DigiPlex and Munters set the bar with largest Indirect Evaporative Cooled Data Centre in Europe

DigiPlex and Munters award winning approach uses natural free-cooling to deliver substantial environmental benefits and will use 52 Oasis™ IEC 200’s to reduce energy consumption and provide a secure data hall climate. The new facility will be capable of cooling over 10MW of IT power for customers, including the large Norwegian Telecoms company Evry. Once operational, the DigiPlex Fetsund data centre is set to be the largest indirect evaporatively cooled data centre in Europe.

The DigiPlex Fetsund data centre will have the capacity to operate 25,000 servers providing modern, high power data centre services. The data halls extend to 4,200 square meters of white technical space, creating individual modules to fit customer requirements. At the heart of the DigiPlex Air to Air (A2A) modular data centre is Munters Oasis™ IEC 200, which capitalises on the cooler climates of Northern Europe to deliver natural sustainable ‘free cooling’ and economic benefits compared to traditional cooling technology. The Oasis™ IEC 200 halves the amount of energy used to keep computers and servers at an ideal working temperature of 24oC (75oF) so reducing the power cost for DigiPlex customers.

The DigiPlex A2A system AHU utilises two separate air streams, where one air stream draws outdoor fresh air into Munters Oasis™ IEC 200, and passes it over Munters patented indirect evaporative polymer tube heat exchanger. The exterior of the elliptical tube heat exchanger is wetted to maximise the surface area for heat rejection and provides effective indirect evaporative cooling. After passing over the wet exterior tube surfaces of the heat exchanger, the outdoor air is expelled to atmosphere.

The other air stream draws air from the data centre white space hot aisle, and passes it through the inside of the tubes of the heat exchanger, where evaporative heat transfer from the exterior wetted surfaces cools the data centre hot aisle air, and passes it back into the under floor void of the data centre cool aisles. This gives a continuous and stable operation securing a constant temperature without mechanical cooling for 100% of the year. Because the data hall air is re-circulated and cooled with indirect evaporative cooling, no outdoor air is introduced into the data centre by the Oasis™ IEC. The indirect evaporative cooling requires one-third of the water flow rate of conventional economizer systems.

Munters Oasis™ IEC 200 fully separates the air flows, eliminating risk of data hall contamination, eliminates humidity issues which could cause server corrosion and is a low cost system to maintain. The Oasis™ IEC can use collected rain water and DigiPlex are considering this approach at Fetsund as an environmentally friendly option. Furthermore DigiPlex and Munters were recognised for this innovative Air to Air cooling system in 2012 as winners of a European DCD Innovation Award.

Munters Oasis™ indirect evaporative cooling systems with a combined capacity of over 100+MW have been installed in data centres worldwide. Greg MCCulloch DigiPlex’s Chief Operating Officer comments: “Working closely with Munters to develop the A2A system has helped us to develop a cooling system that really sets our data centres apart. Driving forward energy efficiency in our industry is a major focus for us and this system halves the amount of energy used to keep our servers working at an ideal temperature. This not only helps save our customers thousands of pounds in energy costs but also ensures that our facilities are amongst the most sustainable in the sector”

Munters dedicated data centre team worked closely with DigiPlex to develop their modular A2A cooling system, and the Oasis™ IEC 200 will help provide annual cost savings of 40% and a total energy consumption reduction of 65%, compared to common high efficiency free cooling solutions. Munters is a global leader in energy efficient air treatment, with offices in 30 countries, a turnover of €450m and over 460 Oasis™ IEC data centre cooling systems in operation.