Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Free cooling of data centers: A review

Hainan Zhang a,b, Shuangquan Shao a,n, Hongbo Xu a, Huiming Zou a, Changqing Tian a
a
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
b
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The growing demand for electricity and the increasing size of the carbon footprint of data centers worldwide
Received 29 May 2013 bring a severe challenge to sustainable development of human civilization. The cooling energy consumption
Received in revised form takes up around 30–50% of the total consumption of data centers due to the inefficient cooling system. Free
20 February 2014
cooling is an effective solution for reducing the power consumption of cooling systems. This paper reviews the
Accepted 7 April 2014
advancements of data center free cooling mainly focusing on configuration features and performances. Three
kinds of free cooling methods, airside free cooling, waterside free cooling and heat pipe free cooling are
Keywords: discussed and performance characteristics of each are analyzed. Further, the criteria of performance evaluation
Free cooling for free cooling of data centers are summarized, and an overview of free cooling systems based on these
Data center
criteria is demonstrated in order to help researchers acquire the latest developments in this area.
Airside economizer
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Waterside economizer
Heat pipe

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
2. Airside free cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
2.1. Direct airside free cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
2.2. Indirect airside free cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3. Waterside free cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3.1. Direct water cooled system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3.2. Air cooled system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3.3. Cooling tower system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4. Heat pipe system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.1. Independent system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
4.2. Integrated system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4.3. Cold storage system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
5. Criteria of performance evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Acknowledgement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

1. Introduction equipment [1], are developing quickly as an important part of IT

industry [2,3]. However, increasingly serious energy crisis comes with
Ever since the third industrial revolution, the rise of information the rapid expansion of the number of data centers. Electricity used by
technology (IT) has brought great reform to human life. Data centers, data centers worldwide doubled from 2000 to 2005; Even though
which include all the buildings, facilities, and rooms that contain data the 2008 financial crisis caused economic slowdown, this number
servers, telecommunication equipment, cooling equipment and power increased by about 56% from 2005 to 2010 [4]. In 2010, total electricity
used by data centers was of about 1.3% of all electricity use for the
world. For US, it was 0.12% in 2000 [5] and 2% in 2010 [4].
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 86 1082543433. As mentioned above, cooling equipment is one of the main
E-mail address: shaoshq@mail.ipc.ac.cn (S. Shao). facilities in data centers. Data centers must be adequately cooled

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.04.017
1364-0321/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
172 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

Nomenclature Abbreviations

Q heat dissipation (W) BMS battery management system

Qcon heat dissipation of condensation(W) COP coefficient of performance
Qexp heat dissipation of evaporation(W) CRAC computer room air conditioner
Qpcm heat stored in phase change material(W) CRAH computer room air handler
Qw heat stored in water(W) DX direct expansion
Ta ambient temperature (1C) IACT Integrated air conditioner with thermosyphon
Te enclosure temperature (1C) IT information technology
PCM phase change material

because heat dissipation has become a major determinant factor of regions, the outdoor temperature is lower than that of the data
availability and reliability. Traditional cooling equipment of data center in a long period of the year. When the outdoor temperature
centers is a computer room air conditioner (CRAC) based on is sufficiently below the data center temperature, the heat will
mechanical vapor compression refrigeration. Its energy consump- naturally flow to the outside without the need of the “temperature
tion takes up around 30–50% of the total consumption of data boost” provided by the compressor and the vapor-compression
centers [6–8]. An example of data center energy split is shown in refrigeration system, so its function is unnecessary. Therefore,
Fig. 1 [7]. under favorable conditions, the compressor can be bypassed,
Traditional cooling system consumes a large quantity of energy which can save energy significantly. When the compressor is
due to three main reasons: bypassed, economizers are used to utilize natural cold source.
Two categories of economizers are in use currently, waterside
(1) High energy consumption of cold source. Traditional vapor economizer and airside economizer. In recent years, a new kind of
compression system needs to work all the year round, even at free cooling system, heat pipe cooling system, has been developed
night or in winter when the temperature is low. and come into service.
(2) Large energy consumption in piping system. A lot of energy is For a long period, free cooling application in data centers was
used by pumps and fans to transport cold water or air. restricted because the environment demands of data centers were
Meanwhile, long distance transportation results in a loss of so harsh that the outside environment was not appropriate for
cold source. free cooling in most time in a year. However, ASHRAE class
(3) Mixing of cold and hot air streams. Entrainment of the hot air changes in 2008 and 2011expanded the use of chillerless data
into the cold aisles is widely seen due to the lack of airflow centers [24–26]. The 2011 ASHRAE classes for data centers are
control devices [9]. shown in Fig. 2 [26]. 2011 classes A1 and A2 are identical to 2008
classes 1 and 2. Two allowable environmental classes, A3 and A4,
We can improve the efficiency of the cooling system from these are added to expand the environmental envelopes for IT equip-
three aspects. For the second and third aspects, control methods ment. Data center operators can choose an appropriate class to
proposed by scholars include utilizing frequency conversion fans operate in the most energy efficient mode and still achieve the
[10], ceiling coolers [11] and rack backdoor coolers [12], optimizing reliability. These changes bring a good opportunity for free cooling,
the structure of perforated tiles [13–16], relative position of racks which is considered to be one of the most prominent ways to
[17,18] and mode of supply and return air [19–21]. For the first make data centers more efficient [27] and has a great potential in
aspect, free cooling technology is an ideal solution. data center cooling applications.
Free cooling, which is commonly known as economizer cycle, Nowadays, free cooling technology of data centers is develop-
involves using the natural climate to cool the data center as ing rapidly. The aim of this paper is to provide basic background
opposed to the more traditional method of using conventional knowledge and a review of existing literatures on free cooling
systems such as air-conditioning [22,23]. That is, when the outside system of data centers, which is grouped into three categories:
air (or water) is cool enough, it can be used as a cooling medium or airside free cooling, waterside free cooling and heat pipe free
the direct cold source of data centers. For the vast majority of
30
Misc (Lighting,
PSYCHROMETRIC CHART 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%
BMS, Security, etc.) 25 SI Units, Sea level
30%
Moisture Content, g/kg Dry Air

3% Barometric pressure = 101.3 kPa

20 A3 A4

A2
IT Equipment 15 Enthalpy(kJ/kg)
44% Cooling 40%
A1
10

Utility Transmission
Site Power & Distribution Losses 0
System Losses 7% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
6% Dry Bulb Temperature,°C

Fig. 1. Example of data center energy split [7]. Fig. 2. ASHARE environmental classes for data centers [26].
 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182 173

Table 1
Different types of data center free cooling systems.

Category Type Feature

Airside free cooling Direct Drawing the cold outside air directly inside
Indirect Utilizing the outside air through heat exchangers

Waterside free cooling Direct water cooled Using natural cold water directly
Air cooled Using air cooler to cool the circulating water
Cooling tower Using cooling tower to cool the circulating water

Heat pipe free cooling Independent With no mechanical refrigeration function

Integrated Integrated with mechanical refrigeration system
Cold storage Combined with cold storage system

Control system Air-conditioner

IT IT Temperature range between 5°C and 30°C

Fans

Dissipated heat
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of direct airside free cooling [30]. Filters

Telecommunication
Cool air equipments
cooling. Each of these categories is further classified into different
types as shown in Table 1 and discussed in the following chapters.
Fig. 4. Ventilation cooling technology applied in a typical telecommunication base
It is hoped that this paper will be helpful for researchers in station [36].
this field.

and Google implemented free air cooling in their new data centers
2. Airside free cooling located in Europe in 2009 [34,35].
In order to make full use of the outdoor cooling air, Chen et al.
Airside free cooling systems make use of outside air for cooling [36] proposed a ventilation cooling strategy for telecommunica-
data centers. In this system, sensors are used for monitoring tion base stations. Investigation was based on the field study of a
outside and inside air conditions and temperatures [28]. When typical telecommunication base station in Guangzhou of China as
the outside temperature is appropriate, airside economizers draw shown in Fig. 4. The air conditioners were substituted by fans for
the outside air directly inside or utilize the cooler outside air environmental control when the temperature and humidity of the
indirectly by air to air heat exchangers. Airside free cooling is a outdoor air met the cooling requirements. Energy conservation
technology with wide application prospect. According to a recent achieved was about 49% by the use of ventilation cooling technol-
study, 99% of locations in Europe can use the A2 Allowable range ogy, and the payoff period was less than two years. Further, a
(referring to Fig. 2) and take advantage of airside economizer control strategy for ventilation cooling technology was provided to
mode cooling all year, and 75% of North American data centers can guarantee the indoor temperature and humidity and maximize the
operate airside economizers up to 8500 h per year [29]. Airside energy saving [37]. Kumari et al. [38] investigated different
free cooling can be implemented in direct or indirect ways. configurations for delivery of outside air, including outside air
introduced in cold aisles, in plenum close to CRAC units' supply
side, at return side of CRAC units, and in hot aisles, to determine
2.1. Direct airside free cooling the optimal local distribution of the outside air in a non-
homogeneous data center. Chang [39] designed a data center with
Drawing the cold outside air directly into the data center when through holes on its housing. When the data center runs, cold air
the outside air conditions are within specified set points is the comes into the housing through the holes to cool the heat units
simplest free cooling method that is called direct airside free inside. Then the heated air is vented out of the housing through
cooling, as shown in Fig. 3 [30]. Direct airside economizer is a the top wall by fans mounted in the housing.
system of controls, dampers, and fans that changes the facility According to the quantitative study conducted by Siriwardana
entirely, or in part, from using compressor-based cooling to et al. [40] based on hourly weather data of temperature and
bringing in fresh air to cool the IT equipment [31]. humidity from 2000 to 2011 for 20 weather monitoring stations
Direct air economizer has been used by some data centers and across Australia, cities in Tasmania and Southern Australian such
occupies 40% of the total number utilizing free cooling technology as Melbourne and Adelaide have the potential of outside air
[32]. Many IT companies have constructed their own data centers cooling more than 5500 h per year. They also demonstrated that
with direct airside economizers. Intel conducted a 10 month free other than tropical and humid areas such as Darwin and Towns-
air cooling test in a 10-megawatt (MW) data center, and the result ville, data centers in major cities can exploit dry and cool climate
showed an annual US$2.87 million energy savings [33]. Microsoft for cooling at a sizeable proportion, especially at night during
174 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

winter months [40]. Simulation program was used by Lee and Chen
[41] to analyze the energy saving potential of direct airside free cooling
in worldwide climate zones and they claimed that direct airside free Filter

cooling is not applicable in climate zones with a lower dew point

Heat IT IT
temperature for significant humidification cost.
wheel
Though direct airside free cooling has the advantage that it Dry cooler

does not require pump or tower energy or any steps of heat

transfer [42], it has some concerns including introducing humidity
disturbance, unwanted particulates, and gaseous contaminants.
For a long period, people worried about the risk of equipment Fig. 5. Kyoto wheel system [53].
failure brought by direct airside free cooling. In recent years, the
risk and methods to control it have attracted the attention of
scholars. Shehabi [43] and Udagawa et al. [44] claimed that data the outdoor temperature was low enough. The results showed that
center environmental control standards were too strict, which the plate heat exchanger could cool the station instead of air
could be further relaxed to meet the demand of free cooling. Dai conditioning for about 5014 h each year, and the corresponding
et al. [45,46] reported the risk of drawing cold air directly into data electronic power saving rate reached up to 29%.
centers and approach to reduce it. Studies of eight data centers in As with all heat exchangers, a large quantity of contaminants in
California by Shehabi et al. [47–49] showed that concentration the air passing through the heat exchanger will accumulate over
increase of particle pollutants brought by airside economizers time, reduce the effectiveness of the heat exchangers and increase
did not exceed the ASHRAE specified level and could even be maintenance frequency. Moreover, although these systems are
neglected when air filters of good performances were also used. very efficient, they need to be quite large, due to the sizeable
Meanwhile, according to their investigations, data centers with surface area required to maintain an acceptable pressure drop and
airside economizers could also achieve humidity control. Coles heat transfer. The suitability of these systems is limited but can be
et al. [50] conducted a survey on the effect of gaseous contami- considered on a case by case basis for suitability.
nants for selected data centers situated in the US and Indian cities
including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta and Banga-
lore. They reported that data center operators in these regions 3. Waterside free cooling
should not be concerned about environmental gaseous contami-
nants causing high data center equipment failure rates even when Waterside free cooling is a concept that utilizing natural cold
airside economizers were used. source through a cooling water infrastructure so that the free
The above findings show that the effect of contamination in cooling process can be introduced without compromising on the
some regions is slight while it is not always true for other regions. internal environment. Waterside free cooling can be further
Yin et al. [51] studied the feasibility of ventilation cooling for divided into three types: direct water cooled system, air cooled
telecommunication base stations in China. Experimental results system and cooling tower system.
showed that it was not suitable to use the ventilation cooling
system in Harbin and Beijing for their high falling dust. For 3.1. Direct water cooled system
Shanghai, Kunming and Guangzhou, the period of using ventila-
tion cooling system was 3949 h, 6082 h and 4089 h, respectively. In a direct water cooled system, natural cold water is used
Therefore, the risk of free cooling depends greatly on the local directly to cool the data center without any steps of heat transfer.
environment, however, we should recognize that direct airside Clidaras [55] proposed a data center located on or near an ocean or
economizers have application prospects at least in a considerable ocean extension, which was equipped with a closed loop cooling
amount of regions. system as shown in Fig. 6. The coolant flows and transfers heat to
It is worth noting that when direct air economizer is used, the seawater through a heat exchanger. Energy from natural
reliable control strategies and sensing devices are needed to motion of seawater is captured and turned into pumping power
control the indoor environment and any significant error may of cooling pumps.
lead to wasteful energy consumption or equipment failure [52]. Due to the significant thermal mass of water, direct water
cooled system can maintain a temperature close to the average
2.2. Indirect airside free cooling ambient temperature in 24 h. However, its application is limited
for its dependence on natural cold water, so locating data centers
As mentioned above, utilizing direct air economizers will on or near an ocean is a good choice. However, the weather and
disturb the internal environment of data centers. Indirect air waves of the ocean should be considered which may result in
economizers operate through air to air heat exchanger allowing damage to the data centers.
for the transfer of heat with little to no transfer of external air to
the internal data center environment. 3.2. Air cooled system
Kyoto wheel system is a well known example of an indirect air
economizer system as shown in Fig. 5 [53]. It includes a rotary In an air cooled system, an air cooler is used to cool the water
heat wheel air to air heat exchanger with a direct expansion (DX) circulating to CRACs when wet-bulb temperature of the outside air
cooling system and controls to manage the system. This allows air is low enough.
supplied to the data center without disturbing the indoor envir- A widely seen example is the system with a second coil shown
onment, and it can utilize free cooling when available and fall back in Fig. 7 [30,53]. The DX CRAC includes an independent second coil
onto traditional cooling when required. The annualized coefficient that uses the cooling water during economizer mode. When the
of performance (COP) of these systems is at about 8–10, higher outside air conditions are within specified set points, the water
than that of traditional cooling systems which is at around the returns from the dry coolers and flows through a chilled water coil
3.5 mark. reducing or eliminating the need for mechanical cooling. The
Bao et al. [54] investigated a communication base station downside to this type of system is that when free cooling is not
equipped with a plate exchanger to discharge excess heat when possible, the system operates in traditional DX cooling mode but
 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182 175

Cable

Power converter
Integrated
dry cooler
Heat exchanger
Air-cooled chiller IT IT

Pump CRAH

Sea water Fig. 8. Air cooled direct expansion chillers with free cooling [30,53].

Indoor chamber Outdoor chamber

Dual function
Heat exchanger Ethylene-glycol solution
Refrigerant
Pipes
Expansion valve
Overflow Refill line
Mass flow meter line
Filter Heat rejection
unit

Condenser
Mass flow
Modules Compressor meter
Air cooler
Pump

Ship Fig. 9. Schematic of a hybrid refrigeration system [59].

Pump

Chiller

Cooling
tower Plate heat IT IT
Fig. 6. Data center located on an ocean [55].
exchanger
Pump CRAH

Fig. 10. Chiller bypass via heat exchanger economizer mode [30,53].

design, more free cooling capacity can be achieved through the

increased surface area by running redundant chillers.
Pump The above two examples are most commonly seen. Some
similar designs have been developed based on the improvement
Second coil
of these two systems [56–58].
Dry cooler Chilled water coil
Choi [59] designed a hybrid refrigeration system including an
IT IT
indoor unit and an outdoor unit as shown in Fig. 9. The hybrid
system operates in two modes based on outdoor temperature.
CRAC At high outdoor temperatures, the hybrid system operates in the
vapor compression cooling mode (mode 1). The dual function heat
Fig. 7. System with a second coil [30,53]. exchanger absorbs the heat generated from the telecommunica-
tion equipment, and the condenser disposes of the heat to the
ethylene–glycol solution, which goes into the condenser and then
with less efficiency than normal, because of the fan pressure and returns to the outdoor unit. At low outdoor temperatures (under
energy consumption increase brought by the additional coil in the 8.3 1C), the hybrid system operates in the secondary fluid cooling
air path. mode (mode 2). The ethylene–glycol solution enters the dual
Another example is the system with air cooled DX chillers function heat exchanger and then returns to the outdoor unit,
of free cooling [30,53]. In this system shown in Fig. 8, a dry cooler rejecting the heat generated from the telecommunication equip-
is integrated in the air-cooled chiller, which can directly cool the ment by the heat exchange between the air and the solution. The
data center chilled water when the outside air conditions are COP of the hybrid refrigeration system varies from 2.6 to 3.5 and
within specified set points. This method has a smaller footprint from 3.2 to 9.0 in mode 1 and mode 2, respectively, when the
and provides significantly more predictable and efficient econo- indoor temperature is 27 1C and the outdoor temperature changes
mizer mode operation compared to field-assembly of the same from 16.7 to 35 1C and from 5 to 16.7 1C, respectively. The average
components. Moreover, it allows a simple design with the ability COP is higher than that of the conventional vapor compression
to provide redundancy by duplicating chiller units. With the right systems for no operation of compressor in mode 2.
176 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

3.3. Cooling tower system The three kinds of systems are just three means of achieving
waterside free cooling and they do not have strict boundaries.
In a cooling tower system, a cooling tower is used to cool the We can choose according to the application conditions. They can
water circulating through CRACs and heat exchangers. Two water be converted into each other, for example, a cooling tower system
loops are needed, a cooling (external) water loop and a chilled can be converted into a direct water cooled system by replacing
(internal) water loop. the cooling tower with natural cold water source.
Traditional CRAC can be modified into this kind of system The application of waterside economizers was recommended
by adding a chiller bypass via heat exchanger economizer mode by ASHRAE Standard 90.1 [22]. The analysis conducted by Intel
[30,53] as shown in Fig. 10. A secondary water circuit is used to [69] also indicated that waterside economizers were more cost-
indirectly cool the data center chilled water. When the outside air effective for these projects than the alternative airside economi-
conditions are within specified set points, pumps move the cooling zers. According to the survey of the Green Grid in 2011, waterside
water through a heat exchanger to cool the chilled water used in economizers are the most widely used economizers in data
computer room air handlers (CRAHs), bypassing the chiller. Partial centers [32].
operation is also allowed when the heat exchanger is in series with
the chiller. This kind of system is widely used in large-scale data
centers and significant energy savings are achieved. 4. Heat pipe system
Carlson [60] proposed a cooling system included a cooling
water source and a plurality of on-floor cooling units as shown in Heat pipe heat exchanger (including thermosyphon) has super-
Fig. 11. Air handling units that absorb heat from IT equipments, ior temperature control features and ability to transfer heat at
including fans and cooling coils are cooled by internal cooling small temperature difference without external energy, which is
water. When the system works at free cooling mode, the heat suitable for utilizing natural cold source. In 2004, Wilson et al. [70]
exchanger bypasses the chiller and passes the heat from the proposed a loop thermosyphon system for the data center rack-
internal cooling water to external cooling water, which is delivered level cooling systems, namely, “Thermal Bus” system. The system
to a cooling tower. Based on this system, Hamburgen et al. [61] collected the heat release of chip through heat sinks, and trans-
developed an improved system by replacing the air handling units ferred heat to the air-cooled heat exchanger mounted on the top of
with modular cooling plants. the cabinet though a loop thermosyphon [71]. In the same year
Cooling tower free cooling system can be conveniently com- Khodabandeh [72] designed a thermosyphon loop for components
bined with absorption refrigeration, which can utilize solar energy of radio base stations. Though these systems did not use natural
and waste heat of data centers. High efficiency will be achieved cold source, they introduced heat pipe into data center cooling.
for absorption chillers when utilizing these thermal sources [62].
Absorption solar cooling has been applied in free cooling systems Bypass valve Internal
of data centers. Hamann et al. [63] proposed a data center cooling Cooling water loop
system utilizing free cooling and/or solar cooling as shown in tower
Fig. 12. When the outside temperature drops below a certain value,
the data center takes advantage of free cooling and the chiller
Heat Air
plant can be bypassed. In addition, heat is generated by solar Chiller
handler
Chip
plant exchanger
collector system and the heat drives absorption refrigerator which
provides cooling water to the internal water loop. Free cooling can
exploit the cooling temperatures during the night when solar
Thermal
energy is not available. With the improvement of performance
External storage
and simulation model of absorption solar cooling in recent years water loop
[64–68], the combination of free cooling and absorption solar
cooling is easier to realize than before, which provides the Absorption Solar
possibility of minimizing the use of chiller plant thereby saving refrigerator collector
energy consumption. In short, free cooling system combined with Solar cooling
absorption refrigeration has good application potential and more
attention is worth being paid to this field. Fig. 12. Data center cooling system utilizing free cooling and/or solar cooling [63].

Chiller

Fan-coil unit
Fan

Cooling
Heat tower
exchanger
Office
IT IT Pump

Controlled
mixing valve Control Back flow
Cooling coil valve preventer

Fig. 11. The cooling system designed by Carlson [60].

 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182 177

Ever since, many scholars have conducted research in this area. They extend outside the cooling system compartment through the
Heat pipe free cooling system can be further divided into the ceiling. The cold outside air flows through the pressurized plenum
following three types: independent system, integrated system, and and cools the heat dissipation mechanism. This system divides the
cold storage system. data center into two spaces so it can contain the heat pipe inside
the data center and simultaneously utilize the cold outside air
4.1. Independent system without taking contaminants into the data center. This method
was also adopted in the systems designed by Peng [80] and Tozer
Independent heat pipe system can only cool the data center by et al. [81].
heat pipe and has no mechanical refrigeration function. Therefore, Li et al. [82] proposed another heat pipe cooling system for data
it needs a supportive vapor compression refrigeration system as enters as shown in Fig. 15. When the indoor and outdoor
auxiliary when the ambient temperature is relatively high. temperature difference was 5–24 1C, the energy efficiency ratio
Tian et al. [73] developed a heat pipe air-conditioning system was 3.63–10.64. They reported that it could replace vapor com-
for data centers as auxiliary of compressor units as shown in pression refrigeration in winter.
Fig. 13. They further investigated the liquid filled ratio of the heat Zhou et al. [83,84] investigated the heat load and energy
pipe air conditioning system and reported that the optimal liquid consumption characteristics of thermosyphon heat exchangers
filled ratio was about 80% [74]. According to their simulated and air conditioning units in an IDC room. The effects of the
results, the average COP was 11.8 during its operating season in building envelope and the indoor and outdoor temperatures were
the weather condition of Shanghai [75]. Some other heat pipe also analyzed. The energy consumption of the thermosyphon heat
systems for data centers, including single-pipe connection heat exchanger was only 41% of that of an air conditioner and the
pipe [76], heat pipe with thin long evaporation section [77], heat annual energy consumption of the IDC room was reduced
pipe with pin-shaped fins wound outside vertical heat exchange by 35.4%.
pipes [78], are similar to this system. Ekstedt and Johansson [85] designed a radio base station with
Weber and Wyatt [79] designed a data center utilizing heat a loop thermosyphon as shown in Fig. 16. The electronic modules
pipes as shown in Fig. 14. A number of heat removal systems are are not cooled by air, instead they are mounted on the loop
coupled to computing racks in the data center. A heat removal thermosyphon through a heat conducting wall, which has corru-
system consists of a heat pipe and a heat dissipation mechanism. gated contact areas to enhance heat transfer. The heat from the

Outdoor unit
Condenser
Steam pipe

Air hose
Liquid pipe Hot air

IT

Indoor unit Cold air

Filter
Fan Heat
(Evaporator) Humidifier
pipe
Fig. 15. The heat pipe cooling system designed by Li et al. [82].

Condenser
Fig. 13. The heat pipe air-conditioning system designed by Tian et al. [73].

Pressurized plenum

Outlet
Heat dissipation Wall
mechanism Cowling
Electronic
modules
Fan Heat pipe

Computing Ceiling
rack

Fig. 14. The data center utilizing heat pipes designed by Weber and Wyatt [79]. Fig. 16. Radio base station with loop thermosyphon [85].
178 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

electronic modules is transferred through the wall to the con- cabinet as a function of heat load were studied. The n-pentane was
denser on top of the base station and cooled by the outside air. used as the working fluid and the optimal filling ratio is about
Samba et al. [86] designed a thermosyphon loop with a sloping 9.2%. The results showed that the maximum heat load of the
condenser for cooling telecommunication equipments in the out- telecommunication equipment obtained with the thermosyphon
door cabinet as shown in Fig. 17. The thermosyphon loop effi- loop cooling system was twice as much as that given by the
ciency, the temperatures distributions, the thermal resistance, traditional cooling system.
mass flow rate and heat losses by convection in the walls of the
4.2. Integrated system
Condenser
The above studies focused on independent heat pipe units,
which need the auxiliary of vapor compression refrigeration. An
Vapor line integrated system can avoid two sets of equipment and reduce the
initial investment to a certain extent. Jin et al. [87,88] developed a
Liquid line
composite air conditioning system combining a heat pipe exchan-
ger and an air conditioning system as shown in Fig. 18. They
reported that when the average air temperature of environment is
Evaporator 20 1C, the air temperature of heat source could be kept within the
Outdoor given range with the heat pipe exchanger. The COP ranged from
cabinet 4.66 to 13.9, and the average COP value reached 9.05.
Telecommunication Integrated air conditioner with thermosyphon (IACT) also
equipments provides an alternative. This kind of system combines the vapor
compression refrigeration and thermosyphon in one facility.
However, the capacity of the previous IACT in thermosyphon
mode is quite small due to high pressure drops [89–91]. Han
et al. [92] proposed an improved IACT and applied it in cooling of
data centers, as shown in Fig. 19. When the outdoor temperature
Fig. 17. Thermosyphon loop for cooling telecommunication equipments in the was lower or the load was small, it worked in the thermosyphon
outdoor cabinet [86]. mode, otherwise in the vapor compression mode. Self-operated
3-way valve, new evaporator and different connection pipes were
developed, which enhanced the performance by reducing the
Heat pipe condensing zone Return air duct pressure drop for dual mode and increased the ability and
reliability of vapor compression mode. The field tests in mobile
Air conditioning
condenser phone base stations in different cities in China showed that this
system saved about 34.3–36.9% energy than traditional air condi-
tioners. In order to analyze the detailed energy consumption and
applicability of IACT under different conditions, a simulation
model was further built and verified [93].
Heat pipe evaporating zone
Air conditioning evaporator
4.3. Cold storage system

The cooling capacity of heat pipe systems depends greatly on

the ambient temperature environment so that it is not stable and
Underground supply air duct lack of reliability. Cold storage system combined with heat pipes
Fig. 18. Composite air conditioning system combining a heat pipe exchanger and can overcome this drawback, especially system with phase change
an air conditioning system [87]. materials (PCMs), which are more suitable for application in

Riser Riser
Condenser Condenser

3-way valve 3-way valve

Expansion Solenoid Expansion Solenoid

Compressor valve valve Compressor valve valve

Evaporator Evaporator
Down comer Down comer

Fig. 19. Improved integrated air conditioner with thermosyphon [92].

 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182 179

buildings for higher energy storage density than the sensible in PCM (Qpcm). During night time, the ambient temperature was
storage materials [94]. Sundaram et al. [95] designed a passive lower than the temperature inside the shelter and the stored heat
cooling system comprising PCM and two-phase closed thermosy- was transferred to the ambient by the thermosyphons. Then the
phon for telecom shelters, as shown in Fig. 20. The entire unit thermal energy storage unit stored sufficient cool energy and it
consisting of telecommunication equipments, thermosyphons and would be available to absorb heat from electronic equipment
an energy storage unit containing a required number of PCM during day time. It is a highly efficient system for remote areas
encapsulated balls immersed in water was kept inside an insulated where there is no power grid and the maintenance is limited.
enclosure. During day time, the ambient temperature (Ta) was However, upon the results, the capacity of PCM may be not
higher than the temperature inside the shelter (Te) and the heat sufficient in some months during the year, thus optimal design
dissipated from the equipment (Q) was stored in the thermal is needed to fulfill the heat load requirement of electronic
energy storage unit as a sensible heat in water (Qw) and latent heat equipments.
In order to provide sufficient capacity, a chilled-cooling tower
system is added to the pipe based cold storage system designed by
Ta Q con Ta Singh et al. [96,97] for data centers as shown in Fig. 21. The cold
storage provides the chilled water for extracting heat from the
rack chipsets via highly effective plate type heat exchanger, which
also helps to avoid contamination of the liquid cooled heat sink.
The cold storage can be water storage or ice storage. The chiller-
cooling tower system is connected to the cold storage and helps to
provide extra cold energy to the storage water, when the capacity
of the heat pipes is not enough. The downtime of the chiller
equipment attributed to the cold energy storage system can save
electricity cost.
Te Te The above studies show that heat pipe system of data center
Q evp

Qw Qw has good energy saving effect compared to traditional CRACs for its
Heater 50-250W

Heater 50-250W

excellent thermal control performance and ability to transfer heat

at small temperature difference without external energy. Though it
Q Q is still in the exploratory stage and has not been widely adopted
Q pcm Q pcm due to unfamiliarity and reliability concerns, it has great applica-
tion potential in the future.

5. Criteria of performance evaluation

Heat flows in the system Heat flows in the system
Day time(Ta <Te) Day time(Ta <Te)
Criteria of performance evaluation for free cooling systems
Fig. 20. Passive cooling system comprising phase change material (PCM) and of data centers are necessary for system design. The criteria are
two-phase closed thermosyphon [95]. summarized as follows.

Indirect contact
type cooling tower Data center
Rack

Cold
plate

3-way valve Pump

Plate heat exchanger

Chiller

Cold room Hot room

Heat pipe Cold energy storage system

Fig. 21. Pipe based cold storage system combined with a chilled-cooling tower [96].
180 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182

Table 2
Innovative and representative free cooling systems of data centers.

Type System Indoor environment Need for supportive Energy-saving and

disturbance compression refrigeration cooling effect
system

Direct airside Chen et al.[36] Yes Yes 49% energy conservation

Direct airside Chang [39] Yes Yes
Indirect airside Kyoto wheel [53] No No Achievable COP of 8–10
Indirect airside Bao et al. [54] No Yes Up to 29% energy conservation
Waterside: Direct water Clidaras et al. [55] No Yes
cooled
Waterside: Air cooled System with second coil [30,53] No No Less efficiency than normal when
works
in traditional mode
Waterside: Air cooled System with air cooled chillers No No Smaller footprint and more cooling
[30,53] capacity can be achieved
Waterside: Air cooled Choi et al. [59] No No COP varies from 2.6 to 3.5 and
from 3.2 to 9.0 in mode 1 and
mode 2
Waterside: Cooling tower System with chiller bypass via No No Wide application and significant
heat exchanger [30,53] savings
Waterside: Cooling tower Carlson [60] No No
Waterside: Cooling tower Hamburgen et al. [61] No No
Waterside: Cooling tower Hamann et al. [63] No No
Heat pipe: Independent Tian et al. [73] No Yes Average COP of 11.8
Heat pipe: Independent Weber and Wyatt [79] No Yes
Heat pipe: Independent Tozer et al. [81] No Yes
Heat pipe: Independent Li et al. [82] No Yes Achievable COP of 3.63–10.64
Heat pipe: Independent Ekstedt and Johansson [85] No Yes
Heat pipe: Independent Samba et al. [86] No Yes Doubling the maximum heat load
Heat pipe: Integrated Jin et al. [87] No No Average COP of 9.05 at ambient
temperature of 20 1C
Heat pipe: Integrated Han et al. [92] No No 34.3–36.9% energy conservation
Heat pipe: Cold storage Sundaram et al. [95] No Yes Does not require power but the
capacity may be not sufficient for
some regions
Heat pipe: Cold storage Singh et al. [96] No No Saving 3 million$/year for a
datacenter
with heat output capacity of
8800 kW

Indoor environment disturbance: If the outdoor air mixes with but also achieve the purpose of cooling in a renewable and
the air inside the data center in a free cooling system, the outside sustainable way.
air quality will affect the indoor air quality and result in Free cooling of data centers can be divided into three cate-
availability risks. gories: airside free cooling, waterside free cooling and heat pipe
Need for supportive compression refrigeration system: Though free cooling. Advancements and characteristics of each are sum-
data centers can be adequately cooled simply by free cooling in marized and discussed. Among the three categories of free cooling
some cold regions, for most of the regions in the word, a free systems, heat pipe system has good energy efficiency and cooling
cooling system will need for a supportive refrigeration system if capacity due to its ability to transfer heat at small temperature
not integrated with compression refrigeration. difference without external energy. Also, it has no disturbance on
Energy-saving and cooling effect: An important criterion of all the indoor environment and can be integrated with compression
cooling systems. systems. Though it has the shortest history, it shows a great
Other criteria such as footprint, initial investment and life application potential.
expectancy also need to be considered while they are not the The criteria of performance evaluation for free cooling of data
focus of this paper. centers and an overview of free cooling systems based on these
In order to help newcomers and scholars acquire the latest criteria are demonstrated in order to help researchers acquire the
developments in this area, an overview of innovative and repre- latest developments in this area. It is hoped that this review will
sentative systems considering these criteria is given in Table 2. help increase awareness and spur efforts in exploring and max-
imizing the potential of free cooling of data centers to realize
greater energy efficiency.

6. Conclusions

Expansion of the number of data centers brings a great Acknowledgement

challenge to energy saving. Traditional vapor compression refrig-
eration system consumes a lot of electricity and cannot meet the The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from
sustainable utilization requirement of energy. Free cooling of data the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51006113)
centers is a technology that utilizes natural cold source, making it and National “Twelfth Five-Year” Plan for Science & Technology
possible to not only save the energy consumption of data centers Support of China (2012BAA13B03).
 H. Zhang et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 35 (2014) 171–182 181

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