This paper presents results of a demonstration study of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology (also known as variable refrigerant volume, or VRV) visavis conventional, heat pump rooftop units (RTUs) for conditioning a server room within a building. Small and embedded data centers are estimated to account for roughly 50% of the energy used by the entire data center industry. Yet these facilities often exhibit poor energy efficiency since they are not able to take advantage of many of the bestpractices in cooling that larger data centers employ. Moreover, small data centers are often embedded in occupied buildings that require heating for a significant portion of the year, yet reject waste heat outdoors due to the design of conventional cooling equipment. This study examines the application of VRF technology to small, embedded data centers for efficient cooling as well as heat recovery for adjacent space heating. A 22ton VRF system was installed in a laboratory space to provide conditioning to both occupied space as well as a 1,000 sq.ft. (93 m²) server room. The VRF system operation was alternated with several existing 5ton heat pump RTUs serving the server room and occupied space. The VRF technology was evaluated and its performance was compared with the RTUs in several modes of operation, including heating, cooling, and heat recovery. This paper presents the technical approach for evaluating VRF technology in embedded data center applications and the results from evaluation in the laboratory setting. Results of this testing can provide insight into the potential for VRF to offer energy savings through efficient cooling and/or heat recovery when applied in small and embedded data centers.
Citation: 2018 Winter Conference, Chicago, IL, Conference Papers
Product Details
- Published:
- 2018
- Units of Measure:
- Dual
- File Size:
- 1 file , 1.2 MB
- Product Code(s):
- D-CH-18-C056
