OPTIMIZATION OF WATER AND ENERGY USE IN INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE COOLING SYSTEM BY CFD

Abstract

Data center cooling is becoming important to maintain environmental condition for ITE- Information technology equipment. Conventional evaporative wet cooling media lowers the temperature of the dry bulb temperature of incoming air in which heat transfer to water film and sensibly cool the product air by increasing moisture into air. Wet cooling media technique requires large quantity of clean water, which is reducing area where water is very less. Therefore, indirect evaporative cooling is good alternative. Chiller plants/Indirect Evaporative cooling(IEC) are used as a cooling source for larger data centers as they are more efficient in heat transfer without adding moisture into product air. In this study, Chilled water is supplied to the heat exchanger unit ASC- 8 row copper coils indirect heat exchanger. Hot air stream across the coils transfer heat energy to the chilled water inside the coil and excessive moisture in secondary air will be condensed before the outlet as it will reach to the dew point. Focus of this study is to identify the various configurations for cooling coils. Parametric study has been carried out to show the impact of both water and air velocities on coil performance. Variable primary flow of water in chilled water cooling unit has been studied to improve efficiency with reducing pumping power. Weather bin analysis of DFW area for several months has been done. Optimization of coil design has been studied by maintaining balance with coil face area, air pressure drop, and water pressure drop parameters. Numerical simulation data has been validated with Aztek indirect evaporative cooling unit.