Company
Company
One of the leading multi-financial powerhouses in the UK recently completed a chiller replacement to deliver improved cooling reliabilities, energy savings and reduced emissions for its global data centre.
Challenge
Replacing the chillers for one of the of the country’s top banking and financial companies needed to address resilience, energy efficiencies, reduced emissions and lower PUEs (Power Usage Effectiveness) and minimal environmental impact.
Behind the security barriers of a 30,000sq metre site on an unobtrusive industrial estate in west London, a phenomenal one billion financial transactions are carried out every second at this global hub. Re-designing the cooling and replacing the chillers required careful planning.
Solution
Six highly efficient 1.366MW Aermec NSM free cooling chillers with screw compressors, using R134a refrigerant were specified. And noise breakout was minimised by designing extra low noise chillers to satisfy the customer requirements and the local council.
Further modifications included electronic expansion valves replacing mechanical expansion valves and the microchannel coils replaced with copper/aluminium coils. Aermec’s flexibility as a manufacturer enabled the pumps to be changed to single run and stand-by pumps for resilience and independent refrigeration circuits were also added to the design specifications for each chiller. The chillers were also designed to achieve re-start in two-and-a-half minutes and can achieve a 5⁰C temperature differential in less than five minutes.
Each chiller took 12 weeks to design, build and factory test at Aermec extensive manufacturing and test facilities near Verona. They were delivered and installed in a phased approach with temporary chillers used to ensure no disruption to the live site.
Three chillers are required to run the data centre, running four is more economical and maximises the benefits of free cooling. The CHW temperature is 13⁰C/19⁰C in normal mode and 17⁰C/23⁰C in high temperature mode to maximise free cooling.
Result
Free cooling chillers offered a smarter approach to cooling by reducing the use of mechanical cooling throughout the year.
The chillers have saved £50,000 per month – 1,124,028.90 kWh (data collected from September 2016-January 2017). During the three months of November 2016 – January 2017, 100% free cooling was achieved, with no compressors running. The chillers have contributed to a reduction in the data centre’s PUE, from 1.7 to 1.4.
Six highly efficient 1.366MW free cooling chillersLess reliance on mechanical coolingFast re-start in under 2.5 minutesReduced PUE from 1.7 to 1.4£50K savings per month
Being a significant player in the European air conditioning market for over 60 years, we are dedicated to the development and testing of our products and the value they bring to our customers. Not just at install, but the lifetime value of an Aermec installation. We believe in the importance of continual research and development, with particular emphasis on rigorous testing of every chiller and heat pump after its assembly, before it is dispatched.
Registered in England Company No. 3112873
