Deployment of airside economizers (ASEs) in data centers is rapidly gaining acceptance to reduce cost of cooling energy by reducing hours of operation of computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units. Airside economization has associated risk of introducing gaseous and particulate contamination into data centers, thus degrading the reliability of information technology (IT) equipment. The challenge is to determine reliability degradation of IT equipment if operated in environmental conditions outside American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommended envelope with contamination severity levels higher than G1. This paper is a first attempt at addressing this challenge by studying the cumulative corrosion damage to IT equipment operated in an experimental modular data center (MDC) located in an industrial area with measured level of air contaminants in ISA severity level G2. This study serves several purposes including: correlating IT equipment reliability to levels of airborne corrosive contaminants and studying degree of reliability degradation when IT equipment is operated outside ASHRAE recommended envelope at a location with high levels of contaminants. Reliability degradation of servers exposed to outside air via an airside economizer was determined qualitatively by examining corrosion of components in these servers and comparing the results to corrosion of components in other similar servers that were stored in a space where airside economization was not used. In the 4 years of the modular data center's servers' operation, none of the servers failed. This observation highlights an opportunity to significantly save data center cooling energy by allowing IT equipment to operate outside the currently recommended and allowable ASHRAE envelopes and outside the ISA severity level G1.
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June 2017
Research-Article
Qualitative Study of Cumulative Corrosion Damage of Information Technology Equipment in a Data Center Utilizing Air-Side Economizer Operating in Recommended and Expanded ASHRAE Envelope
Jimil M. Shah,
Jimil M. Shah
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
e-mail: jimil.shah@mavs.uta.edu
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
e-mail: jimil.shah@mavs.uta.edu
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Oluwaseun Awe,
Oluwaseun Awe
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
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Betsegaw Gebrehiwot,
Betsegaw Gebrehiwot
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
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Dereje Agonafer,
Dereje Agonafer
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
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Prabjit Singh,
Prabjit Singh
IBM Corporation,
2455 South Road,
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
2455 South Road,
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
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Naveen Kannan,
Naveen Kannan
Mestex, a Division of Mestek, Inc.,
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
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Mike Kaler
Mike Kaler
Mestex, a Division of Mestek, Inc.,
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
Search for other works by this author on:
Jimil M. Shah
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
e-mail: jimil.shah@mavs.uta.edu
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
e-mail: jimil.shah@mavs.uta.edu
Oluwaseun Awe
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Betsegaw Gebrehiwot
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Dereje Agonafer
Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Engineering Department,
University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019
Prabjit Singh
IBM Corporation,
2455 South Road,
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
2455 South Road,
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Naveen Kannan
Mestex, a Division of Mestek, Inc.,
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
Mike Kaler
Mestex, a Division of Mestek, Inc.,
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
4830 Transport Drive,
Dallas, TX 75247
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PACKAGING. Manuscript received December 16, 2016; final manuscript received March 24, 2017; published online April 24, 2017. Assoc. Editor: Justin A. Weibel.
J. Electron. Packag. Jun 2017, 139(2): 020903 (11 pages)
Published Online: April 24, 2017
Article history
Received:
December 16, 2016
Revised:
March 24, 2017
Citation
Shah, J. M., Awe, O., Gebrehiwot, B., Agonafer, D., Singh, P., Kannan, N., and Kaler, M. (April 24, 2017). "Qualitative Study of Cumulative Corrosion Damage of Information Technology Equipment in a Data Center Utilizing Air-Side Economizer Operating in Recommended and Expanded ASHRAE Envelope." ASME. J. Electron. Packag. June 2017; 139(2): 020903. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4036363
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