Itron Inc., Felixstowe

Type of works: supply of side-discharge EcoCoolers.

Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. The company is the world’s leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on its technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. At the heart of their facility in Felixstowe is a server room, which provides essential support to this business.

The server room has an installed capacity of 25kW with plans for further expansion. Split air-conditioners provided the cooling, but this expansion required further capacity. Modern servers and IT equipment are quite robust and can typically operate at between 10 and 35°C with no real constraints on relative humidity. A free-air system with evaporative cooling can provide 100% temperature compliance against all international standards for server rooms and data centres.

Two side-discharge EcoCoolers with balanced extraction provide a cross-flow ventilation scheme. The room is arranged with cold and hot aisles. A control system monitors both the cold and hot aisle temperatures to ensure compliant conditions. The controls are linked to the fire-alarm system to initiate a system stop in an alarm condition. An in-duct water sensor is fitted to give complete protection.

An EcoCooling IT cooling system can reduce the energy for cooling by over 90% compared with split air-conditioning.