European leading Cooling solution
Lefdal Mine Datacenter is one of the world’s most energy effective data centers. The cooling solution will lead to a PUE ranging from 1.08 to 1.15 – depending on UPS configuration and scale of capacity. Less than 3% of the power spent on IT is used for cooling with a 5 KW/rack configuration.
Seawater and freshwater circuit
The solution is based on cold seawater used as cooling source through a heat exchanger for a closed fresh water circuit that cools computers via CRAH, LCP or Zucs solutions.
The proximity to the fjord ensures access to unlimited 8 C seawater year around. The fjord is deep (565 meters) and has four glaciers connected to it. The mine is situated just below sea level so there is no need to use energy lifting the water.
The seawater will cool down the fresh water circuit from 30 C to 18 C. The prototype has been running for 10 years in the data centers of LocalHost AS – an IT consultancy and operation company within the group.
Certified by IBM/CH2M Hill
IBM/CH2M HILL concluded that the Lefdal Mine Datacenter cooling solution will enable the facility to run with an industry leading PUE under 1.1 once the design is fully developed. The cooling solution offers 20-30% improvement over current leading edge designs operational or under construction in Europe.
Technical specifications
- A+B salt water pipelines from the fjord to heat exchangers – 2N redundancy
- A+B fresh water pipelines from heat exchangers to each designated IT area – 2N redundancy
- Containment is used to avoid mixing of cold/hot air in the data center
