Assignment A6
HVAC SELECTION
Computer Server Farm
A computer server farm or server cluster is a large collection of computer servers that are maintained by an enterprise or large corporation, say for example Google, to provide server capabilities and data storage that go far and above the storage capabilities of a single computer. Most server farms are made up of networks of thousands of computers.
With this large number, comes not only large costs, but large amounts of heat. Computers, just like any type of electronic equipment, produce heat while they run. Server farms produce copious amounts of heat, that must be cooled in order to allow for optimum efficiency of the equipment. If left unattended, heat levels will rise and cause the server equipment to fail.
Efficient means of cooling are extremely important to consider when designing a computer server farm facility. The HVAC system selected needs to be able to take on the massive cooling loads needed for such a facility. They also must be able to work at close to full capcacity at all times. Furthermore, in the event of a system failure, a back-up system must be put in place in order to take on the cooling loads in order to prevent system failures.
Take a look inside a one of Google's computer server farms by watching the video to the left!