Daikin Applied Europe recently took part in the Data Centre World 2024 Event in London, presenting its dedicated solution for data centre cooling. The rapid expansion of the global data centre market means a healthy demand for cooling solutions tailored to the specific needs of this energy-demanding infrastructure. Daikin has been active in the sector and has grown its offering of chillers, air-side, and system control solutions to keep pace with the speed of development and changes in demand patterns – in both new and existing centers.
Compact free cooling chillers
Daikin’s chiller range for data center applications includes air-cooled chillers with scroll compressors or single screw compressors, offering capacities up to 1344 kW with scroll versions and up to 2150 kW with screw versions – a range of capacities ideally suited to applications from refurbishment projects to major new developments.
Both Daikin’s chiller types offer free cooling – including the glycol-free version – to meet the needs of a wide range of critical applications.
Among the main features, the Daikin air-cooled platform offers, the one that shines the most is the in-house designed and manufactured screw compressor with integrated inverter and VVR, which ensures greater reliability and efficiency. Daikin’s inverter technology is refrigerant-cooled, further enhancing reliability, especially for applications in extreme ambient conditions, where traditional air-cooled inverter technology is prone to failure.
Daikin chillers can deliver up to +30°C supply water temperature and can operate in a wide range of outside temperature conditions – between negative 30°C and +55°C. This flexibility is particularly valued by large data center operators juggling with ever-denser concentrations of servers and equipment.
Despite their large cooling capacities, the Daikin products are compact, which allows them to be fitted in restricted areas. This is specifically true for free cooling units with a configuration that does not exceed the unit footprint. The dedicated data center configuration also includes an active harmonic filter, directly integrated into the unit’s frame to keep compactness.
High-efficiency Pro-W
Daikin also showcased the Pro-W; high-efficiency Computer Room Air Handling (CRAH) solutions. The Pro-W range offers cooling capacities from 200kW to 700kW making them ideal for even the very largest data centers.
These capacities are achieved using just four core unit sizes, which means Daikin can use a dedicated range of standardised components, including built-in EC fans and cooling coils, to guarantee manufactured quality and short production lead times.
Control systems
Sophisticated plant management systems were also presented. Daikin provides customised and highly compatible control systems designed to guarantee the best possible interplay with Daikin chiller plants and CRAHs – even on the largest scales. The intuitive touch panel user interface gives full control of every single unit Sequencing, staging and optimising the chiller plant according to real-time demands is made user-friendly, including the full monitoring of all relevant system values.
Daikin’s control solutions, with the support of AI (artificial intelligence), aim to keep chillers always operating efficiently, balancing total capacity with actual load and improving energy savings by as much as 20% compared with traditional chiller sequencing control by BMS.
After-sales services
With the range of possibilities offered within Daikin’s data center solutions, there is also comprehensive after-sales support including access to remote monitoring service ‘Daikin On Site’ (DOS), so any performance or safety risks can be flagged up to keep the system running reliably and efficiently.
Daikin on Site is a cloud-based remote monitoring and control system that provides 24/7 real-time data, monitoring the operations of cooling plants and their proper functionality. It also provides periodic reports for in-depth plant analysis, energy analysis and intelligent maintenance. This continuously evolving service enables plant owners to keep the system efficiency high, take preventive measures and avoid the additional costs associated with breakdowns and downtime.
DoS captures live operational data from the unit and combines it with statistical predictions using trend analysis. This allows the service teams to develop a preventative maintenance schedule to ensure the efficiency and reliability of the critical equipment, avoiding costly downtime and major repairs.
Focused on sustainability
Daikin has tailored its data center solutions to match the demand from a sector that is experiencing unprecedented growth thanks to the digitalization phenomenon. Despite being known for being energy-intensive, the data center sector is increasingly focused on sustainability and adopting solutions that can help consume less.
Daikin, as a company that has committed itself to net zero operations by 2050, is working closely with clients to help them meet their decarbonisation goals too. This is why Daikin’s solutions for data center completely focus on energy efficiency, which has been much appreciated at the Data Centre World 2024.
This has been reflected in the way the exhibit’s visitors responded to Daikin’s solution such as free cooling chillers, which take advantage of low ambient air temperatures to reduce the run time, then cutting energy use and extending the operating life of the equipment.
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