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Heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning
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28
Mechanical Technology — February 2014
From humble beginnings as a one-man operation in 1985, Johannesburg-
based industrial blower and compressor supply specialist Airgas Compressors
has rapidly expanded its workforce complement to over 70. Airgas marketing
co-ordinator Andreas Stubel talks about the company’s latest release, the
Delta Blower Generation 5 from Aerzen.
T
oday’s data centre managers are fac-
ing increased financial and regulato-
ry pressures to improve the efficiency
of their data centres. For the South African
climate, an indirect evaporative cooling
system with air-to-air heat exchange is the
EcoBreeze, an indirect economiser cooling solution
most effective way to achieve an efficient
data centre, without exposing the IT space
to the outside air contaminants and varying
moisture conditions.
Schneider Electric, a global specialist
in energy management, has therefore
launched EcoBreeze in South Africa,
a product that addresses the needs of
data centres by implementing multiple
economiser-modes into heat exchange
modules. The economiser units, located
outside the perimeter of the data centre
or on a rooftop, take advantage of local
climatic conditions and can automatically
switch between two forms of cooling:
Air-to-air heat exchange brings in the
hot air generated by an IT system in a data
centre and passes it through the modules’
electronically commutated (EC) fans. The
air is then passed through internal chan-
nels of the indirect evaporative cooler
(IEC). After the air is cooled, it leaves the
IEC and passes through a cooling coil
before being returned to the data centre.
Indirect evaporative heat exchange
takes over when ambient temperatures
can’t support air-to-air heat exchange.
Cooling is done through indirect evapora-
tive cooling, which removes heat from the
air by evaporating water on the outside of
the heat exchanger channels.
The EcoBreeze is the first truly modular
solution on the market to prevent the out-
side air from coming in contact with the
data centre air, regardless of which cooling
mode is used.
The EcoBreeze uses R410a refrigerant
to proportionally top up cooling capacity
when required on a hot and humid summer
day, as well as an onboard water treatment
system that eliminates the need for chemi-
cal water treatment.
A CAD model of Schneider Electric’s Eco-
Breeze solution for data centres. Multiple
economisers located outside the perimeter of
the data centre or on a rooftop automatically
switch between air-to-air heat exchange and
indirect evaporative heat exchange.
Generation 5 positive displacement blowers
The Delta Blower Generation 5 is designed
for conveying air and neutral gases in
industrial applications.
Airgas marketing co-ordinator, Andreas
Stubel, says that the company has been
able to maintain “consistent success”
in the local market thanks to the world
class quality and reliability of the Aerzen
range, combined with the company’s
ability to provide field service, repairs
and overhauls on the entire Aerzen
product range.
“All Airgas technicians have under-
gone full training by Aerzen specialists
in Germany, and are on call on a 24/7
basis. Airgas sets itself apart from the
competition, due to Aerzen equipment’s
flexibility, which can be fully customised
in order to wholly satisfy customers’
unique systems and operational require-
ments,” he explains.
The Delta Blower Generation 5 is
the latest model of Aerzen positive
displacement blowers introduced
locally. “Blower units are designed
for conveying air and neutral gases
in industrial applications. The Delta
Blower Generation 5 is available in 14
different sizes with pressure ranges up
to 1 000 mbar and intake volume flows
ranging from 30 m
3
/h to 9 000 m
3
/h.”
For vacuum applications and nega-
tive pressures of up to -500 mbar
Generation 5 blowers are available in
12 different sizes. “This makes the en-
tire range ideally suited to a wide variety
of applications, including: aeration of
wastewater treatment basins, pneu-
An Aerzen
GM-25S three-
lobe positive displacement blower, which has two
patented pre-inlet channels for pulsation reduction.
A
irgas is the sub-Saharan
subsidiary of German-based
Aerzener Maschinenfabrik
(Aerzen), one of the world’s
leading specialists in the design and
manufacture of roots blowers, turbo
blowers, screw compressors, rotary lobe
compressors and gas meters.
This comprehensive product offering
is ideally suited to numerous industries
ranging from mining and milling, to
the petrochemical and steel industries.
