Author Description

Recent trends toward increased equipment power density in data centers can result in significant thermal design and operation issues, with the potentially undesirable side effects of decreased equipment availability, wasted floor space, and inefficient cooling system operation. There is often a mismatch of IT equipment environmental requirements with adjacent equipment requirements or with facility operating conditions and, thus, a strong need to find common solutions and standard practices that facilitate IT equipment interchangeability while preserving industry innovation. Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments provides a framework for improved alignment between IT equipment hardware manufacturers (including manufacturers of computers, servers, and storage products), data center designers, and facility operators and managers. This guide covers four primary areas: equipment operating environment specifications (four classes are defined), facility temperature and humidity measurement (to evaluate data center health), equipment placement and airflow patterns (a hot-aisle/cold-aisle layout is recommended), and equipment manufacturers' heat load and airflow requirements reporting. The primary changes for this second edition center on the updated thermal envelope and relate to the recommended temperatures at the inlets of the equipment operating in datacom facilities. This book is the first in the ASHRAE Datacom Series, authored by ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment. This series provides comprehensive treatment of datacom cooling and related subjects.