When it comes to facility design for data centers, the importance of efficient and sustainable cooling solutions cannot be overstated. Optimized cooling systems are essential not only for operational efficiency and cost containment, but also for achieving corporate sustainability goals. Cooling system configuration is widely dependent upon the application—whether for comfort, commercial purposes, or for data centers—and is significantly influenced by the facility’s location and cooling needs. A nuanced understanding of how these factors affect system design requirements and resource utilization—power and water—is crucial, yet often goes underappreciated.
At Kuul, we understand these factors and how they contribute to the success of your data center operations. Recognizing the importance of these factors in early design considerations, Kuul offers a complete set of Engineering Services designed to answer critical questions such as:
These unique services are an important part of Kuul’s proprietary process for evaporative cooling system design for data centers. Led by our senior engineering team, this strategic approach determines key input and output parameters, such as water consumption, early in the process – allowing us make recommendations and implement methods that maximize the performance of your cooling systems. These services include site selection consultations, performance and efficiency analysis via our proprietary Psychrometric Analysis tools, and Media Scaling Analysis.
The right location for your data center and its cooling systems can improve system efficiency, significantly reduce operational costs, and minimize your facility’s environmental footprint. As part of our Site Selection Consultation, the Kuul Engineering Team will help you understand the impact on your site’s location on your facility’s cooling systems. Our consultative process considers factors like climate, space availability, corporate objectives, environmental conditions, weather and more to determine the optimal location for your data center facilities. These consultations can be conducted virtually, or on-site anywhere in the world.
Our site selection consultations aren’t limited to location scouting. We will help you select the best media and system configuration for your facility, too, using performance simulations and scaling predictions to ensure we identify the solution that best fits your needs. With specialized tools that simulate diverse media configurations for varying models and thicknesses and assess various water chemistries – including feedwater and pretreatment water options – we are able to give you the exact design parameters of the most efficient cooling system for your data center. And, our expertise extends to even the smallest of details; for example, we provide blending analyses of water sources to determine the most optimal water chemistry for your system.
Kuul’s Psychrometric Analysis system is our engineering team’s secret weapon. This specially designed tool provides a clear picture of performance and efficiency of your data center’s cooling systems under various conditions and inputs, accounting for media type and dimensions, location, dry and wet bulb temperatures, drift eliminator depth, efficiency requirements, water distribution, and more.
In addition to incorporating twenty years of research findings into our Psychrometric Analysis tools, we use independent, third-party-tested performance data to determine site-specific psychrometric calculations. Using this data, we can quickly determine the performance characteristics of our entire line of Kuul evaporative media, and help you select the right media for your specific data center. We also use this critical analysis to optimize your cooling system for peak efficiency and sustainability as it is instrumental in answering crucial operational questions such as the ideal cycles of concentration and the performance implications of staged system operations.
As part of Kuul’s Data Center Media R&D Program, we continuously invest in and enhance our psychrometric tools with advanced features like drift eliminator selection and the recent integration of total pressure drop considerations. In addition to providing our customers with innovative solutions and expert guidance, our learnings during the psychrometric analysis process aid in Kuul’s product development lifecycle. This ensures that we continually develop new evaporative cooling media solutions that support the rapidly-evolving data center industry.
Rounding out Kuul’s Engineering Services, our unique Media Scaling Analysis process forecasts the lifespan of your evaporative cooling media, allowing you to plan for future costs, replacement schedules, and maintenance needs. Taking into consideration the unique qualities of your water source and data center facilities, we will help you address potential scaling issues before they impact your system so you can enjoy long-term cost savings and enhanced reliability.
Competitors in the field of evaporative cooling solutions often rely on outdated, simplistic scaling indices (many developed in the 1930s) as their primary method for determining optimal operating conditions for high-tech data centers. While these indices are grounded in fundamental water chemistry principles, their outdated nature limits their efficacy and fails to incorporate advancements in technology over the past one hundred years. The limitations of these competitor models are evident: they merely estimate the driving force behind scaling and lack the ability to predict the amount of scale that will form on the media. Solely focused on calcite scaling (Calcium Carbonate), these models overlook other potential scaling substances. Additionally, they assume that all calcium and alkalinity are freely available for bonding solely with each other, disregarding other potential interactions. Combining these limitations with no consideration of evaporation rate and operating hours per year leads to unnecessary conservative operating conditions and results in an increase in water consumption.
In contrast, Kuul employs cutting-edge simulation tools that utilize industry-leading hydrochemical modeling software to predict scaling accurately. The advantages of Kuul’s simulations are profound. Our simulations encompass over 20 different substances, assessing scaling tendencies at various operating conditions, and ensuring systems function optimally. These simulations consider saturation values that account for interactions among various ions, such as sulfate and chlorides, providing a more comprehensive scaling prediction. Values calculated by Kuul’s simulation tools are customized to suit your system’s configuration and psychrometric conditions, offering precise and tailored insights for efficient and effective operation.
Kuul’s Engineering Services for Data Centers offers a valuable advantage to data center operators who are looking for a competitive edge- and the peace of mind that you are making informed decisions when it comes to your data center operations. At Kuul, we are committed to delivering superior solutions and an exceptional partnership experience to our valued clients, many of which are among the largest data center operators in the world.
To that point, Kuul’s Engineering Services are offered at NO cost to current and prospective Kuul clients. Our Engineers are readily available for both virtual consultations and on-site evaluations, offering unparalleled support when and where you need it. This direct access to our experts ensures convenience and reliability, as well as decades of real-world experience, at moments’ notice. Whether your cooling system requires a standard evaporative cooling media product or a more customized solution, whether you are planning for new construction or retrofitting an existing facility, the Kuul Engineering Team is committed to delivering expert guidance and support every step of the way.
Looking to optimize your data center’s cooling systems? We are ready to help. Reach out to Kuul’s Engineering Team today for more information on our Engineering Services for Data Centers – and feel the Kuul Difference for yourself.
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