In Green Move Emerson Unveils Fanless Rack Cooling

Chilled cooler plates reportedly prevent any heat from escaping the rack cabinet, eliminating the need for both server fans and room cooling fans.Emerson Network Power has announced a refrigerant-based rack cooling technology that directly chills servers and can eliminate the need for both cooling system fans and server fans.

Called the Liebert XDS server cooling system, it is touted as using chiller plates so that no heat is expelled into the room from the rack cabinet, so no fans are needed to move hot air. No price was announced, but the firm said the system required less power than would be used by the fans that it could eliminate.

The technology originates with Emerson's partner, Clustered Systems. At the recently concluded Chill Off 2 data center cooling trials conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, Clustered Systems demonstrated that its technology was about 15 percent better than the competition, and was touted as being able to handle 80 kilowatts per cabinet.

Perhaps even more interesting was the discovery during the trials, after an temporary hardware failure, that coolant produced acceptable results at 78 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the usual 44 degrees Fahrenheit. This implies that untreated cold tap water could often suffice.

The Liebert XDS is reportedly available in 42U and 45U heights and offers 35 or 36 1U server slots with cooling plates designated for each slot.