Facilities Management Excellence

July/August 2011 5.80

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operation
air conditioning is frequently essential to the operation of an organisations it equipment. This can present a problem when the air-conditioning system needs replacing. How do you do it without costly and inconvenient downtime? Holborn was recently confronted with just this problem by a client. The client has a data hall with 4No downflow chilled water close control CRAC (computer room air-conditioning) units, with a total duty of 240kW. These were supported by two ageing R22 duty chillers, and the client wished to replace these with new run and standby chillers, with free cooling. The IT equipment in the data hall provides services to both the company itself and a number of clients, and these services could not be compromised. The solution was to support the data hall on temporary air conditioning while the work was carried out in a series of stages.

Bypass

Replacing business-critical air-conditioning equipment is akin to a heart transplant operation how do you do it without interrupting vital functions? Lee Barratt of Holborn explains
Based on this information, Holborn produced a detailed proposal which was accepted by the client. The temporary cooling would consist of two external run and standby chillers, each with the capacity to support the room. The chillers would support a dual air-handling unit. Two run and standby generators would provide power to the systems. Door sets would be removed and infills constructed to take the supply and return ductwork, including the provision of motorised dampers to work in conjunction with the fire suppression system. The supply and return ductwork would run from the air handlers into the room at high level, supported on unistrut goalposts. The supply ductwork would terminate at the top

Analysis and proposal

First, an initial room analysis was undertaken to record the existing room performance, so that when the temporary cooling was installed the system could be set up to replicate the required room conditions. Using its own data acquisition system, Holborn monitored room temperature, return air temperature at each CRAC, sub-floor supply air temperature at each CRAC, air flow, and temperatures within specific racks, over a 48-hour period.

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BuILdIng managEmEnt PROFILE

InsIght

return section of the internal CRAC units. The CRAC fans would run and take the temporary cooled air as return air from the room and discharge it into the floor void. This would ensure that the existing air distribution and balancing of the room would be unaffected when the room was supported by the temporary cooling. The complete system would incorporate a building management system that interfaced with the existing site BMS. This in turn would alert the resident engineer and a call-out engineer from Holborn. When operational, the complete system would be physically checked every four hours around the clock. The proposal also covered the physical security of the data hall and access to the IT equipment, control of the fire detection and suppression system, and other issues such as removal of dust from disturbed areas.

Ageing R22 chillers were replaced with new free-cooling chillers

Temporary cooling
The installation of the temporary cooling included the external generators, chillers, air-handling units, supply and return ductwork, and the building management and monitoring systems. Flexible 600mm supply and return ductwork was installed from the air-handling system through corridors to the data hall. Supports were pre-constructed for use within the room. Ductwork was fixed to the support frame using a banding system, ensuring that no drilling or cutting was needed within the data hall. With the existing chillers operational and in accordance with the proposal agreed by the client, Holborn carried out an initial set-up of the temporary plant separate from the data hall to check that the plant, changeover systems and BMS/monitoring were all working properly. This was successfully completed and the temporary cooling systems went into operation in the data hall. The chilled water service to an individual CRAC unit was isolated, and the temporary cooling to that unit was set up to match the figures recorded in the initial room analysis. This was repeated at each CRAC unit until all four were supplying the floor void using the temporary cooling. The complete system was again function-tested under load; the temporary cooling was left to support the room for 48 hours, with the existing chillers still available, to prove the system. Throughout this process the room was monitored and conditions recorded in the same way as the initial room analysis to ensure the performance of the temporary cooling matched the fixed system. Finally, the temporary cooling was signed off to enable the replacement works to commence. before the next unit was joined to the new chilled water system. Throughout, the temporary cooling was always available.

Replacement
The existing chilled water system was isolated, both mechanically and electrically, and the water-glycol was drained from the external chillers and stored. The R22 refrigerant was reclaimed, the chilled water pipework, electrical supplies and BMS were all disconnected from the units, and the units were removed from the site. A new gantry was installed and the two new chillers were positioned. New four-inch flow and return chilled water pipework was installed, including new isolation valves, commissioning sets and pressure and temperature gauges. Next came the new power supplies, and the chillers were connected to the site BMS. The chilled water pipework was pressure tested and lagged, and the system was refilled using the removed water-glycol. Once filled, glycol was added to achieve the necessary 25 per cent concentration. The run and standby inverter pumps were recommissioned and the water system was balanced to achieve the required flow rates. The new chillers were commissioned and function-tested against no load, then each CRAC unit was brought online one by one. Each unit was recommissioned, and the chillers could then be commissioned against a load. After each CRAC unit went online, the system was left for 12 hours

Testing and decommissioning

When all the CRAC units were supported by the new chillers, the complete system was finally function-tested to prove the chillers, the changeover system, the free cooling and the BMS. With the temporary cooling systems still available, the testing continued over a 48-hour period, during which time the site engineers were given training on the new system. An important part of the installation was the building management system. Not only did the client require visibility of the system from the site BMS, it was also linked to a monitoring station in the US; part of the final proving was to carry out end-to-end testing of the BMS to prove the system both locally and in the US. With the new chillers proven, the temporary cooling system was carefully disassembled and removed from the site an operation that took half a day. The installation within the data hall had been designed to be free standing, so it could be removed with the minimum of disruption. However, care had to be taken in extracting the 600mm supply and return ductwork fmx Further Info Lee Barratt is managing director of Holborn, an air conditioning, M&E contractor and maintenance provider. www.holborngroup.co.uk

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