Rittal Launches CRAC System for Low and Medium Density Data Centre Environments

Sunday, 13 July 2008 18:00

Surveys have shown that in most organisations the climate control requirements in data centres still remain in the low density range. These demands are best met by raised floor climate control using a CRAC system which can achieve an average cooling of around 5 kW per rack. 

The new Rittal CRAC system for low and medium density environments operates by drawing in warm air from the server enclosures at the top of the unit and then cooling it either with water or refrigerant R407c in a closed heat exchanger. The cooled air is filtered and blown under positive pressure to the false floor from where it rises into the cold aisle.

The low to medium CRAC incorporates intelligent design by positioning the fan in the raised floor itself.  The cooled air can then be distributed unimpeded in the raised floor.  As a result, there is more space available in the enclosure itself for a larger heat exchanger. In addition, unnecessary diversions of the airflow can be avoided and flow resistance minimised. This method can achieve an increase in efficiency of typically 10 – 30 percent with a reduced space requirement.

Rittal’s new climate control system not only cools but it also keeps the humidity at a constant level. The system is available in output ratings 17 to 125 kW effective cooling capacity and can be easily integrated into an existing IT infrastructure in terms of both hardware and software.

“Rittal now supplies the complete product range for IT climate control from one source. These include IT chillers with free cooling via the piping and main water supply to CRAC systems and the long established liquid cooling packages, both of which can be combined with our new cold aisle containment system,“ said Mark Roberts, Business Development Manager, Rittal.