Services – Cooling

Free Cooling

When it comes data centre cooling solutions, the term “free cooling” has entered general use in the data centre industry. Most people understand that it actually refers to “compressor free” cooling. That is to say, that there will be some cost and energy used in removing heat from the server racks but this is greatly reduced by eliminating the need to run compressors.

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About Free Cooling

Free cooling is a data centre cooling solution achieved by using ambient air to cool the data centre either directly as in “Fresh Air Free Cooling” or indirectly with heat exchangers. The heat exchangers in an indirect system can be water-to-water, air-to-water or air to some other heat transfer medium such as in thermal wheels and Phase Change Materials (PCM’s).

It is possible, in theory at least, to have a completely energy free cooling system by using the ‘stack effect’ of the warm air as used in passive ventilation systems. However we are not aware of any such systems being in use (yet!).

Why choose Future-tech?

At Future-tech we have over 30 years experience of free cooling data centres and have installed most types of system including:

  • Direct fresh air cooling

  • Water-to-air dry coolers with DX systems

  • Water-to-air dry coolers with chilled water systems

  • Water-to-water heat exchangers with a heat sink

Whichever method you choose, free cooling will significantly improve your data centre’s PUE and DCiE.

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