High Density Cold Aisle Containment System for Critical Research Facility

Case Study

Project

High density cold aisle containment system

Sector: Data Centre

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Background

Diamond Light Source, a not-for-profit limited company funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and Wellcome Trust, operates as the UK’s national synchrotron facility, which uses special radiation to analyse atom sized details. To maintain the leading-edge capabilities of the facility, they needed to upgrade the HPC data analysis capabilities. The high density processing meant that Diamond needed a much higher powered private data centre.

The challenge

The total cooling power required for the 20 rack CAC pod system was 144 kW, however most existing racks were only 20kW.  

Our approach

In collaboration with cooling experts Schroff, Rainford proposed a complete air containment-based system. Both companies played crucial roles in designing and manufacturing the innovative self-contained system.

Our solution

A custom designed cold aisle containment system consisting of ten 42Ux800x1200 cabinets, combined with Schroff Varistar LHX 20 air-to-water heat exchangers, with water flowing at 9°C and a flow rate of 2.8m3/H was developed. Installation and commissioning was completed by specialists from both companies working together. 

Outcome

The enhanced performance of the new compute infrastructure enabled Diamond to improve the research capabilities for over 14,000 researchers from academia and industry across various scientific disciplines.
The joint bid project exemplifies the effectiveness of partnerships in delivering complex and specialised infrastructure solutions.

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