Services enable thermal upgrades in data centres

The solutions include upgrade packages for Liebert iCOM thermal controls, services to help customers properly integrate new controls, and web-based calculators for determining project energy savings and benefits. These solutions complement existing retrofit products from Emerson, including Liebert variable speed drives and Liebert EC fans.

Approximately 50% of data centres in the United States are currently performing thermal system upgrades or are planning to upgrade within the next 12 months, according to Emerson research. These projects range from upgrading cooling units with variable speed fans and drives, adding new controls and economisers and replacing cooling units. The Emerson solutions are designed to meet the top business drivers behind retrofits, which include:
1. Increasing equipment reliability
2. Achieving higher energy efficiency
3. Adding capacity
4. Facilitating data centre consolidation
5. Improving monitoring and control

“Our new solutions help customers get the most out of their existing data centres with a comprehensive set of offerings that go beyond the benefits of traditional cooling unit component retrofits. Our new controls, services and tools help them significantly increase thermal system protection, efficiency and capacity, while providing a much higher level of visibility into data centre operations,” said John Peter Valiulis, Vice President, North America Marketing, Thermal Management, Emerson Network Power.

“Upgrades can be complex projects, and with our Installed Thermal Upgrade services, customers can trust that their projects will be managed and completed by Liebert precision cooling experts with direct access to our equipment engineers and designers. They fully understand how to apply the latest thermal technology to help ensure quality installation, maintain thermal availability throughout the project and reduce implementation times,” said Mitzi Amon, Marketing Director, Emerson’s Liebert Services.

Liebert iCOM unit controls reduce the likelihood of refrigerant freeze through self-healing algorithms that change cooling unit operations before they reach unsafe thresholds. Other protective features include automated lead/lag, standby and cascade routines to ensure continuous and uniform cooling, eight times faster restart times to reduce thermal overload in the event of power interruptions, and auto valve calibration to reduce component wear and tear.

Pre-programmed teamwork modes within Liebert iCOM controls provide dynamic thermal capacity to ensure that airflow and temperature between cooling units is co-ordinated for higher efficiency and protection. They eliminate the common problem of reheat conflicts between cooling units, cutting reheat hours by approximately 30%. When combined with variable speed technologies, Liebert iCOM controls can reduce total thermal system energy usage by up to 50%.

New Installed Thermal Upgrades available through Liebert Services help customers accelerate project implementation and ensure quality delivery by supporting the retrofit process from beginning to end with OEM expertise. These services were designed to alleviate the most common customer retrofit challenges and include:
1. End-to-end project management to avoid cooling interruptions
2. Unit compatibility matching to ensure the right options are selected for each cooling unit
3. Support for integrating cooling units with building management systems
4. Documentation to facilitate obtaining energy rebates
5. Controls optimisation and acceptance testing to ensure proper configurations for optimising efficiency and protection

Emerson also has released a web-based calculator that runs on mobile devices to help customers calculate the savings from using variable speed technologies and Liebert iCOM controls. Another new tool on the company’s website helps customers better understand the benefits of using these technologies.