The first data center using free cooling technology - freecooling - has been opened in Ukraine

DreamLine, a company that rents servers and server space, has opened the first data center in Ukraine that uses the technology of natural air cooling - free cooling. The company has been operating since 2008 and the first DC is located in Kyiv under the Dline trademark.

As you know, equipment consuming electricity generates heat, and one of the problems is the cost of cooling servers. Typical cooling costs are up to 25% of equipment consumption. This is reflected in the so-called PUE coefficient. In 2008, 6 Google data centers had a PUE of 1.21, i.e. approximately 20% of electricity consumption was spent on cooling and energy consumption for own needs (heating, losses in power grids, etc.).

Large data centers are trying their best to reduce these costs. In 2015, Facebook's Prineville already had a PUE coefficient of 1.078, and the French hosting company OVH had a PUE of 1.09.

Until recently, the cheapest way to cool small data centers was with freon air conditioners. For larger data centers, it was justified to use chillers at a higher initial cost, but with lower costs in the future.

Today, the use of natural cooling methods is coming to the forefront. For example, Microsoft uses underwater data centers with seawater cooling, and Allied Control declares a PUE of 1.02 when using so-called immersion cooling by immersing equipment in a conductive liquid.

DreamLine uses air cooling - the so-called friction cooling.

The company acquired a plot on the outskirts of Brovary, taking into account the prevailing winds so that the masses of air would not heat up in the city, and began building a data center using free-standing.

This data center is designed for 12 isolated containers with 7 racks each, which will allow to place up to 3500 units of equipment. Each container is supplied with 25 kW of power. Two electrical connections to different substations. Three optical lines with a capacity of 40 GB/s have been laid.

The company continues to build a more extensive network. It plans to do the same as in Kyiv, where it has already built a 40Gb/s optical ring to connect corporate clients.

It is important for the data center to control temperature and humidity, as well as air pollution. DreamLine opted for a rotary recuperator, which allows them to control all these parameters.

After the tests, DreamLine can use air from the street up to 18 degrees Celsius, which is more than 8 months a year and even in summer. In case of a lack of cooling capacity, the recuperator connects a proven freon air conditioner, which cools the air to the desired temperature.

The consumption of the entire recuperator at a temperature of 18 degrees does not exceed 4.5 kilowatts, while the equipment power consumption is 25 kilowatts, and in colder periods it is less than 2.5 kilowatts.

To reduce costs even further, the company uses the heated fresh air to heat the premises where the data center staff is located. Thus, for about 8 months of the year, the PUE does not exceed 1.10.

But the company is not resting on its laurels, conducting tests on immersion cooling and getting good results. And perhaps in the near future it will use this technology for servers that it leases.