ASHRAE has published the second edition of “Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers,” which provides best-practice guidance for implementing liquid cooling systems in data centers.

“There is an increasing interest in liquid-cooled IT equipment at the rack, equipment and component levels,” said Don Beaty, publication chair of Technical Committee 9.9., Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment. “There is also increased interest in reuse of the heat rejected from IT equipment. One of the more important changes to the second edition is the addition of supply water temperature classification.”

Beaty claims that the addition of liquid classes can have a similar effect on the industry as the creation of supply air temperature classes, which was the critical enabler to the use of economizers in data centers.

“There are five water temperature classes with the highest temperature class being greater than 113°F (45°C), which opens up possibilities for using the rejected heat for building heating systems,” he said.

The guide bridges the liquid cooling systems by providing guidelines on interface requirements between the chilled-water system and the technology cooling system and on the requirements of liquid-cooled systems that attach to a datacom electronics rack to aid in data center thermal management.

Also included are updated references and further information on approach temperatures and liquid immersion cooling, plus guidance on water quality problems and wetted material requirements.

To order, visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.