Mobile refrigeration systems save server room from going out of service

During the weeks-long heat wave in the summer of 2015, with temperatures well over 30° Celsius, many stationary air-conditioning systems in offices and business premises reached their limits. This was also the case in three server rooms of the office complex in Frankfurt's Galluspark. Just in time for the weekend, the air-conditioning system failed and reported a malfunction to the responsible refrigeration specialist KKL Klimatechnik in Düsseldorf. Quick help was needed to avoid a server crash and the associated loss of valuable data.

This help came from KKL Klimatechnik, the refrigeration specialist responsible for the office building, which installed the stationary air conditioning system in the new building and has looked after and maintained it over the past few years. KKL Klimatechnik Vertriebs GmbH, headquartered in Düsseldorf, has been in business for over 25 years. 160 employees plan and implement air conditioning concepts for offices, business premises, medical practices and also in the private sector.

After an initial survey of the situation on site at the Galluspark in Frankfurt, it quickly became clear to the KKL team that several days would have to be planned for repairing the air conditioning system and procuring the necessary spare parts. The task now was to find a temporary air-conditioning solution as quickly as possible so that the room temperature in the server room would not rise above the maximum value of 28° C. The air-conditioning system had to be replaced. Above this critical limit, the functionality of the servers cannot be permanently ensured.

At 8:30 on Saturday morning, the emergency call from the refrigeration specialist company KKL reached the 24/7 Hotmobil hotline. "During my search for a provider for a temporary solution for the failed air conditioning system, I came across Hotmobil's offer on the Internet," reports the employee responsible at KKL. Immediately, a Hotmobil expert carried out a needs analysis with all the necessary parameters and taking into account individual wishes and requirements in order to develop an optimally coordinated solution concept. In this case, four COOLAIR mobile ventilation units with a capacity of 25 or 50 kW and a COOLUNIT mobile refrigeration unit with a cooling capacity of 150 kW were used. As early as 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Hotmobil delivered the required air conditioning units to Frankfurt's Galluspark. At the same time, the crane truck arrived, which was necessary to lift the air handling units inside the offices. In the next step, the service technicians installed the necessary water and ventilation hoses, filled the system with water and connected the power cables to a power generator that had also been rented for this emergency. The 150 kW COOLUNIT refrigeration unit could be easily set up outside without any additional effort. Just one hour later, the server rooms were commissioned and cooled using the mobile air conditioning units. "When we were able to start cooling the three servers at 4 p.m., everyone was very satisfied, because by now the temperatures in the server rooms were close to the critical limit," said the KKL technician responsible on site. Hotmobil service technician Sebastian Neumann also praises the good and effective cooperation of all those involved: "Thanks to the excellent logistical organization and coordination of all the companies involved, we managed to fix this serious problem at short notice and, above all, in good time, which prevented anything worse from happening."