Munters recently introduced air-side economiser systems for the data centre market. Julian Iosifescu, Sales Enginer for Data Centers Munters, noted that the business opportunity presented itself following the publication of the new ASHRAE TC9.9 Thermal Guideline for Mission Critical facilities, which increased the temperature range allowed inside the data centres.

Iosifescu emphasised that the company’s success has been based on the 40-plus years of experience of Virginia, US-based Des Champs Technologies in the field of air-side economisers. Munters acquired Des Champs in 2007. “Keith Dunnavant is the person who started the DC field at Munters/Des Champs,” he said. “Keith has earned a tremendous amount of success due to his outstanding efforts. It has been a ground-breaking job to convince the engineers and end users to adopt the new ASHRAE Thermal guideline and include the Munters indirect Air Side Economiser (IASE) units into their projects.”

Iosifescu noted that with regard to the penetration of IASE technology into the data centre market, the company has passed the pioneering and early-adoption stages. “Right now, our products are at the beginning of the large adoption phase,” he said.

Data centre engineers, he said, have realised the notable operational and capital savings that can be had through designing data centres based on the new ASHRAE Tc 9.9 Thermal guideline. “The increase of the Supply Air Temperature from 55 degrees F to 75 degrees F (from 12 degrees C to 23.8 degrees C), and even higher, has placed the data centre projects in the sweet spot of the IASE operational parameters,” he said.

Iosifescu also said that in the last few years, Munters has observed a shift in the data centre market from CRAC (DX-based) units to different forms of economiser systems. Since Munters is able to offer wet and dry IASE solutions, he said, the company is able to address the unique needs of their data centre clients.