IT COOLING SYSTEMS
Case Studies
Fastweb Tier IV Data Center
1 Nov. 2022
Italian telecom operator Fastweb already had a large market share for networking and valued-added services like hosting and server management and security. But it wanted to ensure it could offer best-in-class service for its client Enterprise with a data center that was requirement-ready for both cooling and heating.
What it built was something truly special, certified Tier IV by the Uptime Institute, the first in Italy to receive this recognition and one of only around 50 such facilities around the world today.
In terms of numbers, this translates to 1,240 kW output power, a 600 m2 room, 162 racks, an average power per rack of 7.5 kW—and sometimes up to 20 kW.
The data center has power usage effectiveness of 1.25, compared to the worldwide average of 1.8. Let’s put that in plain English: for every kilowatt supplied to the IT equipment, the center consumes 250 watts, whereas a standard data center would usually consume 800 watts. It ultimately means the data center saves on carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 450 boiler-equipped apartments.
Climaveneta’s technology was the keystone of this superior performance and enhanced sustainability. Four TECS2 0652 SL-CA-E units and the management and optimization system ClimaPRO deliver precise and continuous cooling to the state-of-the-art structure.
"We opted for modular, scalable units that for both their power and cooling features—that is, uninterruptible power supply and refrigeration units—can adapt to and optimize the conditions of the absorbed power," explains project manager Leonardo Sergardi.
The center has an unusual "dual" architectural design: dual cooling plants, dual pumping stations, and dual cooled water supply circuits. Consequently, any piece of equipment or circuit in the system can be serviced at any time without any data center downtime. Such attention to risk and safeguards is what won the data center its rare Tier IV certification, awarded to a system in which operation is never interrupted and that is designed to respond automatically to any fault, be it a leak, power failure, or something else.
The Climaveneta ClimaPro control system provides parallel operation between the two stations. "This allows us to maximize the energy efficiency ratio coefficient of the cooling performance in any load condition of the data center," says plant designer Ferdinando Ciardullo.
"The architecture of our cooling plants relies on latest-generation refrigeration units with maglev centrifugal compression. This type of equipment ensures higher part load performances than other screw chillers or compressors."
With Climaveneta technology, advanced cooling performance and energy-saving efficiency are simultaneously attainable for data centers.
