Making Your IT Infrastructure Better, Faster and Efficiency

Overview

Aisle containment is a method used to improve energy efficiency in data centers. Containment creates physical barriers between rows of server racks in order to contain and direct the flow of cool air to hotspot locations. This helps to prevent hot and cold air from mixing, which can lead to inefficient cooling and higher energy costs.

What is Hot Aisle Containment(HAC)

This method encloses the hot aisle, and directs exhaust air from the server racks. This prevents hot air from mixing with cool air and allows the air conditioning system to more effectively cool the cool aisle.

In hot aisle containment systems (HAC), the"hot aisle" is enclosed and cold air is supplied into the enclosure from outside. The hot exhaust air is either routed to the return of an in-row cooling unit (IRC) or allowed to flow upward from within the enclosure into the air conditioning return and away from the equipment via physical barriers and custom ducts.

What is Cold Aisle Containment(CAC)

This method encloses the cold aisle, to deliver cool air to server racks. This method directs cool air is to server racks and prevents it from escaping.

The Cold Aisle Containment (CAC) approach encloses the cold aisle with ceiling panels above the aisle between adjoining racks and with doors at the end of the aisle. This allows the cold air from the perforated floor tiles in front of the cabinets to be contained and delivered to the server equipment air inlets. The CAC prevents cold air from mixing with warm air or being obstructed by surrounding equipment/sources before it reaches the servers. 

Something to consider when choosing between HAC and CAC systems is working conditions for the data center operators or technicians. With HAC, the area outside the enclosure is the "cold aisle", where personnel may more commonly travel. When work needs to be done on the power inputs of the equipment, personnel may have special restrictions to work in the hot aisle contained area. Additionally, this solution may require more custom duct work and can be a little more expensive than CAC systems. On the other hand, HAC is generally understood to be more efficient as it allows for higher return air set temperatures for the air conditioning system.

Aisle Containment Benefits

• Flexibility Configurations to fit uniform and non-uniform aisles.
• Retrofit to existing aisle configurations.
• Variable standard components are interchangeable to create custom solutions.
• Easy to retrofit to existing hot/cold aisle configuration
• Suitable for raised or non-raised floors.
• Simple to Configure, assemble, and maintain
• Flexible enough to support varied user and site requirements
• Efficient in reducing ongoing operational expenditure and up-front costs 

Aisle Containment Features

• Lowest Total Cost of Ownership Increase cooling efficiency 
• Increase in available cooling capacity by implementing aisle containment.
• Compatible with AZE racks, and racks by other manufacturers.
• Interoperable with AZE Aisle solutions for greater infrastructure visibility. 
• Variable standard components interchangeable to create custom solutions.
• Modular, building-block design offers complete flexibility and room for growth 
• Offers modular, populate-as-you-grow capability
• Assembly not construction 
• Off the shelf components 
• Adaptable to hot and cold aisle configurations 
• Fits third-party racks and non-uniform configurations of varying heights of racks ranging from 42U to 52U
• Supports aisle widths from 3-6 ft.
• Rack-Independent design with standardized kit of parts  
• Prevents hot & cold air mixing 
• Eliminates hot spots  

Application

Aisle containment is a valuable method for improving the energy efficiency of data centers and reducing operating costs. Containment prevents hot and cold air from mixing. They are widely used:

• Server rooms
• Data Center
• Colocation Data Center
• Edge Computing
• Government
• Enterprise

Energy saving,modular design and fast deploment keeps more and more customer choose the aisle contaiment for their data center projects.

Options

Aisle Containment solutions eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air in data centers to maximize energy efficiency and lower operating costs. Solutions are offered for hot- and cold-aisle containment systems.

Our diverse aisle containment portfolio of doors, top covers and airflow kits combine modular flexibility with energy efficiency and cost savings. To achieve further efficiency improvements, a data center should be designed as aisle containment, separating warm from cold air.

• Aisle containment ceiling and walls

AZE's aisle containment ceilings, walls, and end of row doors, create an efficient and predictable aisle containment solution. 

• End of row doors

End of row doors, available in single-swing, café-style and sliding options, create more efficient contained aisles by blocking obvious escape routes for air and eliminating air re-circulation and air mixing. 

Freestanding, Rack-independent system with the flexibility to maximize efficiency and capacity from the core to the edge for raised floor and slab data centers. Adaptable to hot and cold aisle containment, the Aisle Containment system allows you to deploy containment before or after racks are installed to simplify installation and speed deployment of new data center equipment.

Buying Guides

Choosing a hot aisle cold aisle containment system for your data center

An aisle containment system is a simple way to improve cooling efficiency in hot aisle/cold aisle rack configurations. Essentially creating a room within the aisle, the system helps keep hot and cold air separated to make existing air conditioning systems in data center and edge-of-network installations more efficient.

Data center containment is the separation of cold supply air from the hot exhaust air from IT equipment so as to reduce operating cost, optimize power usage effectiveness, and increase cooling capacity. Containment systems enable uniform and stable supply air temperature to the intake of IT equipment and a warmer, drier return air to cooling infrastructure. Improved air management helps to reduce energy costs and increase rack densities.

• Consistent separation of cold and hot air
• Enables optimized aisle airflow and temperature
• Low investment with short ROI and minimal maintenance costs
• Short implementation time with minimum investment
• Multiple offerings from simple air management to full aisle containment to address any installation requirements

Types of Data Center Containment

There are mainly two types of data center containment, hot aisle containment and cold aisle containment.

Hot aisle containment encloses warm exhaust air from IT equipment in data center racks and returns it back to cooling infrastructure. The air from the enclosed hot aisle is returned to cooling equipment via a ceiling plenum or duct work, and then the conditioned air enters the data center via raised floor, computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units, or duct work.

Cold aisle containment encloses cold aisles where cold supply air is delivered to cool IT equipment. So the rest of the data center becomes a hot-air return plenum where the temperature can be high. Physical barriers such as solid metal panels, plastic curtains, or glass are used to allow for proper airflow through cold aisles.

Hot Aisle vs. Cold Aisle

There are mixed views on whether it’s better to contain the hot aisle or the cold aisle. Both containment strategies have their own benefits as well as challenges.

Hot aisle containment benefits

• The open areas of the data center are cool, so that visitors to the room will not think the IT equipment is not being cooled sufficiently. In addition, it allows for some low density areas to be un-contained if desired.
• It is generally considered to be more effective. Any leakages that come from raised floor openings in the larger part of the room go into the cold space.
• With hot aisle containment, low-density network racks and stand-alone equipment like storage cabinets can be situated outside the containment system, and they will not get too hot, because they are able to stay in the lower temperature open areas of the data center.
• Hot aisle containment typically adjoins the ceiling where fire suppression is installed. With a well-designed space, it will not affect normal operation of a standard grid fire suppression system.

Hot aisle containment challenges

• It is generally more expensive. A contained path is needed for air to flow from the hot aisle all the way to cooling units. Often a drop ceiling is used as return air plenum.
• High temperatures in the hot aisle can be undesirable for data center technicians. When they need to access IT equipment and infrastructure, a contained hot aisle can be a very uncomfortable place to work. But this problem can be mitigated using temporary local cooling.

Cold aisle containment benefits

• It is easy to implement without the need for additional architecture to contain and return exhaust air such as a drop ceiling or air plenum.
• Cold aisle containment is less expensive to install as it only requires doors at ends of aisles and baffles or roof over the aisle.
• Cold aisle containment is typically easier to retrofit in an existing data center. This is particularly true for data centers that have overhead obstructions such as existing duct work, lighting and power, and network distribution.

Cold aisle containment challenges

• When utilizing a cold aisle system, the rest of the data center becomes hot, resulting in high return air temperatures. It also may create operational issues if any non-contained equipment such as low-density storage is installed in the general data center space.
• The conditioned air that leaks from the openings under equipment like PDUs and raised floor tend to enter air paths that return to cooling units. This reduces the efficiency of the system.
• In many cases, cold aisles have intermediate ceilings over the aisle. This may affect the overall fire protection and lighting design, especially when added to an existing data center.

How to Choose the Best Containment Option?

Every data center is unique. To find the most suitable option, you have to take into account a number of aspects. The first thing is to evaluate your site and calculate the Cooling Capacity Factor (CCF) of the computer room. Then observe the unique layout and architecture of each computer room to discover conditions that make hot aisle or cold aisle containment preferable. With adequate information and careful consideration, you will be able to choose the best containment option for your data center.

FAQ

Freestanding, Rack-independent system with the flexibility to maximize efficiency and capacity from the core to the edge for raised floor and slab data centers. Adaptable to hot and cold aisle containment, the Aisle Containment system allows you to deploy containment before or after racks are installed to simplify installation and speed deployment of new data center equipment.

• What Is Data Center Containment?

Data center containment is the separation of cold supply air from the hot exhaust air from IT equipment so as to reduce operating cost, optimize power usage effectiveness, and increase cooling capacity. Containment systems enable uniform and stable supply air temperature to the intake of IT equipment and a warmer, drier return air to cooling infrastructure.

• Why do you need Cold Aisle Containment

Cold aisle containment systems enclose the aisle of a data center to deliver a uniform and predictable flow of cold air directly to your facility's IT equipment. Airflow controls are utilized to match the air supply needs of each individual aisle, eliminating hot spots and ensuring optimal operating efficiency. Cold aisle containment is the perfect solution to ensure proper intake air temperatures are maintained for data center equipment—saving energy and money.

• What is Cold Aisle Containment Configuration
  • Hard Roof with Single or Dual Sliding Doors
  • Hard Partitions with Single or Dual Sliding Doors
  • Soft Partition with Strip Doors
  • Single or Dual Sliding Doors with Directional Airflow Panels
•  

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