Life cycle cost based optimization design method for an integrated cooling system with multi-operating modes

Cooling system is a primary concern in data centers, since the energy consumption of cooling system accounts for a large proportion of the total. This paper proposes a global optimization design method to reduce the life cycle cost for an integrated cooling system which is a combination of thermosyphon loop and vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The integrated cooling system has three different operating modes corresponding to different outdoor conditions, and the optimization design method establishes the physical model for the cooling system with multi-operating modes. Considering minimizing the life cycle cost of the system as the objective function, the main parameters of each component are optimized and designed by sequential quadratic programming. The optimization results show a remarkable energy saving effect, and the optimized cooling system reduces the life cycle cost by approximate 10% compared with the existing system.