Quick installation of precise cooling package for data centre

Data centres generate huge amounts of heat, so effective cooling is just as paramount as a reliable source of power. A data centre specialist suffered multiple self-contained unit chiller failures. This would eventually lead to data being compromised – which was simply not an option.

Our customer used dozens of small air conditioning / split units to provide critical cooling, but this was not enough to maintain the correct airflow, or the optimum temperature for the facility. They reacted by moving some data to another hall, but this was not a solution to the problem.

They needed cooling quickly, reliably and above all, it needed to provide the right air and conditions for the racks.

We provided 2.5MW of cooling duty put in place as an emergency solution to support the hall in a complete outage. We designed a resilient and bespoke package with multiple power supplies, N+1 redundancy, chillers and air handling units (AHU’s). The package incorporated: 3 x 800 kW chillers, 2 x 1250 kVA generators, 4 x 300 kW air handlers and 4.5km of cabling.

This solution was able to be deployed and live within 48 hours of the initial call - the customer contacted Aggreko on Saturday, we arranged a site survey the next day and began the install that evening, the package went live on the Monday.

Once we had established the initial emergency cooling duty, we then were able to work on a more long-term solution. This included off-hiring the generators and running 4.5km of cable into 2 x distribution boards within the data centre to utilise site power. This solution was installed in tight circumstances, which demanded some intricate cable placement and every ounce of expertise at our disposal.

After the customer's initial plan to deliver the critical cooling needs of the data centre with smaller scale equipment didn’t work, Aggreko were contacted to quickly mobilise a bespoke solution to provide the cooling that was needed. The reputation and financial risk that the customer faced should the worst happen, was avoided with our swift response and reliable, precise equipment.

The entire package worked effectively and the customer asked to extend the hire for a further six months.