Award-Winning Hydro Denco: FläktGroup’s Success at DCS Cooling Awards

The DCS Cooling awards

 

In case you weren’t aware we at FläktGroup recently celebrated a victory by winning the ‘DCS Cooling Innovation of the Year Award’. An achievement that we are immensely proud of and of course the amazing team behind it that managed to make this possible. Bravo.

 

But what are the DCS Cooling awards?

 

They are essentially the Oscars of the data centre industry. They recognise impressive achievements, customer success stories, technology innovation and both individual and company contributions to the world of data centres. Our Data Centre Directors Rama Arumugasamy and Jonas Caino, along with our Group CEO Trevor Young and CSO Dave Dorney were all there to accept the award in person.

 

It’s a remarkable achievement to win and we cannot iterate what an immense honour this is. Our Applications Specialist Mike Hayes together with his Hereford Applications Team, designed, built and tested the Hydro Denco prototypes. The team then had to produce literature and drawings to take the product to market, whilst all selections were done by hand, from first principles. Mike, who also prepared the award entry, had this to say:

 

“Absolutely splendid! Didn’t expect to win against such stiff competition but was most pleasantly surprised when I saw some chaps collecting the award on my behalf”.

 

This was after all Mike’s concept, and it was always essential in his mind to create a system that was energy efficient, achieved peak performance and was unique in design and function.

 

“The Hydro Denco was always meant to be a unique product. By getting rid of many valves and dated AC motors we used Electronically Commutated (EC) type motors for everything.”

 

With this change in process a more energy efficient product is made, and it is a step forward for data centre cooling and air handling units. We are already thinking about the future too.

 

“Ultimately, for the future of our cooling units, we are looking to minimise reliance upon evaporative cooling and at new concepts, possibly even involving a new generation of environmentally friendly and safety proven refrigerants."

 

Exciting and innovative new ideas is what we at FläktGroup are always on the lookout for and our talents were recognised thanks to Mike and his amazing team.

 

“It was really nice to come up with the concept, there was no real feeling of trepidation during the process either, with the great talent and resilience of FläktGroup being a constant reassurance, there really is nothing like it.”

 

Our Hydro Denco achieves this winning formula with its unparalleled cooling without complexity, offering maximum uptime and most importantly minimal energy use. By eliminating mechanical refrigeration and using advanced EC technology, we’ve subsequently cut down on the environmental impact drastically. It has been designed in such a way that it meets even the most demanding needs of data centres. It’s easy to install and maintain too, providing robust performance wherever it is deployed.

 

 

The details:

 

How was Hydro Denco Achieved?

 

It is no easy task to design something as unique as the Hydro Denco and one of the first things we thought about was the radical change of the internal makeup of our unit. In this case it was the removal of mechanical refrigeration, which meant no compressors, refrigerants, or complex controls. This subsequently removed all the regulatory issues such as F Gas compliance but importantly the changes made were directly addressing environmental and sustainability concerns.

 

Subsequently this led to the removal of the AC motors and the inclusion of EC type motors. Not only does this maximise efficiency but also facilitates speed control into the system making it adaptable and provide significant energy savings. Our cooling coils went under changes too, adopting the latest technologies and manufacturing techniques to produce the optimal product in efficient heat exchangers.

 

When looking at the water system, we removed the control valves, the balancing valves, and the flow valves from the system. Anything that caused a resistance to the water flow was removed. This all culminated in the creation of the Hydro Denco.

 

 

How does Hydro Denco work?

 

A very high efficiency indoor cooling coil is supplied with glycol solution from a very high efficiency external heat rejection coil. ‘High efficiency’ in this context relates to the cooling coil being able to supply air at a temperature only 2k higher than that of the entering water without too much air or water side pressure losses.

 

The use of integral touch screen controls allows the user to adjust the speed of the pump and external fans to maintain their ideal supply air temperature. Internal fans modulate whilst this process happens to provide a constant temperature difference between supply and return air.

 

 

The Hydro Denco is a leading example of product engineering and the most energy efficient product on the market. This award only reinforces that message for all to see.

 

Our team is dedicated in producing highly energy efficient products for the market and we are constantly innovating and developing new processes to bring you the fresh new alternative.

 

FläktGroup will always be a leading innovator and we will show no signs of stopping to improve the future of digital infrastructure.

 

FläktGroup is more than just a brand, we care for your air.

 

Find below a link to the Hydro Denco product page:

Hydro-DENCO® High Capacity CRAH | FläktGroup (flaktgroup.com)