Energy Efficiency Analysis of Data Center Based on All-Inverter Coupled Air-Side Free Cooling Technology

All-inverter coupled air-side free cooling technology is an energy-saving technology that applies inverter technology to a coupled air conditioning system with liquid pump driven heat pipes and vapor compression refrigeration, allowing it to fully utilize outdoor air cooling resources. In order to comprehensively analyze the energy saving effect of this technology when applied to a data center, we designed and implemented an energy consumption monitoring and testing platform using a data center air-cooled refrigeration air conditioning system as a retrofit and research object. Then, we monitored and analyzed the operating parameters of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system before and after the retrofit on this platform, and combined the actual application of this technology in different temperature and altitude regions in China to analyze the energy efficiency of the all-inverter coupled air-side free cooling technology. The results show that: (1) The all-inverter coupled air-side free cooling technology can achieve smooth control of the air conditioning system, reduce power system shock caused by frequent system start-up, and improve system stability. (2) The technology has improved outdoor temperature sensitivity and can make better use of natural outdoor air cooling sources, with energy savings of up to 46.1% when comparing the hottest and coldest seasons. (3) Application results in various regions of China show that the all-inverter coupled air-side free cooling technology is more versatile and achieves good results in both old data center retrofit and new data center construction, with the lowest power usage effectiveness (PUE) value reaching 1.228.