This Research Committee seminar will introduce an open-source, free software package that provides practical, end-to-end (from the IT equipment, to heat rejection, to the ambient) modeling and optimization for data center cooling. The software can be used as a stand-alone tool by data center designers, service consultants and facility managers, or be integrated into existing data center management software for autonomous optimal operation. It is the first practical tool that couples the modeling of airflow-management and cooling systems to enable a global data center cooling optimization. The equation-based Modelica modeling language allows a fast and flexible modeling of various cooling system configurations. Its self-learning regression model enabled by an in situ adaptive tabulation algorithm and a fast fluid dynamics model can predict the critical airflow information under various operational conditions within a few milliseconds. We will demonstrate the usage of our tool at two data centers located in two different climate zones.

Funded by the US Department of Energy, this is the joint efforts of University of Colorado Boulder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Schneider Electric. The software and related publications are available at our project website https://www.colorado.edu/lab/sbs/doe-datacenter.

Presenter Bio:

Dr. Wangda Zuo is an Associate Professor and Lewis-Worcester Faculty Fellow in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He also holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Zuo is the Associate Editor of Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Treasurer and Affiliate Director (representing USA) of IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association), Founding Chair of IBPSA-USA Research Committee, Chair of ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC) 4.10 Indoor Environmental Modeling, former Chair of TC 7.4 Exergy Analysis for Sustainable Buildings. Dr. Zuo is the recipient of ASCE ExCEED Fellowship, IBPSA-USA Emerging Professional Award, Eliahu I. Jury Early Career Research Award, ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award, and Provost Research Award. He has authored and co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed papers. He has a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, a M.Sc. degree in Computational Engineering from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany, and an M. Eng and B.Sc. degree in Automation from Chongqing University in China.