Facebook rolls out indirect data center cooling system that can take the humidity

Facebook said it has cooked up a first of its kind data center cooling system that can handle more extreme conditions.

The company's StatePoint Liquid Cooling (SPLC) system was developed by Nortek Air Solutions and allows Facebook to put data centers in places where direct cooling isn't possible.

According to Facebook, the SPLC system can cut water usage by more than 20 percent for data centers in hot and humid climates and 90 percent in cooler areas. Facebook's comparisons are for its previous indirect cooling systems. Facebook's direct evaporative cooling systems can halve water usage than typical data centers.

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The upshot for Facebook is that its SPLC system eliminates the need for mechanical cooling in multiple climates and allows the company to use less square footage too cool. data centers.

Here are some of the key points for the SPLC system:

• SPLC produces cold water instead of cold air.
• Facebook and Nortek have been developing SPLC in 2015.
• The system uses a liquid-to-air energy exchanger where water is cooled as it evaporates through a membrane separation layer.
• Cold water is used to cool the air inside the data center.
• The membrane prevents contamination between water and air streams and requires minimal maintenance.
• SPLC has three modes that are used to optimize water and power consumption based on outside temperatures.
• The system is architected in a way that simplifies the piping in a data center.

One benefit of the SPLC system is that it will allow Facebook to consider more varied locations for its data centers. With Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Google and others vying for data center space often in the same areas the social media giant can gain better deals if it considers alternate locations.

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