Airedale data cooling solution commended
17th July 2024
USA: The first data centre at Corscale’s Gainesville Crossing campus is set to open following the successful integrated systems testing (IST) of the recently installed Airedale by Modine cooling solution.
Located in Northern Virginia, the Gainesville Crossing data campus is a 130-acre, multi-phase project encompassing 2.3 million ft2 over five, two-storey buildings.
The order placed with Airedale for the first data centre included 56 OptiChill chillers, 256 AireWall fan wall units, and eight SmartCool computer room air handling units, providing 72MW of cooling.
The independent commissioning agent appointed to manage the testing and handover of the project commended Airedale, noting that they had gone above and beyond their remit to drive optimisation and efficiency gains.
The testing schedule was split into four 18MW data halls for increased scrutiny. With full expectation of the equipment to perform in all conditions, the commissioning agent put the fan wall units and chillers to the test in emergency simulations, for example fast-start and sequencer testing.
For a fast-start test, the power is switched off and reinstated after 30 seconds by a generator. A UPS restores the 18MW power feed in the data hall, whilst the chiller system has to return to full load and remove the build-up of heat that occurred in the 30 seconds downtime.
Sequencer testing involves deliberately ‘failing’ a chiller to ensure the next chiller in the sequence handles the heat load.
Phase one of testing started at towards the end of 2023, and with all four phases now completed and signed off, the data centre will soon be handed over to Corscale.
