Leeds, England, 6 September 2018: Leaks are one of the biggest downtime threats for data centre operators and preventing them is a fundamental area of concern, said Jon Martinez, Commercial Controls Manager, Airedale Air Conditioning. Standard technology and traditional leak-detection methods, he said, often don’t work efficiently, making the need for innovation essential. “There is a need for constant development, where even the slightest difference in volumes of water moving through the various points in a data centre cooling system must not go unnoticed,” he said.

Elaborating on the new Tire 4 Treated Water Distribution System (T4TWDS), Martinez said that the mechanical control solution monitors and controls water treatment, storage and distribution for adiabatic cooling units in data centres. He said: “The T4TWDS was designed using a complex algorithm of volumetric flow monitoring to detect leaks and faults, while ensuring that a data centre’s cooling system is never disrupted. The solution can be used across independent control panels, while operating a series of valves, pumps and water treatment plants, where water is taken from the main water supplier, treated, stored and then delivered to adiabatic cooling units in data centre buildings.” The valves and pumps, Martinez said, operate automatically, based on the demand from the cooling units, and the introduction of the anti-vortex device, at various points in the system, eliminates the possibility of air, allowing an increased stability in flow-meter readings.

Martinez highlighted that the data cooling industry is driven by energy efficiency and that there is a rise in demand to reduce its carbon footprint. He said, “Data centres today are becoming more reliant on adiabatic cooling, as a primary cooling medium, and adiabatic cooling systems have functioned as an external back-up to the more traditional cooling system.”