Cooling systems for Computing & Data Centres (CDCs) run throughout the year and consume 30% to 40% of energy delivered into the centre spaces, while the electricity use in CDCs represents around 1.3% of the world total energy consumption. The traditional mechanical vapour compression cooling systems for CDCs are neither energy efficient nor environmentally friendly.
Several alternative cooling modes, e.g. adsorption/absorption, ejector, and evaporative types, have certain level of energy saving potential but exhibit some inherent problems that have restricted their wide applications in CDCs. By bringing together the distinguished EU and Chinese experts in dew point cooling R&D and manufacturing, CDC cooling system design, CDCs operation and management, and CDCs policy making and standardization, this international staff exchange programme will develop the design theory, computerised tool and technology prototypes for a novel CDC dew point cooling system.
The overall aim of the proposed staff-exchange-based research & innovation programme is to develop the design theory, computerised tool and technology prototypes for a novel dew point cooling system, by bringing together the key people in both cooling and CDC sectors who have the right and complementary skills/expertise. Such a system, comprising a few critical and highly innovative components (i.e. dew point air cooler, adsorbent sorption/regeneration cycle, micro-channels loop heat pipe based CDC heat recovery system, paraffin/expanded-graphite based heat storage/exchanger, and internet-based intelligent monitoring and control system), is expected to achieve 60% to 90% of electrical energy saving and have a comparable initial cost ccompared to traditional CDC air conditioning systems, thus removing the above outstanding problems remaining with the existing CDC cooling systems.
