Experimental Characterization Of A Rear Door Heat Exchanger With Localized Containment

In this experimental study a unique configuration of a isolated cabinet with IBM Rear Door Heat exchanger was utilized. This experimental test setup is located in the ES2 data center laboratory at Binghamton University. The cabinet was populated by 16 servers (2 RU) and one 9 RU server simulator. With this equipment a maximum of about 15.9 kW can be generated. Localized cold aisle containment was employed in order to provide a more uniform inlet air temperature to the IT equipment. A single perforated tile is located in front of the cabinet within the containment enclosure. Two types of tiles with 65% and 22% open perforation area were used in different experiments. On the water side of the heat exchanger, a control system maintains the water temperature (by controlling three-way valve) and the water flow rate (by controlling pump speed). The control system also can monitor and collect water supply and return temperature data. For the experimental air side measurements a Mobile Temperature/Velocity Mesh (MTVM) was developed in order to measure air temperature/velocity at the front and rear of the cabinet. This sensor system obtains measurements on a grid in a 2D plane and the data is transferred via a network connection.