Performance of an internet data center refrigeration system using an evaporative cooler

The traditional refrigeration method of internet data center (IDC) is mostly air refrigeration, which has undesired cooling effect and high power consumption. This study addresses this problem and proposes an evaporative air cooler (EAC) suitable for IDC. Given the high specific heat capacity of water, the evaporative condensing coil and spray device are added to the evaporative cooler to enhance the heat transfer effect. Heat and mass transfer mathematical models are established to analyze the heat transfer performance. The mathematical model is used to simulate the profile of the heat and mass transfer coefficient of the EAC with the amount of spray water and air flow. The results show that when the air flow changes from 10 to 20 kg/s, the air equivalent heat transfer coefficient increases by about 41%. When the air flow rate is 20 kg/s and the spray water volume is 0.00124 kg/(mꞏs), the total heat transfer coefficient is increased by about 308% compared with the case without spray water.