This isn’t a new technology and it definitely isn’t the most high-tech method for cooling a data cente, but it makes up for it’s lack of “ooh and ahh” with a simplicity that is sure to make it better for long-term greening of the data center.

Anybody who has an abnormal amount of gear in their home or office knows that often the air outside will be cooler than the exhaust inside. However when dealing with sensitive electronics, especially when that random collection of gear blossoms into a data center filled with millions of dollars worth of technology, just throwing open the window isn’t an option. The “Heat Wheel” is a way of using outside air to cool a data center without having to worry about things like airborne contaminants and humidity.

From DataCenterKnowledge.com: “Proponents of the heat wheel say it improves upon air-side economization (free cooling), the use of outside air to cool servers in the data center. Rather than introducing exterior air directly into the server room, the heat wheel briefly mixes the outside air and exhaust air to creates an “air-to-air” heat exchanger.

“The inside heat from the IT room is still removed via the heat wheel, but there is minimal air transfer between the ambient and the computer room,” explains Uptime Technology BV of the Netherlands. “This system has all the benefits of Airside Economizing, without the exposures of airside economizing like contamination and humidity control.”

Heat wheels have been used for many years in industrial air conditioning, but never in data centers. Like air-side economization, heat wheels could produce significant energy savings by reducting the need to use power-hungry chillers for air conditioning.”

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