Panduit’s Impact of Air Containment Systems white paper focuses on increasing the cooling efficiency of data centers using air containment systems, and identifies how Panduit’s Net-Contain™ Cold Aisle Containment system and Net-Access™ Cabinets address thermal management issues for improved data center operational efficiency.

Excerpt:

Data centers are mission-critical facilities and the nerve center of successful business operations. Surging
demand for processing power, work load virtualization and consolidation combined with pressure to reduce
operating expenses (OpEx) and improve asset utilization are making the thermal management of data centers
challenging. Thermal issues that were once ignored now must be addressed to reduce cost and increase
capacity:

• Mixing of hot and cold air – results in a loss of cooling effectiveness
• Leakage – unintended hot / cold airflow paths
• Hot air recirculation – exhaust is pulled back into equipment inlets
• Airflow obstructions – increased resistance to IT equipment fan airflow

Data center operators typically respond to these thermal issues in one or more of the following ways:

• Lower the supply air temperature set point on the cooling equipment
• Oversupply cool air by increasing the cooling equipment fan speed, increasing the amount of bypass air
• Run more cooling equipment than necessary, underutilizing available cooling capacity
• Oversize the cooling system to address isolated high-density regions

These approaches to solving thermal issues lead to inefficiency and…Read More