I’ve been chatting with Alcatel-Lucent about various approaches the company is taking to the issue of green technology and sustainability. In April, I wrote about how the company is helping deploying renewable energy technology in the telecommunication world by using solar and wind as the power source for mobile base stations. Another thing the company is developing and testing is a modular cooling technology that it says brings cooling technology closer to the source of the heat.
The Alcatel-Lucent Modular Cooling approach is a two-phase system, rack-agnostic approach that pumps refrigerant to remove the thermal energy created by your data center’s air-conditioning units. Yes, even as the AC units work over time to cool your data center, they are (in turn) creating more heat. The company claims its approach allows for more servers per rack while reducing the number of AC units you need.
The video link I’ve included here explains how the system works:
ALU_Modular_Cooling_Deep_Dive.html
Alcatel-Lucent is testing its approach in Plano, Texas, in its IPTV lab. So far, the solution has had the following impact, according to the company’s product literature:
- Reduction of hot aisle temperatures from 104 degrees Fahrenheit to 72 degrees Fahrenheit
- A reduction of internal server temps from 90 degrees to 75 degrees
- A decrease in the load on the building’s AC systems
