A simplified power consumption model of information technology (IT) equipment in data centers for energy system real-time dynamic simulation. (15th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheung, Howard; Wang, Shengwei; Zhuang, Chaoqun; Gu, Jiefan
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 222(2018)
• Page Start: 329
• Page End: 342
• Publication Date: 2018-07-15
• Subjects: Data center -- Energy consumption modeling -- Building simulation -- Energy efficiency; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.138
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: A power consumption model of IT equipment in data centers is built. It predicts how IT equipment design and operation change a data center's power consumption. It only needs data from the design of data center and manufacturer specification. It can be used in dynamic and real-time energy system simulation. Abstract: Due to the rapid rise of power consumption of data centers in recent years, much work has been done to develop energy-efficient design, controls and diagnosis of their cooling systems, while the energy system simulation is used as an effective tool. However, existing models of information technology (IT) equipment of data centers cannot well represent the effects of IT equipment design and operation status on the data center cooling demand, and this hinders the development of the energy saving cooling technologies of data centers. To address this issue, this paper introduces a power consumption model of IT equipment in data centers with coefficients and modeling script provided for immediate use in data center energy system simulation. This energy model can be used to simulate energy performance of typical IT equipment in data centers under real-time dynamic operation conditions conveniently and effectively without the need of data other than the specifications of a data center design and IT equipment manuals. Its use with a commonly used building simulation program is demonstrated with a building model of a typical large office in a subtropical area. The results show that the model can represent the change of power consumption of data centers with different IT equipment designs and operation appropriately.