This book describes the use of free air cooling to improve the efficiency of, and cooling of, equipment for use in telecom infrastructures. Discussed at length is the cooling of communication installation rooms such as data centers or base stations, and this is intended as a valuable tool for the people designing and manufacturing key parts of communication networks. This book provides an introduction to current cooling methods used for energy reduction, and also compares present cooling methods in use in the field. The qualification methods and standard reliability assessments are reviewed, and their inability to assess the risks of free air cooling is discussed. The method of identifying the risks associated with free air cooling on equipment performance and reliability is introduced. A novel method of assessment for free air cooling is also proposed that utilizes prognostics and health management (PHM). This book also: Describes how the implementation of free air cooling can save energy for cooling within the telecommunications infrastructure. Analyzes the potential risks and failures of mechanisms possible in the implementation of free air cooling, which benefits manufacturers and equipment designers. Presents prognostics-based assessments to identify and mitigate the risks of telecommunications equipment under free air cooling conditions, which can provide the early warning of equipment failures at operation stage without disturbing the data centers' service. Optimum Cooling for Data Centers is an ideal book for researchers and engineers interested in designing and manufacturing equipment for use in telecom infrastructures.

Rapid growth in energy consumption is one of the major challenges for the development of the data center industry. Cooling equipment accounts for roughly 40% of energy consumption in a typical data center. Free air cooling (FAC) is a method for substantial energy savings in cooling, and it is increasingly being implemented in data centers. However, this cooling approach may cause reliability risks for the telecom equipment due to the increased temperature range and often the removal of the humidity control in FAC implementation. This paper overviews the potential reliability risks from FAC, and then presents a prognostics and health management (PHM) to evaluate and mitigate these risks. This prognostics-based approach can provide early warnings of failures to schedule maintenance and thus reduce unscheduled data center downtime. This approach also enables FAC implementation in existing data centers that were not initially designed with this cooling regime. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy consumption and its environmental impacts have become key concerns in the telecommunications industry and its data centers. As an energy-efficient approach for cooling, some data centers are adopting free air cooling, which uses ambient air outside the data centers, rather than air conditioning, to cool the electronic equipment. Traditionally, telecom equipment qualifications are based on passing a set of tests of industry standards that assume pre-defined environmental conditions. However, free air cooling changes the operating conditions and may go beyond those pre-defined conditions, which may affect the reliability and performance of the telecom equipment. This paper evaluates impact of free air cooling on the performance of telecom equipment. It compares the performance variations of telecom equipment under free air cooling with those under the traditional air conditioning to identify the impact of free air cooling on the telecom equipment performance.

The telecommunications industry is becoming increasingly conscious of energy consumption and the environmental footprint of its data centers. One energy-efficient approach, free air cooling, uses ambient air instead of air conditioning to cool data-center equipment. Free air cooling is being adopted in existing data centers with equipment that has not been designed or qualified for a free air cooling regime. Traditionally, product qualification is based on passing tests based on industry standards. The industry standards are assumed to conform to some expected environmental conditions. However, environmental conditions under free air cooling may go beyond those expected conditions. This paper identifies the performance and reliability risks associated with the implementation of free air cooling. A prognostics-based approach to assess and mitigate the risks of telecom equipment under free air cooling conditions is developed for risk mitigation. A case study is presented to demonstrate the implementation process of this approach.

The telecommunication industry is concerned about the energy costs of its operating infrastructure and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. At present, more than half of the total energy consumption of data centers is devoted to the power and cooling infrastructure that supports electronic equipment. One method of reducing energy consumption is an approach called “free air cooling,” where ambient air is used to cool the equipment directly, thereby reducing the energy consumed in cooling and conditioning the air. For example, Intel demonstrated free air cooling in a 10-megawatt (MW) data center, showing a reduction in energy use and savings of US$2.87million annually. However, the impacts of this approach on the performance and reliability of telecommunication equipment need to be identified. The implementation of free air cooling changes the operating environment, including temperature and humidity, which may have a significant impact on the performance and reliability of telecom equipment. This paper discusses the challenges posed by free air cooling and presents a multi-stage process for evaluating and mitigating the potential risks arising from this new operating environment.

Currently, approximately 1.5-3.0% of the energy produced in industrialized countries is consumed by data centers. About 40% of the energy in data centers is spent on cooling. An approach called "free air cooling," which uses ambient air to cool the equipment, is being used in the industry because it results in significant energy savings. This cooling method changes the operating conditions in data centers, which may pose reliability risks to telecom equipment. For data centers already in operation, re-qualifying the equipment is not a viable option to evaluate the risks of free air cooling because it is not practical to take equipment out of service for testing. This paper identifies the reliability risks to telecom associated with the implementation of free air cooling, and develops a prognostics-based approach to assess and mitigate those risks.

The telecommunications industry is increasingly conscious of energy consumption and the environmental footprint of its data centers. At present, more than half of energy consumption of data centers is for the power and cooling infrastructure. One energy-efficient approach, free air cooling, uses ambient air, rather than air conditioning, to cool the equipment. Free air cooling is being adopted in existing data centers where the equipment has not been designed or qualified for free air cooling regime. Traditionally, product qualification is based on industry standards that assume pre-defined environmental conditions. However, the free air cooling condition may go beyond the pre-defined conditions, furthermore, it is not practical to interrupt data center services to re-qualify installed equipment. This paper identifies the challenges posed by introducing free air cooling to the installed equipment and presents a new prognostics-based approach for evaluating and mitigating the risks.