IT & Comms Solutions
Air Options are a specialist within this chosen area and have installed many computer room and data centre solutions throughout the UK. No project is too large or too small, with spend levels ranging from £5k - £500k. Our clients vary from small Information Technology (IT) users to large blue chip corporations specialising in both the IT and Communications (ICT) industries.
The specialist area of ‘IT & Comms’ incorporates the following industry named environments and solutions:
Environments
- Comms / Communication Rooms
- Server & Computer Rooms
- Data Centres & Suites
- ICT Rooms & Suites
- UPS & Switch Rooms
Solutions
- Close control air conditioning, often termed PAC (precision AC) units
- Humidification & dehumidification
- Inergen / fire suppressant extraction systems
- Fresh air input & ventilation plant
It is important to appreciate the main difference between a computer / server room or data centre and a standard office environment is the density of heat the air conditioning plant needs to remove and the resilience of the product installed. All server / computer rooms are 24/7, with little or no rest period other than duty rotation of the plant and a system needs to be engineered that is both resilient and effective whilst ‘future proofing’ the room against technology changes.
If you need general advice or an obligation free quotation, call us today on 0800 0188423 where we will be happy to help. Please read on for a general overview of what we can offer and a fundamental understanding of what can be engineered.
System Concepts
Air Options offer specialist items manufactured by Stulz, Liebert Hiross, Denco, Mitsubishi, Daikin and Toshiba, along with bespoke items to suit a specific requirement or application. ‘Up-flow’ and ‘Down-flow’ configurations are offered to suit the air flow characteristic and construction of the room.
’Up-flow’ systems draw the air into the front of the AHU (air handling unit) over the heat exchanger (evaporator) and out of the top into either a discharge plenum or ductwork arrangement. These systems are generally retro-fitted into environments where raised floors are of an inadequate depth or do not exist. These systems are offered with network connectivity and full function configurations to include filtration, humidification, cooling and dehumidification.
’Down-flow’ systems draw the air into the top of the AHU (air handling unit) down over the heat exchanger (evaporator) and out of the bottom into the floor void. This conditioned air is then in turn discharged into the server room via strategically placed floor grilles. These systems are generally fitted into computer room environments as part of the initial build where raised floors are adequately compartmentalised and free of obstructions. These systems are offered with network connectivity and full function configurations to include filtration, humidification, cooling and dehumidification.
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Humidification is added to overcome the drying effect within your computer room or data centre caused by the cooling cycle. As the system cools it will dry the air consequently reducing the relative humidity (RH) of the environment. In the event the RH becomes low this can lead to static electricity problems which should be avoided as it causes considerable damage to IT and electronic products. An electrode boiler is normally the equipment manufacturers preferred option for adding moisture back into the environment. This in turn is linked to a mains water supply and is of automatic operation once commissioned.
Cooling Capacities
Computer room cooling duties range from a few KW (kilowatt measure used to rate cooling performance) up to hundreds of kilowatts. Systems are generally configured to offer ‘duty + standby’ configurations sometimes referred to as N+1, or even N+2 dependant upon the level of resilience and reliability required. An example of how cooling duties could be calculated in your computer / server room is listed below:
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The maths are very simple. We calculate what heat you have rejected into the environment along with the fabric gains and size your air conditioning equipment to suit along with making an additional allowance for a standby system. The standby is normally equivalent to one of the duty systems which in the example above equates to 50% standby. If the ‘duty’ was let’s say 200KW distributed across 4 x 50KW systems the standby would be 1 x 50KW system or 25%. Whatever the requirement we would always recommend a standby system. Standby strategies / concepts are often referred to ‘N+1’ or even ‘N+2’ dependant upon the level of standby required. Whether a 5kw server room with a single rack or a larger 2000kw data centre, we are able to apply the same engineering and common sense strategies in producing your ideal solution.
Controls
The systems we offer are intelligent and will be networked to duty rotate and offer full alarm status. Most systems can be configured to notify the client in the case of an emergency by SMS, phone dialler or SNMP signalling allowing email connectivity.
All temperature and humidification controls are automatic and once set do not need to be adjusted. No matter what the external ambient or room condition the system will automatically adjust to suit. Normal conditions within IT environments are set to 20° C (+/-1° C) and 50% RH (+/-5%) but can be tailored to suit your specific requirement.
Hot and Cold Aisles
Consideration to Hot & cold aisle orientation / positioning within your computer room, server room or data centre is an essential part of our system design. Once again this is not rocket science but poor housekeeping and rack configuration can produce hot and cold spots leading to unreliable network performance. When layering racks it is important that they are strategically placed to allow for hot and cold aisle configurations. The cold aisle is where the cold air from the air conditioning plant feeds into the racks / servers and the hot aisle is where it is rejected from and starts its return path into the air conditioning plant to begin the very same cycle.
We are happy to advise or configure your computer room to reflect this along with offering a turn key package to include the entire build, planning and project management.
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Warranty We offer a wide range of inverter systems, considerably increasing system performance and efficiency whilst significantly reducing running costs. Inverter products are so efficient and 'green' that the UK Government endorses such installations by allowing companies to claim Enhanced Capital Allowances (ECA's), making this a very tax efficient purchase indeed http://www.eca.gov.uk/. |
What we can offer
In addition to the air conditioning and ventilation, we are able to advise and project manage the following key areas of your build to ensure the computer room is delivered as a working package:
- Room construction (inclusive of raised floor and ceiling)
- Power and network cabling
- Air conditioning and ventilation solution
- Fire suppressant installation
- Door entry and security solution
- On site maintenance and repair inclusive of extended warranties
Installation and consultation regarding the above is available. Whatever your requirement, large or small, Air Options is the only option. For further information, download a flyer Specialist IT services information, or call us today on 0800 0188423.
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