Waste Heat Recovery from Data Processing Centers under Direct Free-cooling Conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24160/1993-6982-2025-4-86-93Keywords:
data processing centers, IT equipment cooling, air treatment methods, heat recovery, energy saving assessmentAbstract
Data processing centers (DPCs) are large consumers of electrical energy. Nearly the entire energy consumed by the DPS equipment is finally converted into heat, which is removed by the engineered air cooling system into the environment. Besides the heat losses, there is also a significant amount of electrical energy consumed by cooling systems, which account for up to 70% of the entire energy consumed by the data centers. The energy saving potential that can theoretically be gained from elimination of waste energy loss is evaluated in the article. In particular, the loss of waste energy and energy consumed for plenum air cooling can be reduced by using a cooling system that utilizes the cold of outdoor air, a so-called free-cooling system.
The aim of the work is to study the energy efficiency of a system for recovering the DPC waste heat under different climatic conditions of Russia and estimate the technical energy saving potential in implementing a direct free-cooling system.
A plenum air treatment method is proposed along with a procedure for calculating the air medium characteristics, the amount of DPC waste heat to be recovered, amount of energy consumed for plenum air humidifying and cooling, recirculating air and cooling (humidifying) water flowrates depending on the weather model in the DPC location. The results of model calculations of plenum air parameters with taking into account the environment weather conditions and suggested processes are given. For the climatic conditions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar, the article presents forecasts of the amount of waste energy to be recovered and used for the DPC needs in the direct free-cooling system; the amount of electrical energy consumed for air humidification and cooling purposes; water flowrate in the adiabatic cooling (humidification) system; air flowrate directed for mixing it with the outdoor air for heating it to the optimal temperature, and saving of equivalent fuel in the thermal energy source when using the free-cooling system.
The study results can be used for predicting the DPC equipment cooling system characteristics in any climatic region, in selecting the DPC microclimate maintenance system, and in substantiating the energy-saving effect from using atmospheric air as a cooling medium.
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Для цитирования: Авдокунин Н.В., Яковлев И.В. Утилизация сбросной теплоты центров обработки данных в условиях прямого фрикулинга // Вестник МЭИ. 2025. № 4. С. 86—93. DOI: 10.24160/1993-6982-2025-4-86-93
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Работа выполнена при поддержке Министерства науки и высшего образования России (государственное задание № FSWF-2023-0017)
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Конфликт интересов: авторы заявляют об отсутствии конфликта интересов
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For citation: Avdokunin N.V., Yakovlev I.V. Waste Heat Recovery from Data Processing Centers under Direct Free-cooling Conditions. Bulletin of MPEI. 2025;4:86—93. (in Russian). DOI: 10.24160/1993-6982-2025-4-86-93
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The Work was carried out with the Support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (State Assignment No. FSWF-2023-0017)
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Conflict of interests: the authors declare no conflict of interest
