Why do datacenters continuously use more water instead of recycling the same water in a closed loop system?
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AH! a question in an area of my expertise. There are at least three variants of water-consuming datacenter cooling.
1. The datacenter captures the hot air coming out of servers. Radiators with cool water circulating through them are used to cool this hot air. The water is heated while the air is cooled. That water is then pumped outside and poured over big fiber boards while a fan blows outside air past them. This evaporates some of the water, and the remainder is cooled by the evaporation. The remaining cooled water is pumped back inside the datacenter and the process repeats.
2. The datacenter uses industrial air conditioning units called CRACs, which have radiators outside the datacenter. The air conditioner compresses a gas, heating it up, and then pumps it through the radiator while a fan blows outside air across the radiators. Once the compressed gas is cooled, it is brought back into the datacenter and allowed to expand, which makes it cold. Air inside the datacenter is blown over a different radiator filled with this cold gas, cooling the datacenter air. On very hot days, the CRAC sprays the outside radiators with water, which evaporates on the radiator and cools it more than the air alone would.
3. The datacenter brings in outside air directly to keep the inside air cool. On hot days, the datacenter’s systems will spray a mist of water into the air on its way in. That mist evaporates quickly and cools the outside air further before it reaches the datacenter floor.
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