© 2009, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers,

Inc. (www.ashrae.org). Published in ASHRAE Transactions 2009, vol. 115, part 2. For
personal use only. Additional reproduction, distribution, or transmission in either print
or digital form is not permitted without ASHRAE’s prior written permission.

LO-09-015

Waterside Economizing in Data Centers:

Design and Control Considerations

Jeff Stein, PE
Member ASHRAE

ABSTRACT energy savings from airside economizing are significantly

reduced but can still be substantial1. However, if adiabatic
Free cooling was not common in data centers in the past
humidification (direct evaporation) is used then the savings
for a variety of reasons including the philosophy that data
can be even greater than airside economizing without
center cooling should be designed for maximum reliability and
humidification2. Furthermore, more and more data center
not for energy efficiency. Recently times have changed. Energy
managers are realizing that humidity control has little if any
and sustainability are more important to many data center
impact on data center operations and therefore more and more
owners now and sophisticated owners and designers know that
data centers are relaxing or eliminating humidity control.
free cooling can provide a good return on investment while still
On the other hand, air economizers have some concerns
maintaining adequate reliability. Many data centers are being
that waterside economizers do not share including introducing
designed or retrofitted with airside economizers, waterside
unwanted particulates, and gaseous contaminants. Lawrence
economizers, and even “wet bulb” economizers (direct evap-
Berkeley National Labs recently measured particulate concen-
orative coolers). This paper briefly compares airside and
trations in several data centers with and without airside econ-
waterside economizers, then briefly compares the two types of
omizers. They found that with proper filtration particulate
waterside economizers (CRAC and chiller plant) and then
concentrations in data centers with airside economizers are not
focuses on design and control considerations for chiller plant
necessarily higher than in data centers without airside econo-
waterside economizers serving data centers.
mizers and can easily be maintained below the most conser-
vative standards3. Recent research projects by Microsoft and
AIR VERSUS WATER Intel have also showed that airside economizers do not affect
An airside economizer will generally be more energy effi- data center reliability4,5. More research is needed but so far
cient than a waterside economizer, if space humidity is not there is no research showing that airside economizers compro-
required to be tightly controlled. Airside free cooling is imple- mise data center reliability.
mented at each air handler and thus the amount of free cooling Air side economizers will generally be more expensive
can be maximized at each air handler. The energy savings of than waterside economizers. Furthermore, the deal killer for
a chiller plant economizer, on the other hand, can be reduced airside economizers in many installations is the extra space
or eliminated for the entire installation by a single “rogue” required for outside air intake and exhaust louvers, dampers
zone. Furthermore, waterside economizers (WSE) require and ducts, particularly when the data center is buried at the
pump and tower energy and typically three steps of heat trans- bottom of an office building. In many cases the only option for
fer (e.g. ambient air to condenser water, to chilled water, to economizing is a waterside economizer.
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supply air). Airside economizers do not require pump or tower

energy or any steps of heat transfer. TYPES OF WATERSIDE ECONOMIZERS
If humidity is required to be tightly controlled and humid- There are two basic types of waterside economizers:
ification is provided by steam, or infrared humidifiers then the CRAC (computer room air conditioner) unit economizers and

Jeff Stein is a principal at Taylor Engineering in Alameda, CA.

192 ©2009 ASHRAE

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 chiller plant economizers. A typical water-side economizer in of return water from the loads and cold supply water from the
a CRAC unit is a water-cooled direct expansion CRAC unit common leg [the valve in the common leg is modulated to
with a water coil upstream of the DX coil. The water coil can maintain the required minimum flow rate through the
be served by chilled water or by condenser water (making it a chiller(s)].
waterside economizer coil). The free cooling provided by the Figure 3 shows a non-integrated waterside economizer
waterside economizer coil is largely offset by the added pres- piped in parallel with the chillers on both the condenser and
sure drop of the extra coil (e.g. selections from one major chilled water sides. If the economizer cannot meet the entire
CRAC manufacturer indicate that the economizer coil load then it must be shut off. Otherwise, the relatively warm
increases fan brake horsepower by 40%). economizer leaving water will be mixed with the cold chiller
A chiller plant economizer consists of a heat exchanger leaving water and the plant leaving water temperature will be
that allows condenser water to cool the chilled water directly. above setpoint. The chillers might be able to compensate by
Such an economizer would be used in a data center where the over cooling their leaving water but with chiller(s) operating
data floor is served by chilled water computer room air the primary loop flow will likely exceed the secondary flow
handlers (CRAHs) rather than DX CRAC units. The CRAH which will result in colder primary return water which will
units would only have the pressure drop of one coil, not two. reduce or eliminate the economizer capacity. Non-integrated
Perhaps the biggest difference, however, between a CRAC
economizers do not save as much energy as integrated econ-
unit economizer and a chiller plant economizer is that pack-
omizers and there is no real advantage of non-integrated over
aged DX CRAC units usually have constant speed fans while
integrated. Non-integrated economizers do not meet the econ-
chilled water CRAH units can have variable speed drives
omizer requirement in California Title 24 or in ASHRAE
(VSDs) on the supply fans. Fan energy accounts for about half
90.1-2007 for some climate zones.
of data center cooling energy and properly controlled VSD
CRAH fans can dramatically reduce fan energy. The rest of
HEAD PRESSURE CONTROL
this paper is devoted to plant economizers.
A critical feature of a chilled water plant with a waterside
INTEGRATED VERSUS NON-INTEGRATED economizer is head pressure control on all chillers, air condi-
A chiller plant waterside economizer can be integrated, tioners and heat pumps served by the condenser water. To gain
meaning the economizer can meet all or some of the load while benefit from the economizer the cooling towers must produce
the chiller meets the rest of the load, or non-integrated, mean- very cold condenser water but if the condenser water leaving
ing the economizer can only operate when it can meet the a chiller is too low then the chiller could trip on low head pres-
entire load. Figure 1 shows an integrated waterside econo- sure. Most chillers require a minimum head pressure (the pres-
mizer in a primary/secondary chiller plant with two chillers. sure differential between the condenser and the evaporator) in
The heat exchanger is in parallel with the chillers on the order to insure adequate refrigerant flow and adequate oil flow
condenser water side and in series with the chillers on the to lubricate the compressor and provide the seal between the
chilled water return side. rotor or impeller and its housing. Without head pressure
When the outdoor air wet-bulb temperature is low, the control most chillers cannot operate with entering condenser
cooling tower fans are run at high speed to produce cold water below about 70°F during normal operation or below
condenser water (e.g. in the 40’s or 50’s). This water is about 55°F at start up.
pumped through the heat exchanger where it cools chilled Adequate head pressure can be maintained by modulating
water to within a couple degrees of the tower water tempera- the condenser water flow to maintain the head pressure at or
ture. If the economizer cannot bring the chilled water temper- above minimum head pressure setpoint. Most chiller control-
ature down to the supply temperature setpoint then the lers have an analog output signal that allow the chiller to
chiller(s) pick up the remaining load and bring the water leav- directly control a modulating condenser water valve or
ing the plant down to setpoint. condenser water pump in order to maintain adequate head
The HX is located in the secondary loop on the return side pressure for that chiller. If the chiller does not have a head pres-
just before the common leg. Locating the HX in the secondary sure control output, a stand alone controller can easily be
loop, rather than the primary loop is important because it added to measure head pressure (or leaving condenser water
allows the heat exchanger to see the warmest possible water temperature) and modulate the condenser water valve. As with
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which maximizes the hours when the economizer can operate. all control loops, the PID loop modulating the valve/pump
The secondary loop is also better than the primary loop must be tuned to avoid hunting.
because it allows the primary pumps to be shut off when the Some chillers are specifically designed to handle cold
economizer can handle the entire load. entering condenser water (e.g. 55°F during normal operation
Figure 2 shows an integrated economizer in a primary- and 40°F during start up) but even these chillers should have
only chiller plant. The HX is located on the load side of the head pressure control to allow the economizer to maximize
common leg so that it sees the warmest return water. If it were free cooling. If the chiller has a condenser water flow switch
on the plant side of the common leg then it could see a blend it is a good idea to jumper out the flow switch since modulating

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 the condenser water flow is likely to cause the flow switch to LIFECYCLE COST ANALYSIS
trip. Condenser flow switches are generally unnecessary
Waterside economizers are most cost effective in large
because chillers have high head safeties that will protect them
data centers in cold or very dry climates where the wet-bulb
from damage if there is insufficient condenser water flow.
temperature is often below 50°F but even in moderate climates
Head pressure control on water-cooled air conditions and or relatively small data centers waterside economizers can still
heat pumps can be achieved in two ways. One option is to use “pencil out” in large part due to the 24/7 nature of data center
modulating condenser water control valves, like a chiller. A loads. Figure 4 shows annual simulation results for a chilled
better option is to add a heat exchanger to the condenser water water plant serving a data center in four diverse climates. Even
loop serving the heat pumps and control the temperature on the in a relatively warm climate like El Paso a waterside econo-
closed loop side of the heat exchanger by modulating the flow mizer can reduce total HVAC energy by 30%.
on the open loop side. This option has the advantage of A waterside economizer was bid as an add alternate on
protecting the heat pump condenser coils from the particulate two recent office/data center projects for which the author’s
matter that accumulates in an open loop condenser water firm designed the mechanical system. Project A consisted of
system. Of course another option is to use chilled water fan a chiller plant serving a 500,000 ft2 office building and a
coils instead of heat pumps. This is likely to be less expensive 2,000 ton data center. Project B consisted of a plant serving a
and more efficient in a building with a data center and a water- 150,000 ft2 office building and a 110 ton data center. In both
side economizer. cases the office air handlers had airside economizers so the
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Figure 1 Integrated economizer—primary/secondary.

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 Figure 2 Integrated economizer—primary only.

waterside economizers were really only serving the data if the data center is fully loaded then the chilled water temper-
center CRAH units. Detailed lifecycle cost analyses were ature reset is limited and the economizer will not be able to run
performed in both cases to determine the cost effectiveness of as many hours. It is a good idea therefore to run several para-
the waterside economizer. The simple payback for Project A metrics at different data center load levels (e.g. 25%, 50%,
was less than one year and the simple payback for Project B 75% and 100%) to see how load affects the payback.
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was about 5 to 10 years. In both cases, the owner elected to
proceed with the waterside economizer. HX SELECTION
In order to accurately calculate the energy savings from
the economizer the plant must be simulated with an annual There isn’t necessarily a right way to select a waterside
simulation program which allows accurate modeling of water- economizer heat exchanger (HX). The larger the heat
side economizers and water coil response to chilled water exchanger the greater the savings but there is obviously a
temperature setpoint reset. The DOE-2.2 DesignDay simula- diminishing return on investment. The main defining vari-
tion engine has these features. It is available for free from ables with a heat exchanger are the approach and the capac-
www.DOE2.com. One of the most sensitive assumptions in ity. The approach is the difference between the entering
the model is the expected data center load as a percentage of condenser water and the leaving chilled water. The smaller
design load. A data center might be designed for 100 Watts/ft2 the approach the bigger the HX. Ideally one would iterate on
but the actual load is not likely to match the design load, at the HX size and re-run the HX lifecycle cost analysis for each
least not initially. If the data center is too lightly loaded then selection to determine the lifecycle cost optimum. Unfortu-
the savings potential is too small to justify the economizer but nately most heat exchanger manufacturers only allow their

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 --`,,,``,``,,``,,``,,,,`````,,`,-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

Figure 3 Non-integrated economizer.

sales representatives (and not consulting engineers) to run

their selection software, so iterating on heat exchanger selec-
tion parameters can be cumbersome.
The following procedure is one way to select a heat
exchanger:

1. CW Flow—Pick a condenser water flow and dP to match

the number of chiller(s) needed for the expected data
center load. The HX will typically be served by the same
condenser water pumps as the chillers so it makes sense
to select a HX with a condenser water flow and pressure
drop similar to one chiller, or to the sum of multiple chill-
ers. At one extreme you could size the heat exchanger
with the same condenser water flow rate as all chillers
combined but this is not likely to be cost effective if the
plant also serves air handlers with airside economizers
(e.g. offices) or if the data center is not likely to be fully
loaded or if there are redundant chillers. Figure 4 Waterside economizer savings in 4 climates.

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 2. CW ΔT—Assume the range (ΔT ) on the condenser water DESIGNING FOR HIGH CHILLED WATER
side is equal to the cooling tower design range since this RETURN TEMPERATURE
is about the range the cooling tower can produce for the To maximize the benefit of the waterside economizer the
design flow. At this point the design capacity (Btu/hr) is entire system should be designed and operated to achieve a
defined. high chilled water return temperature. The higher the return
3. CW/CHW ΔP—Limit the maximum HX ΔP on the CW water temperature the more hours the economizer will operate
side to that across the chiller condensers. This will effec- and the greater its cooling output. Here are some design
tively limit the ΔP on the chilled water side as well for considerations:
plate & frame heat exchangers.
4. CHWST/CHWRT—Because CHW supply temperature • Use 2-way chilled water coil control valves (no 3-way
will be reset, assume the leaving CHW temperature will valves).
be 5°F warmer than the design temperature. For example, • Select all chilled water coils for high design chilled
with a 42°F design CHWST, assume 47°F CHWST for water ΔT (e.g. 20°F).
the HX selection. Using the CRAH selection software, • Generously size all coils and air handlers—IDF closet
determine what CHW return temperature would result fan coils, for example, should be oversized to prevent
assuming the coil has design air conditions, design CHW them from limiting the chilled water temperature set-
flow rate, but 5°F warmer CHWST. (As a rule of thumb point reset. (Note that oversizing air handlers with vari-
the CHW return temperature goes up about 0.5°F for able speed fans improves energy efficiency due to lower
every 1.0°F increase in CHW supply temperature, so a coil velocities and cube law fan savings at actual operat-
coil with a 20°F ΔT at 42 CHWST might have a 17.5°F ing conditions.)
ΔT at 47°F.). • Run all redundant CRAH units—Data centers will typi-
5. Approach—Select the entering CW temperature to be cally have one or more spare CRAH units to meet the
about 3°F below the CHWST. A smaller approach will redundancy requirements. Rather than allowing redun-
improve performance but cost will rapidly increase. The dant units to sit idle, all units should be run at lower fan
leaving CW temperature is then calculated from the speed. This reduces the load on each coil and allows
6. CHW Flow—Chilled water flow is calculated to match greater chilled water temperature reset. If a CRAH unit
the heat transfer on the condenser water side. fails the others speed up to compensate.
• Design for high airside ΔT—Many data centers operate
Example Selection at very low airside ΔT at the CRAH units. The higher
the return air temperature the warmer the return water
1. Suppose the plant has (3) 775 ton chillers and an expected temperature back to the plant. Low airside ΔT has two
data center load of 1000 tons. The chillers have CW flow main causes: short circuiting of CRAH supply air
rates of 1760 GPM each. The HX would be selected to directly back to the CRAH unit and computer servers
have the same CW flow rate as two chillers, i.e. 3520 GPM. with high air flow rates (low ΔT ). The best way to limit
2. The cooling towers are designed for 12°F ΔT so we short circuiting is to effectively duct the return air from
assume the HX CW ΔT is also 12°F. The design HX the hot aisles back to the CRAHs using ceiling return air
capacity is then 500 × 3520 × 12/12,000 = 1760 tons. plenums and/or hot or cold aisle containment systems.
3. The chillers have a design CW ΔP of 5 psi. Thus the HX The IT department should also be brought into the
CW and CHW ΔP would be specified to be ≤ 5 psi. design process and educated on the benefits of selecting
4. The CRAH units are selected at 43°F entering CHW and servers with high ΔT (low air flows) and 2-speed or vari-
20°F ΔT. At 48°F entering CHW the ΔT is 17.5°F and the able speed server fans.
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leaving CHW is 65.5°F.
DESIGNING FOR LOW CONDENSER WATER
5. At a 3°F approach the entering CW temperature is 48 – 3 =
SUPPLY TEMPERATURE
45°F. The leaving CW temperature is then 45 + 12 = 57°F.
6. The CHW flow is calculated from 1760 tons and 17.5°F Oversizing the towers by selecting a low design approach
ΔT to be 2414 GPM. will increase economizer hours but excessive oversizing is not
practical or cost-effective. A reasonable approach for a tower
selection is 5 to 8°F. Another way to achieve low condenser
Chilled Water Condenser Water
(Hot) Side (Cold) Side water temperatures is to select or configure the cooling towers
for low flow. Most towers can operate at 50% of design flow
Flow (GPM) 2414 3520 without causing excessive scaling of the fill and many can oper-
Entering Water (°F) 65.5 45 ate at 30% flow. Operating as many tower cells as the minimum
flow will permit will allow lower condenser water than operat-
Leaving Water (°F) 48 57
ing the minimum number of cells. In locations with very good
Max. Pressure drop (psi) ≤5 ≤5 water quality (e.g. San Francisco) the tower manufacturers’

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 minimum flow can be ignored entirely, with little or no risk of Enabling/Disabling the Chillers
tower scaling. When the WSE is enabled and the CHWRT downstream
of the WSE (entering the chillers) approaches the CHWST
CONTROL SEQUENCES setpoint then the WSE is carrying the entire load and the
chillers can be disabled. Conversely, when the WSE can no
Enabling/Disabling the Economizer longer hold the CHWST at setpoint the lead chiller must be
enabled. A deadband should be included to prevent short
When the economizer is disabled the towers are not cycling chillers.
necessarily producing their coldest water so the economizer is
enabled based on the predicted condenser water supply Chilled Water Supply Temperature Setpoint Reset
temperature when the towers are sped up. For example: “WSE
is enabled if it has been disabled for a minimum off time and Both the chilled water supply temperature setpoint and
CHWRT > predicted CWST + deadband.” (CHWST is chilled the chilled water loop differential pressure (DP) setpoint
water supply temperature, CHWRT is chilled water return should be reset based on coil control valve positions. A single
temperature and CWST is condenser water supply tempera- reset control point should be used to control both setpoints.
ture). The predicted CWST can be as simple as Wet-bulb + When the plant includes a WSE, the reset should “lead” with
Approach. The achievable approach, however, is a function of pressure to keep the water temperature as high as possible to
the wet-bulb and the load on the tower. Approach goes down maximize WSE operation (see Figure 5). The reset sequence
with wet-bulb and up as load decreases. A more sophisticated must be slow acting. A trim and respond sequence such as the
strategy would be to derive a function for the predicted CWST following is easier to tune than a PID loop: “Every 2 minutes,
using a tower simulation model6. Guessing wrong on the decrease (“trim”) the CHW plant reset point by 1% and if there
predicted CWST is not really a big deal because the WSE will are more than 3 requests then increase (“respond”) the reset
simply be disabled if it is not providing benefit. The WSE is point by 2% for each cooling request, up to a maximum of 5%
disabled if it has run for a minimum on time and the chilled increase every 2 minutes. A cooling request is generated when
water leaving the WSE is not at least 0.5°F colder than the any chilled water control valve position exceeds 90% open.
chilled water entering the WSE. All values shall be adjustable for tuning. Note: only valves
whose CHW Request Enable/Disable software switch is in the
enable position may generate a request.” As the CHW Plant
Controlling the Economizer
Reset Point increases from 0% to 50% the DP setpoint is first
The WSE is not necessarily sized for the full design CHW reset from minimum (e.g. 5 psi) to maximum (e.g. 15 psi).
flow rate. If valve V-1 (see Figures 1 and 2) is fully closed and From 50% to 100% the CHWST setpoint is reset from maxi-
CHW flow is near design then there is a chance that the chilled mum (e.g. 55°F) to minimum (e.g. 42°F).
water pumps will not be able to achieve the differential pres-
sure setpoint. Therefore, when the WSE is enabled valve V-1 CRAH Unit Control
is modulated to maintain CHW differential pressure across the The CRAH units should be controlled to maximize the
HX at a fixed setpoint (e.g. 1.5 times the design CHW pressure return water temperature by minimizing fan speed and maxi-
drop across the HX). V-1 is fully open when the WSE is mizing supply air temperature (SAT) setpoint. It is important to
disabled and the WSE is bypassed. understand that unlike a typical comfort cooling application the

Tower Speed Control

When the WSE is disabled tower speed is controlled as

if the WSE did not exist. When the WSE is enabled and a
chiller is still enabled then one option is to run the tower fans
at 100% to make the condenser water as cold as possible and
maximize the WSE output. With variable speed drives on the
tower fans, however, the last bit of tower speed (say from 90%
to 100% speed) does little to lower the condenser water
temperature but increases tower fan energy significantly. A
better sequence when the WSE and chiller are enabled is to
control the tower speed to maintain the CWST at or just above
the predicted CWST, as described above. If the WSE is oper-
ating alone then the tower speed can be modulated to maintain
the CHWST at setpoint. At very low loads and/or very low
wet-bulbs the tower speed may be low enough to stage off one
or more tower cells. Figure 5 CHWST and DP reset.

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 only space temperature that matters in a data center is inlet
temperature at the servers. ASHRAE recommends inlet temper-
atures in the range of 68 to 77°F. Air temperatures elsewhere in
the data center (e.g. CRAH return temperature) can be over
90°F without any problems. A representative sample of server
inlet temperatures should be monitored and maintained at
setpoint by modulating the fan speed and SAT setpoint (the
CHW valve maintains the supply air temperature at setpoint).
One possible sequence for modulating fans speed and SAT
setpoint is shown in Figure 6. Note that the 75% fan speed
“plateau” in this figure corresponds to the design airflow rate for
the data center (with all redundant CRAH units operating).

WET-BULB SENSORS
The wet-bulb sensor is a critical component of a waterside Figure 6 CHWST and DP reset.
economizer control system. If the sensor reads high then it

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may never enable the economizer. If it reads low then the econ-
omizer will short cycle. Unfortunately commercial grade wet-
bulb sensors are generally not very accurate and quickly go out
of calibration if not well maintained. An alternative to a wet- allow the commissioning agent and building operators to see
bulb sensor is to have the energy management system auto- which valves are currently and consistently driving the reset
matically download the wet-bulb data from a nearby NOAA sequence.
weather station via the internet every few minutes. At least one Figure 7 shows trend data for a typical day for the chilled
of the major HVAC control system vendors has a standard water plant with a WSE that serves the 500,000 ft2 office build-
plug-in that accomplishes this task. ing and 2,000 ton data center mentioned above. The number of
“ignores” is set to 3. At night the CHW DP is reset down to
COMMISSIONING 5 psi and the CHWST is reset up to 55°F. The WSE carries the
The key to a successful WSE installation is commission- entire 250 ton load from about 3 A.M. to about 10 A.M. At
ing. This includes regularly calibrating the wet-bulb sensor, 8:45 A.M. the number of requests causes the CHW DP to begin
functionally testing all control sequences and reviewing trend resetting. By around 9:30 A.M. the DP is at maximum and
graphs of all HVAC systems to insure the controls are stable the CHWST starts resetting down, reaching 42°F by about
and operating as expected. In particular it is critical that the 9:45 A.M. By 10:30 A.M. the valves are almost all satisfied and
CHW plant reset sequences are tuned and that rogue zones are the CHWST begins resetting upwards. The WSE is reenabled
identified and remediated. The key trim and respond parame- around 4 P.M. and operates in integrated mode with one chiller
ters include the number of requests that are ignored and the also operating. You can see from the slope of the CHWST
rate of change. The sequence above calls for 3 requests to be setpoint and CHW DP setpoint trend lines that the trim rate is
ignored before the reset point is increased. In a large system slower than the respond rate.
there will invariably be at least one “rogue” zone so a mini-
mum number of “ignores” is necessary. CONCLUSION
The rate of change is the combination of the time between Airside economizers are generally more efficient and less
steps and the step size. Both the trim and respond rates need expensive than waterside economizers. When an airside econ-
to be slow so that the valve control loops have time to react to omizer is not practical or desirable a waterside economizer can
changes in temperature and pressure. If the rate is too quick be a very cost effective way to improve data center efficiency
then the reset will cycle excessively and the plant load will also without compromising reliability. To achieve the potential
cycle excessively. If the reset is too slow then zones will be energy savings of a waterside economizer it should be inte-
starved, the plant will “loose” the load and then see a load grated as opposed to non-integrated. It is also important that
spike when it “catches the load”. The respond rate can be a the entire CHW system be designed and operated to achieve
little quicker than the trim rate (to avoid starving zones) but high chilled water return temperatures. For example, CHW
they both need to be slow. coils should be selected for high ΔT (e.g. 20°F); hot or cold
A rogue zone is one that is rarely or never satisfied and aisle containment should be used and CRAH unit fan speed
therefore is consistently inhibiting the reset. There are many and supply air temperature setpoint should be reset to maintain
potential reasons for a rogue zone including incorrectly sized server inlet temperatures at setpoint. The system must also be
equipment, faulty actuators, plugged coils, and unreasonably thoroughly commissioned. In particular the chilled water
low supply air temperature or zone temperature setpoints. The supply temperature reset sequence must be tuned and any
control system must have graphics and reports that easily rogue zones identified and remediated.

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Figure 7 WSE trend graph.

REFERENCES http://hightech.lbl.gov/documents/DATA_CENTERS/
1
Sorell, V. 2007. “OA economizers for data centers.” EconomizerDemoReportMarch13.pdf .
4
ASHRAE Journal December 2007. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/09/22/
2
Scofield, M. and Weaver, T., 2008. “Data Center Cooling: new-from-microsoft-data-centers-in-tents/ .
5
Using Wet-Bulb Economizers” ASHRAE Journal http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/09/18/
August 2008. intel-servers-do-fine-with-outside-air/ .
3 6
Tschudi, W. 2007. “Data Center Economizer Contamination Hydeman, M. and Zhou, G., 2007. “Optimizing Chilled
and Humidity Study.” LBNL/Pacific Gas & Electric. Water Plant Control”, ASHRAE Journal June 2007.

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200 ASHRAE Transactions
Provided by IHS under license with ASHRAE Licensee=Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ/9976803100
No reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS Not for Resale, 10/24/2010 03:43:16 MDT