Research on the thermal performance of rack-level composite baffle diversion system for data centre

Airflow management plays an important role in ensuring secured and energy-efficient operation of data centres (DCs). Higher power density in DC is a risk resulting in serious deterioration of airflow distribution accompanied by the increasing cooling energy demand. In this study, the airflow optimization effects of rack baffles and server lower-side terminal baffles on the thermal environment are first validated by experiments. Then, the optimization mechanisms of the two baffle systems are analysed by numerical simulations. The results show that the optimization mechanisms of these two systems are different and the combination can contribute to better airflow distribution than separate baffles. The analysis is validated by altogether 12 cases in 3 scenarios where different combinations of the two systems were included. The results validated the combination of 8 cm × 45° server lower-side terminal baffles and 20 cm × 75° rack baffles can further improve the airflow distribution and relieve heat accumulation in the DC. The impacts of combined baffle system on the thermal environment in DC are analysed by experiments and simulations. The combined system superposes the airflow optimization functions of the two systems. The maximum temperature drop of the hotspot is 0.7 °C, which is 0.4 °C lower than that when only optimal rack baffles or server lower-side terminal baffles are installed.