy, an IRSE can be implemented. Either of
trim mechanical cooling that has to be on board to supple-
these economizer types can be implemented with or without
ment the economizer on hot and/or humid days, the former
evaporative cooling, in much the same way an IASE can be,
representing full‐year energy savings and the latter initial
and similarly the overall efficiency of these economizer types
capital cost.
depends on the efficiency of the heat exchange devices, effi-
To aid in using Figure 13.12, take the following steps:
ciency of other system components, and facility location.
222 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

Solid black - 75°F/95°F (23.9°C/35°C) cold aisle/hot aisle

Hash marks - 80°F/100°F (26.7°C/37.8°C) cold aisle/hot aisle
1 - IASE with air to-air HX 2- IASE with air-to-air HX +DEC 3-IASE with IECX 4- DASE with DEC
100% 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234 1 234

95

90

85

80

75

70

65

Washington, DC
Beijing, China

Las Vegas, NV

Portland, OR
Paris, France

San Jose, CA
Atlanta, GA

Chicago, IL

Denver, CO

Miami, FL
Dallas, TX

Trim DX using TMY maximum temperatures, tons

75/95°F(23.9/35°C) cold aisle/hot aisle temperature
1 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.88 1.80 1.22 1.80 1.80 1.80
2 1.06 1.11 0.95 1.10 0.25 0.58 0.90 0.52 0.88 0.34 0.94
3 0.55 0.97 0.78 0.96 0.00 0.34 0.73 0.27 0.70 0.06 0.77
4 3.58°F 8.62°F 10.53°F 9.0°F 0°F 1.91°F 5.64°F 0°F 6.05°F 0°F 6.72°F
80/100°F(26.7/37°C) cold aisle/hot aisle temperature
1 1.68 1.75 1.48 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.55 0.89 1.71 1.55 1.74
2 0.77 0.81 0.65 0.80 0.00 0.28 0.61 0.23 0.58 0.05 0.64
3 0.20 0.62 0.43 0.61 0.00 0.00 0.37 0.00 0.35 0.00 0.42
4 0°F 3.6°F 1.55°F 4.0°F 0°F 0°F 0.64°F 0°F 1.05°F 0°F 1.72°F
Trim DX using extreme 50 year maximum temperatures, tons
75/95°F(23.9/35°C) cold aisle/hot aisle temperature
1 1.80 1.80 1.48 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80
2 1.06 1.38 1.11 1.09 0.29 1.00 1.20 0.85 1.29 0.85 1.15
3 0.92 1.29 0.98 0.95 0.00 0.84 1.08 0.66 1.20 0.66 1.03
4 9.6°F 15.9°F 6.55°F 10.86°F 0°F 9.93°F 11.17°F 6.24°F 13.57°F 6.7°F 11.2°F
80/100°F(26.7/37.8°C) cold aisle/hot aisle temperature
1 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.76 1.80 1.80 1.80 1.80
2 0.77 1.08 0.82 0.80 0.00 0.70 0.90 0.56 1.00 0.56 0.86
3 0.56 0.94 0.63 0.60 0.00 0.49 0.73 0.31 0.85 0.31 0.68
4 4.66°F 9.9°F 5.53°F 5.86°F 0°F 4.93°F 0.17°F 1.24°F 8.57°F 1.7°F 6.2°F
Tons of additional mechanical AC per 1000 SCFM of cooling air required to achieve desired delivery
Temperature when using air economizers - with no economizer the full AC load is 1.8 tons/1000 SCFM

FIGURE 13.12 Annualized economizer cooling capability based on TMY3 (Typical Meteorological Year) data

1. Select the city of interest and use that column to select 4. Compare the trim mechanical cooling required for each of
the following parameters. the four cooling systems under the selected conditions.
2. Select either TMY maximum or 50‐year extreme sec-
tion for the ambient cooling design. Dallas, Texas, using an AHX, represented by the no. 1 at
3. Select the desired cold aisle/hot aisle temperature the top of the column, will be used as the first example.
­section within the section selected in step 2. Operating at a cold aisle temperature of 75°F and a hot aisle of
 13.4 COMPARATIVE POTENTIAL ENERGY SAVINGS AND REQUIRED TRIM MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION 223

95°F, represented by the solid black bars, 76% of the cooling can provide a significant benefit for DCs. As ASHRAE
ton‐hours during the year will be supplied by the economizer. standard 90.4 is adopted, selecting the right economizer
The other 24% will be supplied by a cooling coil. The size of cooling system should allow a design to meet or exceed
the trim mechanical cooling system is shown in the lower part the required mechanical efficiency levels. In addition, the
of the table as 1.8 tons/1000 standard cubic feet per minute economizers presented in this section will become even
(SCFM) of cooling air, which is also the specified maximum more desirable for energy savings as engineers and owners
cooling load that is required to dissipate the IT heat load. become more familiar with the recently introduced allow-
Therefore, for the AHX in Dallas, the amount of trim cooling able operating environments A1 through A4 as shown on
required is the same tonnage as would be required when no the psychrometric charts of Figures 13.2 and 13.4. In fact,
economizer is used. That is because the TMY3 design db tem- if the conditions of A1 and A2 were allowed for a small
perature is 104°F, well above the RA temperature of 95°F. portion of the total operating hours per year, then for no. 2
Even when the cold aisle/hot aisle setpoints are raised to and no. 3 all of the cooling could be accomplished with the
80°F/100°F, the full capacity of mechanical cooling is economizers, and there would be no requirement for trim
required. If a DEC (represented by no. 2 at top of column) is cooling when using TMY3 extremes. For no. 4, the cool-
placed in the ScA (TMY3 maximum wb temperature is 83°F), ing could also be fully done with the economizer, but the
then 90% of the yearly cooling is supplied by the economizer humidity would exceed the envelope during hot, humid
and the trim cooling drops to 1.1 tons/1000 scfm from 1.8 tons. periods.
For the second example, we will examine Washington, D.C., There are instances when the cooling system is being
where the engineer has determined that the design ambient con- selected and designed for a very critical application where
ditions will be based on TMY3 data. Using 75°F/95°F cold aisle/ the system has to hold space temperature under the worst
hot aisle conditions, the IECX and DASE with DEC, columns possible ambient cooling condition. In these cases the
no. 3 and no. 4, can perform 98 and 99% of the yearly cooling, ASHRAE 50‐year extreme annual design conditions are
respectively, leaving only 2 and 1% of the energy to be supplied used as referred in Chapter 14 of Ref. [3] and designated
by the mechanical trim cooling. The AHX (no. 1) accomplishes as “complete data tables” and underlined in blue in the
90% of the yearly cooling, and if a DEC (no. 2) is added to the first paragraph. These data can only be accessed by means
scavenger airstream, the combination does 96% of the cooling. of the disk that accompanies the ASHRAE Handbook.
The trim cooling for heat exchangers 1, 2, and 3, respectively, is The extreme conditions are shown in Table 13.2, which
1.8, 0.94, and 0.77 tons where 1.8 is full load tonnage. Increasing also includes for comparison the maximum conditions
the cold aisle/hot aisle to 80°F/110°F allows no. 3 and no. 4 to from TMY3 data.
supply all of the cooling with the economizers, and reduces the Using the 50‐year extreme temperatures of Table 13.2,
amount of onboard trim cooling for 1 and 2. the amount of trim cooling, which translates to additional
It should be apparent from Figure 13.11 that even in hot initial capital cost, is shown in the lower portion of
and humid climates such as Miami, Florida, economizers Figure 13.12. All values of cooling tons are per 1000 scfm

TABLE 13.2 Design temperatures that aid in determining the amount of trim cooling
50‐year extreme Maximum from TMY3 data
db wb db wb
°F °C °F °C °F °C °F °C
Atlanta 105.0 40.6 82.4 28.0 98.1 36.7 77.2 25.1

Beijing 108.8 42.7 87.8 31.0 99.3 37.4 83.2 28.4

Chicago 105.6 40.9 33.3 28.5 95.0 35.0 80.5 26.9

Dallas 112.5 44.7 82.9 28.3 104.0 40.0 83.0 28.3

Denver 104.8 40.4 69.3 20.7 104.0 40.0 68.6 20.3

Las Vegas 117.6 47.6 81.3 27.4 111.9 44.4 74.2 23.4

Miami 99.4 37.4 84.7 29.3 96.1 35.6 79.7 26.5

Paris 103.2 39.6 78.8 26.0 86.0 30.0 73.2 22.9

Portland 108.1 42.3 86.4 30.2 98.6 37.0 79.3 26.3

San Jose 107.8 42.1 78.8 26.0 96.1 35.6 70.2 21.2
Washington, D.C. 106.0 41.1 84.0 28.9 99.0 37.2 80.3 26.8

Source: ASHRAE Fundamentals 2013 and NREL

224 Air‐side Economizer Technologies

(1699 m3/h) with a ΔT of 20°F (11.1°C). For the DASE with evaporative air coolers. This can be attributed to the low tem-
DEC designated as number 4, instead of showing tons, tem- perature of the recirculated water, which is not conducive to
perature rise above desired cold aisle temperature is given. Legionella bacteria growth, as well as the absence of aero-
From a cost standpoint, just what does it mean when the solized water carryover that could transmit the bacteria to a
host. (ASHRAE Guideline 12‐2000 [7])
economizer reduces or eliminates the need for mechanical
cooling? This can best be illustrated by comparing the
mechanical partial PUE (pPUE) of an economizer system to IECs operate in a manner closely resembling DECs and
that of a modern conventional mechanical cooling system. not resembling cooling towers. A typical cooling tower pro-
Mechanical pPUE in this case is a ratio of (IT cooling cess receives heated water at 95–100°F, sprays the water into
load + power consumed in cooling IT load)/(IT load). The the top of the tower fill material at the return temperature, and
mechanical pPUE value of economizers ranges from 1.07 to is evaporatively cooled to about 85°F with an ambient wb of
about 1.3. For refrigeration systems the value ranges from 75°F before it flows down into the sump and is then pumped
1.8 to 2.5. Taking the average of the economizer perfor- back to the process to complete the cycle. The ScA leaving
mance as being 1.13 and using the lower value of a refrigera- the top of a cooling tower could be carrying with it water
tion (better performance) system of 1.8, the economizer uses droplets at a temperature of over 100°F. On the other hand, an
only 1/6 of the operating energy to cool the DC when all IEC unit sprays the coolest water within the system on top of
cooling is performed by the economizer. the IECX surface, and then the cool water flows down over
As an example of cost savings, if a DC o­ perated at an IT the tubes. It is the cooled water that totally covers the tubes
load of 5 MW for a full year and the electrical utility rate was that is the driving force for cooling the process air flowing
$0.10/kW‐h, then the power cost to operate the IT equipment within the tubes. The cooling water then drops to the sump
would be $4,383,000/year. To cool with mechanical refriger- and is pumped back up to the spray nozzles, so the water tem-
ation equipment with a pPUE of 1.80, the cooling cost would perature leaving at the bottom of the HX is the same tempera-
be $3,506,400/year for a total electrical cost of $7,889,000. If ture as the water being sprayed into the top of the IECX. On
the economizer handled the entire cooling load, the cooling hot days, at any point within the IECX, the water temperature
cost would be reduced to $570,000/year. If the economizer on the tubes is lower than the temperature of either the pro-
could only do 95% of the full cooling load for the year, then cess airstream or the wetted scavenger airstream. From an
the cooling cost would still be reduced from $3,506,400 to ETL, independently tested IECX, similar to the units being
$717,000—a reduction worth investigating. used in DCs and operating at DC temperatures, high ambient
temperature test data show that the sump water temperature,
and therefore the spray water temperature, is 78°F when the
13.5 CONVENTIONAL MEANS FOR COOLING return from the hot aisle is 101.2°F and the ambient ScA is
DATACOM FACILITIES 108.3/76.1°F. Or the spray water temperature is 1.9°F above
ambient wb temperature.
In this chapter we have discussed techniques for cooling that In addition to having the sump temperature within a few
first and foremost consider economization as the principal degrees of the wb temperature on hot days, thus behaving
form of cooling. There are more than 20 ways to cool a DC like a DEC, there is essentially, with proper design, no
using mechanical refrigeration with or without some form of chance that water droplets will leave the top of the IEC unit.
economizer as part of the cooling strategy. References [4] This is because there is a moisture eliminator over the IECX
and [5] are two articles that cover these various mechanical and then there is a warm condenser coil over the eliminator
cooling techniques. Also, Chapter 20, Data Centers and (on the hottest days the trim DX will be operating and
Telecommunication Facilities, of Ref. [6] discusses standard releasing its heat into the scavenger airstream, which, in the
techniques for DC cooling. unlikely event that a water droplet escapes through the elimi-
nator, that droplet would evaporate to a gas as the air heats
through the condenser coil).
13.6 A NOTE ON LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE
So, IEC systems inherently have two of the ingredients
that prevent Legionella: cool sump and spray temperatures
IEC is considered to share the same operating and mainte-
and only water vapor leaving the unit. The third is to do a
nance characteristics as conventional DEC, except that the
good housekeeping job and maintain the sump area so that it
evaporated water is not added to the process air. As a result,
is clean and fresh. This is accomplished with a combination
ASHRAE has included IEC in chapter 53, Evaporative
of sump water bleed‐off, scheduled sump dumps, routine
Cooling, of Ref. [5]. Below is an excerpt from the handbook:
inspection and cleaning, and biocide treatment if necessary.
Legionnaires’ Disease. There have been no known cases With good sump maintenance, all three criteria to prevent
of Legionnaires’ disease with air washers or wetted‐media Legionella are present.
 FURTHER READING 225

REFERENCES [7] ASHRAE Standard. Minimizing the risk of legionellosis

associated with building water systems, ASHRAE
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Environments. 4th ed. Atlanta: ASHRAE; 2015. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air‐
Conditioning Engineers, Inc.
[2] ASHRAE. ASHRAE Handbook‐Systems and Equipment.
Atlanta: American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air
Conditioning Engineers, Inc.; 2020. FURTHER READING
[3] ASHRAE. ASHRAE Handbook‐Fundamentals. Atlanta:
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Conditioning Engineers, Inc.; 2017. Economizer. Hillsboro: Intel; 2008.
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Revision 2. Available at http://www.apcmedia.com/ 2011;53(3):44–54.
salestools/VAVR‐5UDTU5/VAVR‐5UDTU5_R2_EN.pdf. Quirk D, Sorell V. Economizers in Datacom: risk mission vs.
Accessed on May 15, 2020. reward environment? ASHRAE Trans 2010;116(2):9, para.2.
[5] Kennedy D. Understanding data center cooling energy usage Scofield M, Weaver T. Using wet‐bulb economizers, data center
and reduction methods. Rittal White Paper 507; February cooling. ASHRAE J 2008;50(8):52–54, 56–58.
2009.
Scofield M, Weaver T, Dunnavant K, Fisher M. Reduce data
[6] ASHRAE. ASHRAE Handbook‐Applications. Atlanta: center cooling cost by 75%. Eng Syst 2009;26(4):34–41.
American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air
Yury YL. Waterside and airside economizers, design considerations
Conditioning Engineers, Inc.; 2019.
for data center facilities. ASHRAE Trans 2010;116(1):98–108.