The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, April 2005.
© Copyright 2005 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or
Data Centers
in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.
Meeting Data Center
Temperature
Requirements
By Roger Schmidt, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE; Madhusudan Iyengar, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE; and Richard Chu
T
he increasing compactness of data
processing equipment size and the
expanding needs of the informa-
tion technology industry has led to more
equipment being packed into the same
amount of space. However, the energy
efficiency of computing and storage
equipment has not risen at the same rate.
This has resulted in a significant increase
in power density and heat dissipation.
Therefore, the cooling of computer and
telecommunications equipment rooms is
becoming a major challenge.
The problem in many data centers is
that the chilled air from the air-condition-
ing units cannot satisfy the local airflow
requirements of the computer and storage
racks. This permits only a portion of each
electronic equipment rack to be cooled by
the chilled air, while other portions of the
rack pull in air from other regions of the
data center that is generally at a higher
air temperature.
The primary questions addressed here
are: “How much chilled air is supplied
44 ASHRAE Journal
to the rack compared to the airflow rate
through the rack?” and “Is the remainder
of the air supplied to the rack within ac-
ceptable temperature limits?”
Data centers, such as the one in Figure
1, typically are arranged into hot and
cold aisles. This arrangement accom-
modates most rack designs that use
front-to-back cooling. And, it somewhat
separates cold air exiting the perforated
tiles (for raised floor designs) and over-
head chilled airflow (for non-raised floor
designs) from the hot air exhausting
from the rear of the racks.
The racks are positioned so the fronts
of the racks face the cold aisle as in Fig-
ure 1. Similarly, the rear of the racks face
each other, and provide a hot air exhaust
region. This layout allows the chilled air
to wash the fronts of the data processing
(DP) equipment while the hot air from the
racks exit into the hot aisle as it returns to
the inlet of the air-conditioning units.
With the arrangement of DP equipment
in rows within a data center, there may
ashrae.org
be zones where all equipment within
that zone dissipates very high heat loads.
This arrangement of equipment may be
required to achieve the performance de-
sired (cabling between computer racks
may be restricted in length to achieve
performance requirements). These high
performance zones can provide sig-
nificant challenges in maintaining an
environment within the manufacturers’
temperature specifications.
Airflow distribution within a data
center has a major impact on the thermal
environment of the DP equipment located
within these rooms. A key requirement
of manufacturers is that the inlet tem-
perature and humidity to the electronic
About the Authors
Roger Schmidt, Ph.D., is distinguished engi-
neer and chief thermal architect, and Madhu-
sudan Iyengar, Ph.D., is an advisory engineer
at the Systems & Technology Group at IBM in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Richard Chu is IBM fellow
and manager of the Advanced Thermal Labs
at the Systems & Technology Group at IBM in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
April 2005
The problem in many data centers is that the
chilled air from the air-conditioning units cannot
satisfy the local airflow requirements of the com-
puter and storage racks.
equipment be maintained within their
specifications.
For a Class 1 datacom environment as
specified in Reference 1, the allowable
inlet air temperature is between 15°C and
32°C (59°F and 89.6°F) while the rela-
tive humidity is between 20% and 80%.
Higher elevations require a de-rating of
the maximum dry-bulb temperature of
1°C (1.8°F) for every 300 m (984 ft)
above an elevation of 900 m (2952 ft)
up to a maximum elevation of 3050 m
(10,004 ft).
These temperature/humidity require-
ments are to be maintained over the entire
air inlet area of the rack. Three other class
environments specified in Reference 1
generally have a wider range of environ-
mental requirements.
With airflow through an electronic rack
nominally front-to-back, the chilled air
supply, whether from a raised floor tile or
via diffusers from the ceiling, is typically
only a fraction of the rack airflow rate.
This is due to the limitations of tile or dif-
fuser flow rate. The remaining supply of
air to a rack is made up of ambient room
air from mixed hot and cold airstreams
and/or recirculation of hot air exhausting
from the rear of a rack then returning
directly to its intake.
This may be acceptable if the rack inlet
air temperature is within the air tempera-
ture specifications of the rack. However,
the airflow paths could result in a wide
range in inlet air temperatures across the
face of the rack.
For a raised floor layout, the inlet air
temperature could range from 10°C to
15°C (50°F to 59°F) at the bottom of the
rack close to the chilled air supply to as
much as 30°C to 40°C (86°F to 104°F) at
the top of the rack where the warmer air
April 2005
is pulled from other regions of the data
center to satisfy the flow required by the
rack. If the temperature specifications
of the rack encompass this range, this
would be acceptable, even though pro-
longed periods of operation at elevated
temperatures may be detrimental to the
reliability of the system.
Reference 2 compared four ventilation
schemes for cooling electronic equipment
in a data center: underfloor supply/over-
head return, underfloor supply/horizontal
return, overhead supply/underfloor return
and overhead supply/horizontal return.
Experimental results were presented, as
well as an analytical model of the under-
floor supply/overhead return showing
the airflow and temperature distribution
at the inlet of the electronic equipment
rack. The analytical model showed the
rack intake air temperature increasing
with height from the raised floor chilled
air supply to the top of a rack where in-
creased recirculation of exhaust air from
the rear of a rack occurs. References 3
and 4 expand on some of the data shown
in Reference 2.
Thermal Performance Metrics
While the absolute value of the air
temperature that enters the rack is of
ultimate importance, for design purposes
and system characterization, two other
rack inlet air temperature-related metrics
have been used here. The first metric is
the temperature difference between the
inlet air temperature (at a specific loca-
tion in front of the rack) and the supply
chilled air, which is given by:
dTinlet = Track inlet – Tchilled supply air
where Track inlet is the air inlet temperature
to the rack, and Tchilled supply air is the inlet
chilled air entering the data center room
from the air-conditioning units. All Track inlet
temperature measurements reported here
were made at a height of 1.75 m (5.74 ft)
measured from the raised floor and at the
air inlet of the 2 m (6.56 ft) high racks.
The second temperature metric used
here to thermally characterize the data
center is the temperature difference
ratio:
RdT = dTinlet / dTrack (2)
where dTinlet is defined in Equation
1, and dTrack is the air temperature rise
through the computer rack equipment.
When this ratio, RdT , is 0, then the air
entering the rack is at the supply chilled
air temperature, and there is no recircula-
tion (at the point of measurement). When
this ratio is equal to 1, all of the air (at the
point of measurement) is at the rack’s hot
exhaust air temperature due to recircula-
tion. When this ratio is greater than 1, it
shows the presence of a self-heating loop
(at the point of measurement), where the
air is recirculating and increasing in tem-
perature more than what would have been
from one pass through the rack.
Data Center Measurements
Measurements were taken in four
distinctly different data centers with
the results from only one reported here.
Similar results were obtained from all
four data centers. The results of this
investigation are summarized in Figure
2, which refers to the layout depicted
in Figure 3. All four data centers were
thermally profiled, that is, measurements
made of temperature, power and airflow.
(1)
The measurement methodology and the
results are described in detail for one of
the data centers in Reference 5.
ASHRAE Journal 45
 For the results reported here, successively larger areas of the 0.49. One interpretation would be that 49% of the flow for
data center were examined for flow and temperature to see if the rack is supplied by the perforated tile in front of the rack
trends might emerge that describe the mixing of the air and the while the remaining rack flow is drawn from elsewhere in
resulting dTinlet at the air intake of the racks. the room. Although in most cases this would probably be the
Region 1 shown in Figure 3 is part of a larger data center case, it cannot be ensured that all the chilled air flow from that
encompassing 687 m2 (7,391 ft2). Four areas of the data center tile passes to the adjacent rack. However, forming this ratio
were examined. The smallest area for the data center included for larger areas of the data center, a more accurate picture is
one rack (Rack 1 in Figure 3) and the perforated tile area directly obtained. This ratio formed with the measurements from all
in front of the rack. The rack chosen was the highest powered four data centers (only one is shown here for brevity) is quite
rack of the two within the local area. clear; the ratios for all areas of all data centers examined fell
The remaining areas examined were successively larger: Lo- between 0.28 and 0.68.
cal Area 1 encompassing two racks facing one another (depicted And, for the data center measurements reported in Figure 2,
by the area enclosed by the dashed lines in Figure 3), multiple the ratio for the rack, local, region and data center areas ranged
racks facing one another and sharing the cold aisle (Region 1 from 0.48 to 0.63. This ratio of less than one but greater than 0
in Figure 3) and finally the entire data center (not shown). Each indicates that some air is supplied to the rack(s) from elsewhere in
grouping of data in Figure 2 displays the results for each suc- the room and not from the perforated tiles in front of the racks.
cessively larger area: rack, local, region and data center. The fifth grouping in Figure 2 depicts the ratio of the mea-
The first grouping shows sured cold aisle plus hot aisle
power for the rack at 7.5 kW Racks Air-Conditioning Unit flow rates and the rack flow
(25,600 Btu/h), local area rate. The cable openings are a
power of 14.2 kW (48,460 source of chilled air from the
Btu/h), regional power of 106 hot aisle and provide cooling
kW (361,770 Btu/h) and the to the hot air exhausting from
data center power of 1089 the rear of the racks. This ratio
kW (3,716,720 Btu/h). (The varied from 0.73 to 1.0.
last bar in each grouping is Even when including the
from the numerical modeling, cable opening flow, the ratio
which is described later.) was less than 1 for all cases
The next grouping shows except for the region showing
the heat flux for each area that in most cases the rack inlet
with the highest occurring air is from other regions of the
for the rack. The correspond- data center. In further support
ing dTinlet’s are shown in the of warm air recirculation the
Perforated Floor Tiles
next grouping (averages are RdT, shown in the last group-
shown when displaying val- Figure 1: A data center arranged in hot and cold aisles. ing, fell between 0.5 and 0.75
ues for more than one rack). indicating that a portion of the
With a dT inlet of 8.1°C (14.6°F) for Rack 1 as in Figure 2 and air for the rack was supplied from elsewhere in the room.
a supply chilled air temperature of 12.9°C (55.2°F), the rack Reference 5 states that based on the reported measurements in
inlet air temperature (at a height of 1.75 m [5.74 ft]) of 21°C that study if the perforated tiles associated with a rack exhausted
(69.8°F) is well below the rack maximum temperature limit of one-quarter to one-half of the rack flow, then the system inlet air
32°C (89.6°F). temperature could be maintained (given the chilled air exhaust
Although not shown, all rack inlet temperatures in the data temperature was approximately 13°C to 15°C [55.4°F to 59°F]).
center were within the maximum rack inlet temperature speci- For this study, and in all cases of the data center (Rack 1, Local
fication. And, every rack inlet air temperature was greater than Area 1, Region 1 and Data Center 1) , the ratio of chilled airflow
the supply chilled air temperature showing that warm air from exhausting from the perforated tiles to the rack flow rate varied
other portions of the room is being drawn into the rack intakes. between 0.48 and 0.63 (the range for all four data centers was
Another way to confirm that warm air is entering the racks is 0.28 to 0.68) , and the air inlet temperature for the racks were
to examine the airflow rates. within specifications. This study shows that the data is similar
The fourth grouping of Figure 2 displays the perforated tile to that reported in Reference 5.
flow rate immediately in front of the rack(s) compared to the
rack flow rate(s). For example, the flow rate for Rack 1 is 0.5 Modeling Experiments
m3/s (1,050 cfm) while the perforated tile flow rate immediately One of the objectives of the modeling was to construct a
in front of the rack is 0.24 m3/s (516 cfm) forming a ratio of simplified model of the region (described previously) used

46 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org April 2005

 2.25

Rack
2 Local
Region
1.75 Data Center
Numerical Model
×10

1.5

×10
Measured Value

1.25
×103
×103
×102

1
×10

0.75
×10

0.5

0.25

0
Power Heat Flux dT Inlet, C Perf. Flow/ Perf. + Cable Flow/ RdT
kW kW/m2 Rack Flow Rack Flow

Figure 2: Results for measurement and modeling of a data center shown below in Figure 3.

for measurements but still capture most of the thermo-fluid The rack was modeled with blowers that force a specific
and geometric parameters and then compare the results. A airflow through these three portions of the rack with the same
representative model of a section of raised floor data center flow characteristics as the rack. The temperature of the chilled
system, depicted in Figure 4, was constructed using a com- air entering the room through the perforated tiles was fixed
mercial software tool. The model was constructed to closely at 15°C (59°F). The rack flow rate, perforated tile flow rates,
resemble the layout in Figure 3, for and cable flow rates matched those
which measurements were taken. Region 1 measured in Region 1 of Figure 3.
The model consists of four pri- The room dimensions were four
mary components; namely, the heat times that of the quarter symmetry
generating datacom equipment model shown in Figure 4, i.e., 6.05
racks, perforated tiles that supply m by 2.8 m (19.8 ft by 9.18 ft), with
chilled air, cable openings that a room height of 2.75 m (9.02 ft).
cause underfloor air to leak into The rack dimensions were 0.61 m
the hot aisle, and computer room (2 ft) wide by 1.22 m (4 ft) deep by
air-conditioning units (CRAC) 2 m (6.56 ft) tall.
that draw in hot return air from the The resulting heat flux of this
racks and exhaust chilled air into configuration is 1.6 kW/m2 (507.6
the raised floor plenum. The model Rack 1 Btu/h/ft2) (Figure 2). Thus, the heat
comprised of a quarter symmetry flux and the flow conditions are the
Local Area 1
of 16 rack sections of a data center same for the numerical model cell
arranged in a cold aisle-hot aisle Figure 3: Rack layout in a data center. as for those measured in the data
fashion. The racks were assumed to center and reported previously. One
dissipate the same heat load as the machines for which the perforated tile with dimensions of 0.61 m by 0.61 m (2 ft by
experimental results are reported. The geometry of some of 2 ft) was placed in front of each rack. The cable openings at
the racks from the field measurements was replicated in the the back of the rack were modeled as 17.8 cm (7 in.) deep
computer model. and the width of the rack.
The racks were modeled to dissipate 6.7 kW (22,870 Btu/h) The thermo-fluid interactions were numerically solved using
each (average of the racks measured in the data center), with the k-e turbulence model, which is the preferred choice for such
the heat load distributed in three portions of the rack (same as data center fluid flow modeling. The cell count for the models
those shown in the measurements of Figure 3): input/output was approximately 50,000. Temperature data was recorded for
portion at the bottom of the rack, central electronic complex the numerical simulations at nine vertical locations in front on
that includes memory and processors in the center of the rack, the rack, namely at heights of 200 to 1600 mm (7.87 to 63 in.)
and ac/dc power supplies located at the top of the rack. in increments of 200 mm (7.87 in.), and the highest point at

April 2005 ASHRAE Journal 47

1750 mm (68.9 in.) (same as the location for measurements). 2. Although the room flow rate is adequate to cool the overall
The criteria for satisfactory convergence took into consideration heat load in the data center and the local flow rate adjacent to
the trends and absolute values, respectively, for the temperature,the racks does not appear adequate, the convection currents
continuity residuals and the monitor point temperatures. that occur at the room level are adequate to bring the local
air temperatures for the high powered racks within the rack
Measurements and Modeling Comparisons air temperature specifications. Flow patterns observed from
Although several comparisons can be made between the simple modeling of a data center show the upper regions of a
measurements reported from Data Center 1 and the numeri- rack being satisfied with flows from other portions of the room.
cal modeling, the desire is to find a metric that can easily be Mixing of the cold and hot airstreams can occur in the vicinity
used in data center characterization and, therefore, the focus of the rack or in other portions of the data center. However, the
was on the dimensionless metric RdT defined in Equation 2. mixing that can occur allows the air temperature to be within
As seen in Figure 2, the temperature data from the numerical the air temperature specifications of the racks.
results were higher than those measured, for the data center 3. A novel methodology was demonstrated by which a large
level case, when the airflow complex data center can be
ratios and the heat flux were Chilled Air-Conditioning Unit separated into global, region,
modeled to be same as the local, and rack level regions
experimental case. This dem- for analysis and modeling.
onstrates the need for signifi- 4. A temperature difference
cantly more work in this area formed by the temperature
if these tools are to be used rise of the rack inlet air and
more generally to model the the supply chilled air tempera-
thermal and airflow behavior ture, and a temperature ratio
of data centers. formed by the temperature
Several weaknesses need to rise of the rack inlet air and the
Air Temp., °C
be further explored based on air temperature rise through
> 48
the following observations: the rack, was used to col-
39.75
• The difficulty in making lapse the data for comparison
Cable Openings 31.5
detailed and exhaustive purposes.
Racks Perforated 23.25
measurements at the data 5. A comparison between
Tiles Symmetry Plane <15
center level due to the size measurement data and model
of the facility; Figure 4: Computer-based simulation of a data center. results showed the need for
• The complex nature of the more work in this area.
rack design, which does not always lend itself to simplifica-
tion in numerical modeling; and Acknowledgments
• The large number of variables and boundary conditions that We want to thank the people who aided in the collection of the
need to be matched to make an accurate comparison. data for this study: Bob Wasilewski and Tom Juliano of DLB As-
Future work will be devoted to addressing these issues to sociates Consulting Engineers, Ocean, N.J., and Saurabh Shrivat-
close the gap between modeling and measurements. sava of the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Summary/Conclusions
1. Measurements in a data center showed with significantly
less flow from the perforated tiles in front of racks, compared
to the rack flow, the inlet air temperatures into a rack could
be met. Specifically, measurements showed that for the rack,
local area, region and data center the ratio of perforated tile
flow to rack flow ranging from 0.48 to 0.63 were acceptable
to meet inlet air temperature. (The data from four data cen-
ters ranged from 0.28 to 0.68). This range was similar to that
reported in Reference 5, stating that if the perforated tiles
associated with a rack exhausted one-quarter to one-half the
flow of the rack, then the system inlet air temperature could
be maintained (given the chilled air exhaust temperature was
below approximately 15°C [59°F]).
References
1. Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Equipment. 2004.
ASHRAE Special Publication.
2. Nakao, M., H. Hayama, M. Nishioka. 1991. “Which cooling
air supply system is better for a high heat density room: underfloor
or overhead?” Thirteenth International Telecommunications Energy
Conference, (INTELEC ’91), Paper 12-4, pp. 393 – 400.
3. Hayama, H. M. Nakao. 1989. “Air flow systems for telecommunica-
tions equipment rooms.” The Eleventh International Telecommunications
Energy Conference (INTELEC ’89), Vol. 1, Paper 8.3, pp. 1–7.
4. Hayama, H., M. Nakao, and M. Sanabe. 1990. “Airflow distribu-
tion in telecommunications equipment rooms.” Twelfth International
Telecommunications Energy Conference (INTELEC ’90), Paper 11-4,
pp. 206 – 212.
5. Schmidt, R. 2004. “Thermal profile of a high density data
center—methodology to thermally characterize a data center.” 2004
ASHRAE Annual Meeting.

48 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org April 2005