In order to increase the cooling effect within the enclosure, the goal remains to direct conditioned air and to restrict the possibility of hot air recirculation. At the same time, any proposed solution must also allow for any desired cable management in the front of an enclosure.

Passive
The use of the Great Lakes Brush Grommet Kit, designed to mount to the proprietary Flexible Mounting Profile* found in each Great Lakes rail, helps to prevent bypass air flow and to keep conditioned air in the front of the enclosure. While brush grommet prevents hot air recirculation and prevents conditioned air from passing by the equipment mounted within the enclosure, it still allows for any desired cable management within the enclosure.

Active
A Medium Cooling solution could also include optional fans in the front mesh door in order to accelerate the intake of conditioned air into the front of the cabinet, as well as its movement through the equipment mounted within. The employment of split fan rear doors can assist in the removal of hot air from the enclosure. This solution can be further enhanced by the installation of an optional fixed/adjustable ducted chimney to channel the natural upward movement of hot air, removing it from the enclosure through an upper rear opening to which the chimney may be attached. Heat removal may be further activated by the addition of an exhaust fan, to be mounted within the chimney.

This Medium Cooling Solution is targeted at the delivery of 8 kW through the use of some simple enclosure options and accessories. Actual cooling shall be based on the options, accessories and techniques employed, as well as the conditions and efficiency of the computer room air conditioning system employed in the data center.

*The Flexible Mounting Profile (FMP) is a series of holes along each rail, installed at one-RMU increments, and located outside the standard pattern for all EIA rail-mounted equipment. From copper bus bars to cable rings, cable managment posts and other accessories, the design and manufacture of Great Lakes rails is so strong that virtually nothing mounted to the FMP will take away from the dimensional stability of the rail itself.

The rails in Great Lakes’ ES series enclosure are #12 gauge steel, formed three times for
added strength. An ES enclosure can support more than 2,000 pounds of mounted equipment.

In a typical raised floor data center, conditioned air moving vertically from a raised floor or empty data center space (white space) is being asked to pass into an enclosure, in order to cool the equipment mounted inside. The result is a lot of “white space” being cooled.

The Adjustable Air Manager mounts in the bottom of a Great Lakes ES Series Enclosure on a raised floor to bring the conditioned air inside the enclosure closer to (and helping it pass though) the equipment to be cooled. A simple slide on the Air Manager allows you to control the flow of conditioned air coming into the bottom of the cabinet. This increases air flow to and lowers intake temperatures in the front of the equipment, while also maintaining air pressure within the enclosure.

The Air Manager also uses the Great Lakes concept of “Accelerated Ambient Cooling” to greatly improve the efficiency of the available conditioned air intended to cool equipment mounted within the enclosure. By managing and directing the available conditioned air, it nearly eliminates bypass air flow outside the enclosure.

This effect can be further enhanced through the use of an optional high-efficiency fan unit, mounted within the Air Manager to increase the acceleration of air into the enclosure. Other compatible accessories include Great Lakes’ Brush Grommet Kit to keep any conditioned air from bypassing the equipment mounted within the enclosure.

An optional Exhaust Chimney can further increase CRAC unit efficiency by directing hot air to the system return, completing the “loop”. In essence, this “localizes containment” at the enclosure level. The use of these optional accessories helps the enclosure to do everything it can to maximize the existing conditions within a given data center, without adding any additional, outside cooling.

This High Cooling Solution would be targeted at the delivery of 10 kW, based on the various options, accessories and techniques employed, as well as the conditions and efficiency of the computer room air conditioning system employed in.