DFWCGI was the MEP engineer of record for a rapidly scaling colocation provider looking to develop a campus. This project was the first facility for the campus, with a single 6MW data hall and a peak PUE of 1.5. The facility MEP architecture was designed as a 5-to-make-4 scheme, with a VLRA UPS system and associated diesel fuel generators with 24 hours of on-site fuel storage.

The facility was designed as a Tier-III data center, with the technical water loops designed for compliance with ASHRAE W17, and the data hall space temperatures in alignment with ASHRAE A1 recommendations. The mechanical and electrical systems we designed to allow for rack densities ranging from 6KW to 160KW, with provisions allowing the tenants to utilize back of cabinet cooling doors, Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs) to support direct-to-chip cooling, and perimeter CRAHs to handle the PDU transformer heat loads, skin loads, and miscellaneous racks open to maintenance. Further, provisions on the generators and chillers were designed to operate in extremely low ambient temperatures, allowing for reliable facility operation at 50-year extreme temperatures per weather bin data. Fire suppression systems were designed to accommodate the various functions of the facility’s spaces, with a mixture of wet pipe, dry pipe, and double-interlock pre-action. VESDA was specified for detection and alarm within the data hall space.

DFWCGI also performed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to validate three key design considerations. 1) outdoor equipment performance when both air-cooled chillers and generators were simultaneously operating with a most-common wind direction for a worst-case design temperature day, to ensure the chiller performance at the rated ambient was an appropriate selection. 2) Airside CFD of the data hall, to ensure entering rack temperatures were in alignment with ASHRAE A1 in multiple realistic scenarios. 3)  Ensure that the chilled water thermal storage tank and associated pumping system would adequately supply chilled water at the temperature setpoint for five minutes to simulate a power outage with generator and chiller restart (thermal break analysis).