Hi,
In 2013 I am looking to really drive up our DC efficiency. Currently, we're operating 15 racks at a PUE of around 1.5ish. I'm looking to get this down to maybe 1.3 through a number of factors.
Primarily I'm going to be containing the hot aisle which should get me some more cooling efficiency but as we have chilled water in-row cooling I'm looking to greatly increase our free cooling ratios.
To do that, I need to increase the setpoint of the water and to do that I need to increase the setpoint of the cold air. We're currently inducting air to the racks at 22.1c. I want to increase that and I'm fairly confident that I could go as high as 24-26c without shortening the life of our kit but I am concerned about the delta temps.
Our 1U servers are predominantly Dell R620s and those are currently running a delta of 18c (intake at 22c, exhaust at 40c). Obviously, that is well within spec but while increasing that to 44c would really increase the efficiency of the in-rows, I am concerned that the hot aisle would essentially become a human no-go zone, making maintenance implausible.
So, my question is: What sort of hot-aisle temps/deltas are you running and how do your ops guys cope with the temperatures in there? I'd be particularly interested to hear from people running high-density racks (either dense 1U environments or blades especially).
In 2013 I am looking to really drive up our DC efficiency. Currently, we're operating 15 racks at a PUE of around 1.5ish. I'm looking to get this down to maybe 1.3 through a number of factors.
Primarily I'm going to be containing the hot aisle which should get me some more cooling efficiency but as we have chilled water in-row cooling I'm looking to greatly increase our free cooling ratios.
To do that, I need to increase the setpoint of the water and to do that I need to increase the setpoint of the cold air. We're currently inducting air to the racks at 22.1c. I want to increase that and I'm fairly confident that I could go as high as 24-26c without shortening the life of our kit but I am concerned about the delta temps.
Our 1U servers are predominantly Dell R620s and those are currently running a delta of 18c (intake at 22c, exhaust at 40c). Obviously, that is well within spec but while increasing that to 44c would really increase the efficiency of the in-rows, I am concerned that the hot aisle would essentially become a human no-go zone, making maintenance implausible.
So, my question is: What sort of hot-aisle temps/deltas are you running and how do your ops guys cope with the temperatures in there? I'd be particularly interested to hear from people running high-density racks (either dense 1U environments or blades especially).
