What is free cooling?
Free cooling is a method of using the surrounding external air temperatures in the natural environment to reduce the temperature of the stored water. In some cases, these chilled water can completely replace the cooler in the cooling system, which significantly saves electrical consumption. Various industries employs free cooling systems, from hotels and hospitals, to server farms in computer data centers and businesses that want to use green environmental technologies.
The idea of free cooling works better in some places than in others. For example, in the UK, the temperature below 59 ° Fahrenheit (15 ° Celsius) is for almost 75% of the year, which makes free cooling very practical for many needs. The United Kingdom also offers energy -efficient loans to install free cooling systems that can be easily equipped for standard chilled water units or built into new ones. It is also possible to integrate free cooling systems into standard air cooling nEBO heating, valving units and air conditioning (HVAC) and air conditioning (HVAC), but the level of efficiency of this type of upgrade is lower than the modernization of a pure water -based radiator.
Computer rooms generate a considerable amount of heat and also consume a lot of electricity and are therefore a primary market for free cooling, often referred to as economic systems. Economic systems can reduce the energy consumption of cooling equipment by 30-50%, depending on the conditions of external temperature and humidity. External temperatures are recommended on average in the range of 68-77 ° Fahrenheit (20–25 ° C) to keep free cooling. Relative humidity should also be below a maximum of 60%to prevent damage to the data center by introducing external moisture.
One of the disadvantages of this technology, especially where it is used to cool sensitive electronic devices, is that external air can bI can get damaging electronics. A study by the manufacturer of original devices (IT) (IT) (OEM) found that for 8 months there were 81% increase in IT failure as soon as a free cooling system was introduced. High quality filters in the system are designed to capture the outer material of the particles, but are not 100% efficient and add costs to the system, the more sophisticated to be cleaning the external air.
Restricting free refrigeration systems also requires that the outer tower must not get below 39 ° Fahrenheit (4 ° Celsius), as the freezing water will damage the device. This makes the environment where the temperature normally drops below 41 ° Fahrenheit (5 ° Celsius) unsuitable for the use of free cooling coolers. In places like the northern hemisphere, this generally means that such heat exchanger systems can be operated for two or three seasons of the year, but must have an aconventive system that backs up during downtime.