Daikin’s Innovative Cooling Solutions for Data Centers and Infrastructure

Integrator Media had an exclusive interview with Ayush Dubey, Dy. General Manager – Applied, Daikin Middle East and Africa

Given Daikin’s recent partnerships with OFPPT and Almoayyed Contracting Group, what are your objectives and anticipated outcomes you look to achieve in the future?

Partnering with institutions like OFPPT is more than just our go-to-market strategy for advancing HVAC-R after sales service. With their solid network and our shared vision, we aim to penetrate the Moroccan HVAC-R industry and promote sustainable cooling practices. Our aim is to educate the local market and its users to build a new generation of highly skilled workforce for the HVAC-R industry, contributing significantly to Morocco’s socio-economic development. This aligns with Daikin’s vision of providing customers with the best service quality in their respective local markets while also driving towards more energy-efficient and sustainable products. Through partnerships with vocational training programs like OFPPT in Morocco, we will create a high-quality talent pool through advanced training in the installation and maintenance of high-efficiency HVAC equipment and solutions, which is a critical component over the operational lifetime of the equipment. While the UAE is the powerhouse, KSA, Qatar, Nigeria, and Egypt are our focused markets for the coming years. Nurturing and empowering advanced skills of the local talent and youth is core to any and every step of our expansion program in the region. Similarly, our strategic alliance with Almoayyed Contracting Group underlines our common goal towards customer satisfaction and advancing sustainable and innovative HVAC solutions in Bahrain. We are committed to local citizenship by being receptive of the needs of the communities across the region. Almoayyed Contracting Group’s capabilities in technical support and maintenance services will further reinforce this commitment to customer satisfaction.

What type of HVAC solutions Daikin plans to introduce to the Bahraini market, and how these solutions cater to the needs of data centers and critical infrastructure?

The partnership has seen the introduction of a wide range of Daikin products and services in Bahrain, including Direct Expansion (DX) Air Conditioning, Applied, Refrigeration and various other solutions tailored to meet the unique requirements of the market. We offer vast range of solutions from 1 TR to 3000 TR unit capacity coupled with airside equipment, controls for plant optimization and commercial and industrial refrigeration plants. When it comes to data centers, we have very reliable high efficiency air-cooled chillers operating on Refrigerant cooled VFDs utilizing low GWP refrigerant R1234ze. These chillers have inbuilt redundancy, that is very critical for Datacenter application, equipped with advance control algorithm that provides seamless integration to any BMS system. The control algorithm allows the chillers to achieve full load within 180 seconds after power failure and have options such as free-cooling. All chillers are AHRI certified for performance and have operational capability of upto 55°C ambient. We also offer CRAH units manufactured in our Middle East factories and for airside applications in Datacenter. Daikin also provides Redundant PLC systems that optimize complete chiller plant operation to provide maximum benefits to customer.

With the introduction of Daikin’s advanced HVAC solutions, what future trends or changes do you foresee in the data center and infrastructure landscape in Bahrain?

Datacenters cooling requirements are continuously evolving thanks to improvement in server and hardware technologies. Water temperatures required for air handlers cooling IT equipment are at higher temperatures allowing usage of water-economizers (Free-cooling) even in the prevailing weather conditions of the Middle East. These overall improves the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of datacenters. New server cooling methods such as liquid cooling further improves efficiency of the system. On controls side, implementation of predictive analytics to optimize cooling requirement and hot and cold aisle airflow management supports in overall sustainability and carbon footprint reductions.

How the Packaged Air Conditioners for Facilities & Factories contribute to data center energy efficiency?

Daikin provides complete packaged chillers with each component and controls optimized to deliver best performance for the requirement. The chillers utilize R1234ze low GWP refrigerant that also has better thermodynamic properties while operating at datacenter conditions compared to traditional refrigerant. The compressors are refrigerant cooled that provide maximum reliability and redundancy for operation in harsh Middle East environmental conditions. The free-cooling coils are also completely factory packaged along with integrated controls for field operation. The entire chiller package is tested at simulated design condition to demonstrate committed performance ensuring customer peace of mind once chillers are delivered and installed at site.

How does Daikin’s advanced cooling solutions address the unique thermal management challenges in data centers?

Data centers have stringent requirements on precise temperature and humidity control and our solution offering of CRAH and CRAC units are designed to provide such level of controls. Moreover, Daikin chillers are with inverter with stepless capacity control allowing more accurate water temperature controls and this combined with our advance integrated controls such as iPlant Manager and redundant PLC control achieve these conditions more efficiently.

How Daikin’s RapidRestore technology enhances the reliability of data center cooling systems during power outages?

Daikin’s RapidRestore technology is designed to bring cooling systems back online quickly after a power outage reducing downtime ensuring thermal parameters are maintained within datacenters. The technology comes equipped with inbuilt UPS for controls that does not require unit controller to reboot during power failure and is able to achieve full load on the chiller within 180 seconds. The entire process does not require any manual intervention and is automated to ensure swift and efficient return to normal operations.