thermal characteristics question
Last Post 17 Mar 2010 09:55 AM by eric anderson. 2 Replies.
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jbocker34User is Offline
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13 Mar 2010 05:17 PM
Hi, i'm an architecture student am am trying to figure out the thermal characteristics of two theoretical Data Center rooms, and i'm not sure i'm running the numbers correctly...

Basically, I just want to figure the btu per square foot of 2 different rectangular rooms, and the r-values/u-values associated with heat transfer.

Room A is 150' x 8' and is 8' high.  Room B is 150' x 150' by 8' high. The machines in A produce 992,000 btu/hr and in B produce ten times that, 9,929,000btu/hr.

For room A, I'm not counting the end panels (since it could theoretically go on longer in either direction) so the wall area is 4800 sq ft.  SO, I'm getting 992,000/4800 = 206.6 btu/sf

This seems extremely high, right?  I mean, these machines run hot, but this seems off the chart!  If I run the equation for u-value at a delta-T of 70 degrees, I would need a U value of around 3!  Is that even possible? Room B comes out at over 300 btu/sf, even higher!  Am I missing something, or are these machines just that much of a problem?

Any thoughts?

thanks
jonrUser is Offline
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13 Mar 2010 09:18 PM
The numbers are consistent with high density data centers.  Why do you care about btu/wall sq ft (vs how many tons of cooling you need)?
Eric AndersonUser is Offline
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17 Mar 2010 09:55 AM

A data center is never going to rely on just passive heat transfer through walls in its operation. It will need active ventilation and a lot of it. Depending on climate and location, it will probably need active cooling at least part of the year. If you were in a cool dry climate, you could figure out how to do it with passive cooling and that would be neat. Alternatively you could build the whole room out of copper with finned walls (like a big baseboard radiator) to radically increase the surface area. This still wouldn’t work, but it would look cool.
Cheers,
Eric

Think Energy CT, LLC Comprehensive Home Performance Energy Auditing
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