Why Data Centres Need Thermal Storage Tanks

Data centres have a great amount of equipment. To ensure the equipment does not overheat, a thermal storage tank cools the equipment to an optimal level.

Data centres house tremendous amounts of IT equipment. This equipment is used to store, organise, process and disseminate large amounts of data. Most data centres require an uninterrupted power source to assure constant power for the equipment. You may not have realised that data centres use thermal storage tanks or chilled water buffer tanks in their cooling system.

It is important for data centres to have cooling systems to prevent the temperature from rapidly rising which may lead to failure of critical electronic equipment. An increase in temperature in data centres can increase the risk of downtime for its data processing and other functions. Redundancy in data centres is essential. So, when a power outage occurs, stored chilled water in large buffer tanks provide continuous operation of the cooling system whilst the generator back up power supply cuts in.

Chilled Water Storage Tanks

Thermal storage is needed to hinder the effects of cooling system failure. Using a thermal storage tank in data centres can ensure a longer duration of chilled water supply. It can provide support cooling and the ability to run chilling systems whilst the power supply is interrupted, which can save on energy costs that would otherwise occur if the whole cooling system was allowed to turn off and start up again.

Aquazone Buffer Tanks

Masterflow offers Aquazone buffer tanks that are made to the AS 1210 Unfired Pressure Vessels code with Hazard Level E. The company guarantees that all Aquazone tanks sold are environmentally friendly since it has zero ozone depletion potential. They come with standard stainless-steel cladding which is aesthetically pleasing in any plant room, and also be used in weather exposed installations.

The standard design of the tanks comes in a vertical orientation. However, clients can also select the horizontal orientation which is available in 4000 litres or larger. Aquazone tanks can come with sparge pipes and baffle plates to achieve an optimal circulation and stratification of the chilled water. With these design feature Aquazone tanks minimize dead spots and streaming so that thermal reserve storage is effectively utilized preventing water traversing from inlet to outlet without effective mixing. For this reason, they are a great addition to the cooling system ensuring the data centre performs at an optimal level.

For more information and confirmation of technical details on the Aquazone buffer tanks, call +61 2 9748 2022.