Vodacom

Vodacom

Winner of ‘International Achievement of the Year’ at the RAC Cooling Industry Awards 2014

About Vodacom case study

Vodacom Pty Ltd is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, with the largest number of subscribers of cellular networks in South Africa. The business provides GSM services to more than 50 million customers in Southern Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The challenge

To meet the increase in demand for its data centre applications, Vodacom required a solution that would allow it to quickly roll out additional facilities without the time, high cost and logistical barriers associated with new builds, or the constraints of retrofitting facilities in existing buildings. Vodacom was also keen to maximise energy savings by integrating the most advanced air conditioning equipment technologies and exploiting free cooling opportunities, an added challenge in tropical and subtropical Africa.

 

 Airedale solution

  • 2 or 3 x 40-95kW SmartCool™ dual circuit air cooled precision air conditioning (PAC) units

  • 1 or 2 x 60-95kW condensers / dry coolers

  • Three-stage indirect free cooling control achieved by adjusting fan speed, pump speed and control valve, supplemented by DX cooling where necessary

  • Optimised head pressure control: the condensing pressure set point modulates to maintain the most energy efficient system operating point depending upon ambient temperature and room load

  • Constant pressure control

  • For comfort, and to prevent the ingress of unfiltered fresh air, a return air plenum air port above each air conditioning unit supplies one air change per hour (ACH) of filtered fresh air

 

“Airedale delivered with speed and urgency, and the quality of their cutting-edge air conditioning plant designs will make a major contribution to Vodacom’s strategy. The energy efficiency of the modular data facilities fully complements Vodacom programme to reduce the Group’s overall carbon footprint.”

Fred R Weber, Pr Cert Eng, Pr Tech Eng, MSAI Mech Eng
Senior Specialist – Vodacom Technical Facilities Division (www.vodacom.com)

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