Integrated power and cooling systems for data centers

Data Centers require large amounts of electricity and have at the same time a large need for cooling of buildings and electronics. CHP (Combined Cooling, Heating and Power) systems produce electric power and utilize the resulting waste heat for free cooling. Using a gas turbine or fuel cell for power production (to be used to operate the data center) also provides large quantities of waste heat at useful temperature levels. This waste heat, when used in absorption chillers or other heat driven refrigeration devices, provides sufficient cooling capacity to remove the entire heat load that is being generated by the data center. When such a system is dedicated to a given data center, unique opportunities emerge with considerable synergistic benefits. For example, refrigerated computing becomes feasible for an entire server farm, while no electricity is needed to provide the refrigeration. Furthermore, the use of waste heat to drive a dehumidification system allows the suppression of the dew point of air such that no moisture condensation occurs. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges that CHP systems provide for Data Centers.