Opengate Containment Cooling

Opengate Containment Cooling® - Efficient Data Centre Cooling

With data centre managers looking to improve data centre cooling and energy efficiency, the Opengate Containment Cooling® system provides an exciting alternative to water cooled or aisle containment systems.

Cooling the data centre is expensive, and is the greatest area where energy efficiency savings can be made.  For each degree Celsius that a set point can be raised on a CRAC unit, it can increase energy saving by as much as 8%! With Opengate Containment Cooling®, additional data centre efficiency gains can be made by isolating and returning the hot air to the CRAC unit in a controlled way.

The Opengate Containment Cooling® system works by containing hot server exhaust air at the back of the server rack and returning it to the CRAC via plenum duct.  Opengate Containment Cooling® further improves data centre energy efficiency by providing intelligence at the rack level in order to ensure intake and exhaust airflow balance with no back pressure on the server fans.  The result is optimal balance of air with minimal recirculation and bypass airflow.  This is achieved by the intelligent fan controller that monitors the pressure at the rear of the cabinet and adjusts the fan speed accordingly to ensure airflow balance from the front of the servers to the exhaust.

The Opengate Containment Cooling® EC system is modular, with each module consisting of: A duct to return hot air to the ceiling plenum An intelligent fan controller unit, with pressure sensors and temperature & humidity sensors. A cabinet chassis containing two fan cartridges. Once installed the Opengate Containment Cooling® system is capable of handling rack densities of up to 30kW per rack and can also be shared between racks!

Features & Benefits

Reclaim wasted cooling and maximise existing data centres. Achieve 100% cooling utilisation for optimal PUE. Manage high density requirements (30kW per rack average). Work with all types of equipment fans by eliminating back pressure when housed in the same rack. No hot aisles and low noise levels. No water lines on the IT floor. Can be used in environments without a raised floor. Modular system allows for scalability as your facility grows. Flexible design can accomodate odd shaped rooms or obstacles.

There are two main ways of configuring the Opengate Containment Cooling® system:

Rack Based Containment Cooling

Configuring the rack for Rack Based Containment Cooling requires side panels at row ends and between EC systems.  Typical deployments do not exceed two racks sharing an EC unit.

Row Based Containment Cooling

Row Based Containment Cooling requires side panels at only the row ends.  The EC system is sized for the IT load in the row, and can be expanded while operational by adding additional EC systems as you deploy more IT equipment.

The Opengate Cooling Containment sensors allow for view on the proprietary ‘SiteView Software’ that accompanies the EC system.  For better centralised management the Opengate Unity Cooling software is available and provides a means to control your thermal environment and manage data centre cooling for all IT equipment types.  Intelligently managing the data centre operation in real time, providing optimal airflow balance with fully integrated reporting.

In 2010 the Opengate Containment Cooling® system received an ASHRAE technology award, followed in 2011 by winning the prestigious Uptime Institute’s Green Enterprise IT award.