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Context: The case study presented here was carried out to assist the designers in making a decision about the use of chilled ceiling panels coupled with an air handling unit in a data center with limited usable ceiling area. Project Description: A continually operational data control center, located on the sixth floor of a triangular-shaped building was used for this study. The building is located in Frankfurt, Germany. The tenants requested a constant 22°C operative temperature for the space while the outside air temperature is below 26°C. The manufacturer of the chilled ceiling panels was only able to supply the panels in a certain shape. This meant that only part of the ceiling could be covered with panels. An energy model was used to evaluate the performance of the chilled ceiling panels and any additional need for cooling. Approach: OpenStudio plugin for SketchUp and EnergyPlus™ were used to generate the energy model. The weather file: DEU_Frankfurt.am.Main.106370_ IWEC provided by the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the US Department of Energy was used to obtain the outdoor air temperatures and solar radiation impact on the building. The zone operative temperatures from the simulation results were then analyzed. The tenant provided the zone operative temperature requirement in relation to the outdoor air temperature. The study checked the number of hours that the operational temperature requirement was not met (unmet hours) and the number of degree hours (°C) that the average hourly operative temperature exceeded the requirement (unmet degree hours). The results had to be acceptable according to the German Institute of Standardization requirements as per the DIN-4108-2 standard. This project is an interesting case study where the designers relied on the results from the simulation to make informed decisions for their final design and to validate it to the tenant.
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