Robust Design of Air-Cooled Server Cabinets for Thermal Efficiency Available to Purchase

Thermal management difficulties in data centers caused by the rapidly increasing power densities of modern computational equipment are compounded by the less frequent upgrading of the facilities themselves, creating a lifecycle mismatch. This paper utilizes the Proper Orthogonal Decompostion (POD) for reduced order modeling of turbulent convection integrated with the compromise Decision Support Problem (DSP) using robust design principles. In the illustrative case study considered thermally efficient cabinet configurations that are insensitive to variations in operating conditions are determined. Results of the application of this approach to an enclosed cabinet example show that the resulting thermally efficient configurations are capable of dissipating up to a 50% greater heat load using the same cooling infrastructure.