ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 defines technology found in data centers.
ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 (TC 9.9) is focused on mission critical facilities, data centers, technology spaces and electronic equipment. Defining the technology spaces in a data center is necessary to accurately produce the required energy use calculations.
To gain a deeper understanding of how ASHRAE has impacted the design of power and cooling stems for data centers, the reader needs to understand that in a decade, TC 9.9 developed several new documents on data center design and operation. Equipment Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments is still the industry standard, defining guidelines for maintaining optimal temperature and humidity levels in data centers.
TC 9.9 also released the first-ever edition of ASHRAE Standard 90.4: Energy Standard for Data Centers. Even while all of this was underway, TC 9.9 recognized that the data center industry will continue to grow and change rapidly. Simply put, data center facilities’ design, construction and operation will likely be ahead of most codes and standards. However, even in this period of rapid growth, projects were obtaining permits and the mechanical and electrical engineers were providing material to back up their calculations based on ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.
Additional responsibilities for TC 9.9:
- Design and operations: This area addresses the design, operations, maintenance and efficient energy usage of modern data centers and technology spaces.
- Thermal guidelines: Publishing thermal guidelines for data processing environments and data communications equipment.
- Power and cooling: Providing recommendations for power distribution and cooling applications in data centers.
- Industry collaboration: Bringing together industry representatives, including equipment manufacturers, consulting engineers, data center operators, academia and government agencies, to share knowledge and best practices.
