Optimising reliability in data centres worldwide GEA

OPTIMISING RELIABILITY IN DATA CENTRES WORLDWIDE

GEA is active in six major market segments and, among others, the global technology leader in air treatment systems. Philip Yorke talked to Gert Bakkeren, the company’s director for product management for the air treatment systems, about GEA’s latest cutting-edge technology and dramatic growth in data centre environmental management.

GEA is a global market leader and one of the world’s most successful technology groups with revenues exceeding €5.7 billion and employing more than 24,000 people worldwide. GEA is listed on the German MDAX stock index and the STOXX® Europe 600 Index.

The diverse business activities of the GEA Group span six major areas of operation, ranging from Food Solutions, Farm Technologies and Heat Exchangers, to Mechanical Equipment, Process Engineering and Refrigeration Technologies.

The Heat Exchanger segment of the GEA group offers one of the largest portfolios of products in its field worldwide, ranging from advanced plate-heat and air-cooled heat exchangers, to shell and tube products and air filter systems. In addition, the company produces wet cooling towers and dry cooling systems and synthetic fillings, as well as air treatment systems for a huge variety of industrial applications. The air treatment systems cover occupational space systems, process air-conditioning and process filtration. The company’s motto ‘Engineering for a better world’ epitomises its commitment to providing innovative, sustainable solutions.

Pioneering sustainable technology

GEA offers one of the most efficient and complete ranges of products and components for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. As a result, contractors, consultants and architects can rely on one single integrated partner for all their needs. Furthermore, the company’s products are fully compatible and designed to create the comfort desired with the highest economic efficiency. GEA’s latest close-control, MultiDENCO® units, precisely regulate computerroom conditions to +/- 1K and +/- 5 per cent relative humidity.

These sophisticated systems are ideal for applications such as data-centres, precision temperature machine rooms, laboratories and art museums, in fact wherever constant temperatures and relative humidity levels are required. Since all the units operate with extraordinary energy efficiency and under partial-load conditions, they are also perfect for operating as running-redundancy systems.

Mr Bakkeren said, “While our primary product range is designed for occupied space, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and remains our biggest market sector, the rapid growth in global data centres represents a new and dynamic area of potential growth for us. Not many are aware that these data centres consume over 2 per cent of the world’s electricity needs with over 3.2 billion kW hours consumed annually. As the clear market leaders in air treatment units in the EMEA regions, and as major players in other world markets, we continue to invest heavily in R&D to stay ahead of the field and to be able to offer our customers a competitive edge with greater efficiency and sustainability.

“We are proud of the many ground-breaking innovations that we have brought to the market over the years including EC fans and inverterdriven compressors as well as our latest Adiabatic DENCO® cooling systems, which are based on the principle that water removes heat from its surroundings as it evaporates. Furthermore, another market trend is that temperatures in the world’s data centres are continuing to rise. In response to this we have developed an even more efficient range of high-precision, climate control systems. Product intelligence is also an important feature of our latest products and a growing requirement, with monitoring and servicing schedules being linked directly to the internet.

Mr Bakkeren added, “We see the three key pillars of our success as being: product leadership, close proximity to our customers and operational excellence and logistics. Today we are continuing to expand our global footprint for air treatment systems and our focus is centred on Russia in the northern hemisphere and South America. We are already well-established both in China and in India where we are continuing to invest heavily in new plant and technology.”

Making a valuable contribution

GEA’s DENCO® range of high-precision climate control systems satisfy the most stringent specifications relating to computer centres and telecommunications facilities.

Danfoss

As a worldwide partner for the GEA-Group for decades, not only in the HVAC business, Danfoss Power Electronics is providing a package consisting of global availability of excellent products, service and support as well as application knowledge. Danfoss Variable Speed Drives and solutions are known for easy and quick commissioning and high reliability. Reduction of variants and outstanding efficiency are always within the focus. A good example is the new motormount FCM106, which is able to operateasynchronous and PM-motors of any vendor. Innovation has a name – Danfoss.

These products make a valuable contribution to reliable operations and uninterrupted service availability. All climate control systems in the company’s DENCO® product portfolio are guaranteed to maintain predetermined temperatures and humidity levels in the world’s biggest, as well as the smallest data rooms, thereby preventing heat-related malfunctions and the premature ageing of hardware.

The company’s DENCO® range of products is also providing unparalleled environmental control services in other industrial areas, such as those involved in nanotechnology, R&D and micro-chip production, as well as in diverse medical applications.

GEA’s advanced air treatment systems support these wide-ranging global services and guide planners in engineering projects to obtain optimised climate control and routing. The company tests its own products at its comprehensive research facilities and measurement centres worldwide under realistic operational conditions. As a result GEA customers always receive technologically mature and tested products that have all been manufactured in accordance with ISO 9001. n

For further details of GEA’s advanced high-tech heat exchanger products and services visit: www.gea.com