Numerical Investigation on Air Distribution of Cabinet with Backplane Air Conditioning in Data Center  

作　　者：Yiming Rongyang Chengyu Ji Xiangdong Ding Jun Gao Jianjian Wei 

机构地区：[1]Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited,Power Construction Corporation of China,Hangzhou,310014,China [2]Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou,310027,China [3]Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Clean Energy and Carbon Neutrality,Hangzhou,310027,China

出　　处：《Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer》2025年第2期685-701,共17页热量和质量传递前沿(英文)

基　　金：financially supported by the Basic Research Funds for the Central Government“Innovative Team of Zhejiang University”under contract number(2022FZZX01-09).

摘　　要：The effect of gradient exhaust strategy and blind plate installation on the inhibition of backflow and thermal stratification in data center cabinets is systematically investigated in this study through numericalmethods.The validated Re-Normalization Group(RNG)k-ε turbulence model was used to analyze airflow patterns within cabinet structures equipped with backplane air conditioning.Key findings reveal that server-generated thermal plumes induce hot air accumulation at the cabinet apex,creating a 0.8℃ temperature elevation at the top server’s inlet compared to the ideal situation(23℃).Strategic increases in backplane fan exhaust airflow rates reduce server 1’s inlet temperature from 26.1℃(0%redundancy case)to 23.1℃(40%redundancy case).Gradient exhaust strategies achieve equivalent server temperature performance to uniform exhaust distributions while requiring 25%less redundant airflow.This approach decreases the recirculation ratio from1.52%(uniformexhaust at 15%redundancy)to 0.57%(gradient exhaust at equivalent redundancy).Comparative analyses demonstrate divergent thermal behaviors:in bottom-server-absent configurations,gradient exhaust reduces top server inlet temperatures by 1.6℃vs.uniformexhaust,whereas top-serverabsent configurations exhibit a 1.8℃ temperature increase under gradient conditions.The blind plate implementation achieves a 0.4℃ top server temperature reduction compared to 15%-redundancy uniform exhaust systems without requiring additional airflow redundancy.Partially installed server arrangements with blind plates maintain thermal characteristics comparable to fully populated cabinets.This study validates gradient exhaust and blind plate technologies as effective countermeasures against cabinet-scale thermal recirculation,providing actionable insights for optimizing backplane air conditioning systems in mission-critical data center environments.

关 键 词：Blind plate gradient exhaust computational fluid dynamics BACKFLOW data center cabinet thermal buoyancy 

分 类 号：TU83[建筑科学—供热、供燃气、通风及空调工程]