Numerical Study of a New Rack Layout for Better Cold Air Distribution and Reduced Fan Power

摘要

Cold air by-pass and hot air recirculation are two primary sources of inefficiencies in data center thermal management. Although some studies have been conducted to investigate the cause of such issues [1] [2], few attempts were reported to improve the situation by changing the rack layout configuration. A new rack layout, called Vortex Flow Layout (VFL) configuration is proposed in this study. The configuration is simulated under fully, partial and no containment cases to evaluate its performance. Studied from a steady state CFD model utilizing the vortex flow effect, the hot air recirculation is found to be suppressed by 3 °C and 5.3 °C in partial containment and open configuration respectively. It is found that the formation of a vortex traps the hot server-outlet air in the vortex core that helps to restrict the recirculation. The VFL partial containment shows the best performance with high recirculation suppression effect and reduced fan power.