Evaluation of Cooling Energy Consumption Varying Economizer Control and Heat Generation Rates from IT Equipment in Data Center

A data center stores and manages internet data. The data center is mainly comprised of IT equipment, cooling systems, and other components. IT equipment is used for storing and processing internet data, generating heat during use. If the heat generated by IT equipment is not removed, it can cause malfunctions, and cooling systems are used to remove this heat. Cooling systems account for more than 40% of the total energy consumption and reducing cooling energy can reduce the overall energy consumption of the data center. Therefore, analyzing the cooling energy consumption according to heat generation changes caused by IT equipment in the data center is necessary. This study analyzed the impact of heat generation changes in IT equipment on cooling energy consumption. Additionally, three different economizer control methods were applied to select the optimal economizer control method. To achieve this, a data center model with economizer systems applied was developed using data measured from IT equipment and cooling systems. As a result, as the operation rates of IT equipment increased from minimum to maximum, the annual energy consumption for each case increased by approximately 11.7%. The economizer analysis showed that the energy savings were greatest when dry bulb temperature control was applied, but it did not meet the operation environment of the IT equipment. Therefore, it was determined that economizer control to meet the operation environment of IT equipment is required to be enthalpy-based.