Energy consumption model of integrated air conditioner with thermosyphon in mobile phone base station

• An energy consumption model of integrated air conditioner is built and verified.
• The energy consumption of integrated air conditioner in China is simulated.
• Integrated air conditioner consumes 12.2%–48.6% less energy than traditional one.
• Thermosyphon mode works effectively when mean monthly temperature is 5.4 °C–24.5 °C.

Data centers and mobile phone base stations (MBS) are consuming more and more energy due to the development of the information communication technology (ICT) industry. The integrated air conditioner with thermosyphon (IACT) was proposed as an efficient cooling device for these spaces, combining vapor compression (VC) refrigeration with a thermosyphon (TS). In this paper, a model to simulate the annual energy consumption of IACT is built and compared with the traditional air conditioner (TAC) in four standard MBSs located in the typical climate zones of China. The results show that the IACT saves 19.1%–28.2% more energy than the TAC, and in hotter regions has a larger energy saving amount but a smaller energy saving rate (ESR). The TS mode works effectively when the mean monthly temperature is 5.4 °C–24.5 °C. The monthly ESR of IACT in the MBSs of Beijing and Guangzhou is 12.2%–48.6% and 12.1%–45.2% respectively.