Daxten Cuts Energy Costs With Curtains

Data centre cooling specialist Daxten has launched a hybrid and modular containment solution, known as the CoolControl Containment system, to help data centre operators reduce their energy costs.

While some companies have the opportunity to build new efficient data centres, Daxten provides retro-fit systems for existing buildings, which keeps cool air and hot air apart, to increase cooling efficiency. The CoolControl Containment system – which will launch at the Data Center World show in London – improves  Daxten’s existing CoolControl Curtain system,

The CoolControl Containment system is based on an aluminium frame which can be built under the ceiling, along walls or over cabinets.From this are hung  plastic curtains, or solid glass or fibre panels, to reduce air flow betwen the hot and cold aisle. All the materials are inert, antistatic and self-extinguishing.

Flexible Containment

“The CoolControl Curtain system is designed to be mounted on existing structures (such as the roof etc),” explained Daxten business development manager, Phillip McGuinness. “But the CoolControl Containment system can be retrofitted in existing data centres, because this product can be installed without being attached to any existing infrastructure in the room.”

Speaking to eWEEK Europe UK, McGuinness said the solution is also designed to fit to any rack regardless of height or width, which is very useful for those data centres that contain different sized racks from different vendors.

The CoolControl Containment solution also includes blanking panels for sealing free vertical U space in the cabinets to prevent the recirculation of hot exhaust air back into the cold aisle.

The system works with other cooling technologie from Daxten, including passive perforated floor tiles (Daxten CoolControl Tile) which move cooled air from the raised floor to the front of the cabinets, and CoolControl Xpand, which seals cable openings.

Capacity Squeeze

For co-location housing purposes, the aluminium profile can be used to set up cage compartments with metal security panels or stainless steel cages.

“We call it a hybrid system as it can be used as a soft or solid structure,” said McGuinness. “It is needed because of two reasons. One is because the cost of energy is going up and the second is the CRC tax. People are now being targeted to reduce their power consumption, and data centre managers are under increasing pressure from management as power consumption has now reached their awareness, unlike before when they were not going to be taxed on it.”

McGuinness explained that it can be used by companies that have signed up to the European Code of Conduct, and also for those data centres that have run out of power.

Too Much Cooling

“A lot of data centres have too much cooling in reality, normally 2.5 times the cooling capacity that the facility actually needs,” said McGuinness. “This means it is not running efficiently. Our job is to improve a data centre’s cooling efficiencies, which is essentially about recapturing lost capacity. This allows them to put more hardware whereas previously they couldn’t because they did not have enough spare cooling capacity.”

“This is a total flexible solution that can combine vertical hanging curtains, a roof of solid panels, or a solid door,” said McGuinness. “It is possible to mix and match, with mixtures of the two approaches. This is because each site each site is different, with different containment challenges. It even has caging options so colocation players can section off parts of the room.”

“We are having a lot of success in reducing people’s energy bills by offering innovative things to help people deal with their cooling needs,” said McGuinness.

Daxten will introduce the new CoolControl Containment system at DataCentreWorld on the 2nd  and 3rd of March 2011 on stand C37.

According to McGuinness, pricing for the system varies according to a number of factors, although it is “significantly cheaper than alternative solid containment solutions and will deliver return on investment (ROI) in just three to six months.”