How KNF Pumps Power and Cool the Internet

Emergency Power with Flywheel Technology

When it comes to critical infrastructure, such as data centers, effective and reliable emergency power solutions are essential. One innovative technology used to bridge power fluctuations is flywheel kinetic energy storage. Unlike rechargeable battery-based systems, flywheel systems do not degrade with use, so they last much longer and are less expensive to maintain. They are also more compact, more efficient, and use more environmentally friendly and recyclable materials.

Flywheel technology uses the kinetic energy of a rotating mass to store and release energy as needed. It consists of a high-speed rotating flywheel connected to a combined motor-generator. During normal power conditions, the motor uses electrical power to accelerate the flywheel to a high rotational speed. In the event of a power outage, the kinetic energy stored by the spinning flywheel is converted back to electricity to power critical equipment until slower starting systems such as diesel generators can take over.

Advanced flywheel systems have rotors made of high-strength carbon fiber composites suspended by magnetic bearings that rotate in a vacuum enclosure. A KNF multi-stage diaphragm vacuum pump with a long-life BLDC motor can remove more than 99.5% of the air from the enclosure to create a very low friction environment, ideal for this application. This increases efficiency and minimizes drag, allowing some flywheel systems to reach speeds of more than 50,000 rpm. Thus, KNF contributes to reliable and efficient emergency power solutions for data centers and other applications that require uninterrupted power.

Sustainable Water-Based Cooling Systems

As important as emergency power is to the reliable operation of any data center, efficient cooling is critical to maintaining optimal operating temperatures for servers and other components. Inefficient cooling and overheating can lead to performance degradation, hardware damage and costly downtime. Moreover, when this cooling is done efficiently, it not only keeps the data center running reliably, but also reduces the need for a number of potentially harmful substances.

Traditional cooling systems using conventional refrigerants often rely on substances such as fluorinated gases (F-gases), ammonia or propane. However, these refrigerants can pose environmental risks by contributing to ozone depletion and global warming as well as safety and health risks. In response to these challenges, emerging technologies have turned to water as an energy-efficient refrigerant in closed-loop systems.

Water-based cooling systems offer remarkable efficiency and sustainability, delivering energy savings of up to 80% compared to conventional cooling systems, while producing minimal CO₂ emissions. In addition, using water as a refrigerant poses no risk to the environment, making it a safe and clean alternative.

Using water as an effective refrigerant requires precise, constant and reliable vacuum conditions for the phase changes necessary for refrigeration. This places high demands on the vacuum pump, which must operate completely oil-free, within a range of 10 to 100 mbar abs. and a temperature range of 5° C to 45° C. In addition, compact size and overall robustness are critical factors in selecting the right vacuum pump for these systems.

Thanks to its unique modular design, which allows for the optimal selection of materials for each application, diaphragm pump technology such as a customized KNF N 952 provides an ideal solution for handling demanding vapor environments and maintaining the required vacuum conditions.