Aisle Containment & Airflow Management

As part of an overall cooling strategy it is important to ensure effective airflow is maintained to ensure maximum cooling efficiency. Cold-air should be delivered directly to the front of equipment racks with hot-air returning directly to the air handling unit minimising any potential short cycling.

Workspace Technology's Design Engineers will assess individual data centre requirements taking into account cooling technology, physical room configuration, cabinet layouts, airflow and temperature/humidity patterns. Once a complete picture of the existing facility and an understanding of future deployments has been obtained, Workspace Technology’s Design Team will produce a site-specific data centre aisle containment & airflow management configuration design.

Data Centre Aisle containment & airflow management technology options include:

FlexAisle Data Centre Aisle Containment Systems

Workspace Technology’s FlexAisle aisle containment system provides a simple and cost effective passive method for eliminating the mixing of hot and cold airflows within a Data Centre or Server Room environment. FlexAisle® can be installed as new, or retrofitted within existing Data Centre and Server Room environments. FlexAisle® is a non-intrusive easy fit data centre aisle containment solution that uniquely provides the ability to support multiple cooling configurations and is independent of cabinet vendors. This enables Data Centre Managers to support a mix and match of server and communication rack systems.

Click here to view our FlexAisle Aisle Containment Brochure.

Passive Airflow Management

Workspace Technology provides a range of passive airflow management products including:

Koldlok Floor Grommets - The installation of Koldlok raised floor brush grommets will help seal the floor and prevent leakage of air where cables are routed into equipment cabinets.

Blanking Panels – Blanking panel should be installed where there are gaps between equipment within cabinets. The installation of these units will significantly reduce mixing of exhaust and cool air.

Airflow Baffle Systems - The installation of vertical under floor baffle partition systems help to direct airflow within the raised access floor space. Baffles direct the source of the cold-air from the air handling units to where the air is or is not needed. Baffles help maintain the static pressure further away from an air handling unit, providing a simple solution to the cooling of thermal hot spots in information technology equipment centres.

Air Distribution Products

We also offer a range of supplementary cooling products including fan assisted tiles, rack air distribution and air removal products to help enhance and improve airflow when appropriate.

Fan Assisted Rack Air Distribution - Rack air distribution products from Schneider Electric offer ducted and fan-assisted options to improve cold air distribution and heat removal to and from IT equipment racks.

Air Removal Unit (ARU) - Air Removal Units eliminate hot spots by removing heat from high density racks and helping maintain server inlet temperatures with automatically adjusting fans. The unit supports temperature monitoring and communication to central management systems.

Side Air Distribution Unit (SADU) - Side Air Distribution Units Direct air up or down the side of the rack, supplying cool air to the inlet of side airflow equipment such as network switches.

Air Distribution Unit (ADU) - Air Distribution Units help maintain rack inlet temperatures by promoting proper airflow from the raised floor to the top of the rack. The equipment rack Air Distribution Unit will fit at the bottom of a server cabinet. It is designed to draw air from the raised floor plenum and force the air to the font of the equipment cabinet.

Wiring Closet Ventilation Unit - The Wiring Closet Ventilation Unit is a rapidly deployable wall or ceiling mounted heat removal system designed specifically for the wiring closet environment. By exhausting hot air from the closet to an adjacent space, it allows conditioned air (entering through the Air Intake Grill) to cool the load.

For more information on our full range of data centre aisle containment and airflow management products and services please contact our sales team on 0121 354 4894 or send us a message.