Evaluation of a solar-powered absorption cooling system to a data center

Nowadays, data processing is a fundamental operation for modern businesses such as banks, technology companies, and factories, among others. However, computers dissipate significant amounts of heat yielding to an operational temperature rise. Considering that these machines cannot operate properly in inappropriate temperatures or at extreme conditions, they can come to a stop due to overheating. Consequently, cooling and air-conditioning systems are necessary to keep the proper operating temperature as well as the room temperature itself. On the other hand, a data center air-conditioning system drains a large amount of electrical power. Based on this, this paper evaluates a solar-powered absorption cooling system to assist the traditional electric chiller system resulting in energy saving, an advantage over conventional cooling, and day availability for this system. A case study is analyzed in a conventional data center located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. First, the electric power density consumed by computers is 2.0 kW/m2, which represents a typical power load of an IT room. In addition, some other power density cases are also analyzed, namely: 0.5, 1.0, 4.0, and 8.0 kW/m2; these would occur at partial or at high operational loads. Local solar irradiation indexes are based on ASHRAE temperature and solar data for that city. The results are valid for a typical year and are compared to (1) a conventional data center and (2) the event combined with the solar-powered cooling system.