The data centre cooling infrastructure at every Sentrum facility is designed to be efficient, flexible and reliable - providing the optimum operating environment for mission-critical systems.

Cooling

Sentrum data centres are designed to provide the optimum operating environment for mission critical IT equipment. Even temperatures and humidity levels are constantly monitored, and maintained, to ensure all disk drives, processors and hardware are protected.

Cooling features vary between facilities and clients so Sentrum will always work closely with every client to maximise equipment layout and cooling requirements. All Sentrum data centres are designed to provide cooling configurations to meet high density needs.

Current solutions include highly energy efficient air cooled chillers and free cooling chillers depending upon the client’s requirements. The solutions are either N+1 (Tier III) or N+N (Tier IV) with various pipework configurations, single or dual circuit. All pumps are selected on an N+1 basis as a minimum.

Optimised free cooling chillers with multiple circuits, operating with variable chilled water temperatures on both DFU supply and return air control, can also be provided according to a client’s needs.

Secondary circuits, where appropriate, are always selected as variable speed, two port valve arrangements with either two loops or a single dual fed loop. Flexibility is provided for future A/C unit connections or water-cooled circuits for high density cabinets. Secondary circuits are often provided for both air conditioning units and high density water-cooled cabinets supplied by either the client or Sentrum. All air conditioning units have variable speed fans.

A mixture of computer rack arrangements have been adopted by some Sentrum clients including: low density air cooled, high density air cooled, cold aisle containment, full cold aisle and roof containment, hot aisle containment, fan assisted racks and various water cooled racks.

The configuration, control and operation of all these systems are reviewed on an on-going basis for energy efficiency and, as with all Sentrum solutions, any knowledge gained is then reinvested into the next scheme to guarantee a programme of continual improvement.

All solutions are designed to the client’s specific requirements and ensure energy efficiency and flexibility without loss of reliability and resilience.