Week 12 - Final Project - Modelling and Analysis of a Datacenter

Objective: The objective of this challenge is to model a replica of the data centre where high power distribution units are working. The main parts include computer room air conditioning units (CRACs), server cabinets, power distribution units (PDUs), and perforated floor tiles in the datacenter. Analyze the flow distribution and behavior of the temperature of server stacks inside the datacentre.

Problem Description:

This tutorial considers a 1200 sq. ft. datacenter with a slab to slab height of 12 ft. The datacenter consists of a 1.5 ft underfloor plenum and a 2 ft ceiling plenum. The CRACs discharge cold air into the underfloor plenum. The cold air enters the main datacenter space mainly through the perforated floor tiles and returns back to the air conditioning units. The cooling load, as summarized below. Size and Capacity of Heat Sources in Data Center corresponds to the heat output from the server cabinets and the PDUs. A PCB board, library files, and traces are imported to create the model. The model is first solved for conduction only, without the components, and then solved using the actual components with forced convection.

Heat Source	Size	Power
Server Cabinet	2 ft x 3 ft x 7 ft	3000 W
High Density	2 ft x 3 ft x 7 ft	7000 W
PDU	4 ft x 2 ft x 5 ft	3600 W