How Structural Ceiling Systems Can Make Existing And Future Data Center Designs More Energy-Efficient

From streaming our favorite television shows to storing sensitive data in the cloud, data centers have become essential to our daily lives. 

However, with the higher demand for data centers, there needs to be more flexibility in not only how they’re powered but also in how they’re designed to meet the ever-changing needs of their tenants and owners.

Armstrong World Industries, a Pennsylvania-based ceiling tile and suspension systems manufacturing company, has been providing wall and ceiling solutions for more than 150 years. For the past decade, Armstrong has offered a unique tile system that allows flexible designs in the paneling of cooling systems for data centers. 

“As data centers have been more prevalent in the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve become more involved in developing different tile solutions and suspension systems engineered to help solve some of the data center challenges we're hearing from owners, operators and architects,” said Mark Dunn, Armstrong national sales manager for structural ceilings and data centers. 

Dunn said one of the challenges includes getting the right materials for data center construction out to the customer quickly. With the lack of skilled labor for data center installation, Armstrong is engineering its products to reduce on-site labor through prefabricated and modular build solutions. Construction efficiency is gained with off-site prefabrication, and the model accommodates the changing landscape of construction while shortening the overall installation time from start to finish, he said. 

“We’re creating solutions that are more prefabricated to help reduce the number of installers needed at the data center, and we want to give our clients more flexible options,” he said. 

He said the tile solution Armstrong has developed will allow the data center of the future to avoid using the traditional raised floor design. That old design approach can reduce energy-efficiency in the data center due to cool air slipping through the cracks. 

“While raised floors and containment racks have been a staple in data centers for years, what we’ve noticed is that these data center designs have led to fugitive leaks or bypass losses due to uneven cool air delivery,” Dunn said. “Our ceiling panel design separates the warm return air from the conditioner with a tighter fit that doesn't have gaps, allowing cool air to escape. We can create a more energy-efficient cooling process from the ceiling to the IT equipment.”

Dunn said this has been a growing concern for data center owners and developers who look to run a more energy-efficient operation. Armstrong has been creating products to help a variety of data center types, such as hyperscale, colocation and enterprise. The company wants clients to look at all options available to meet their data center designs. 

The Armstrong structured grid design called DynaMax helps reduce leakage by eliminating drop rod penetrations, and the Ultima AirAssure product helps create a tighter fit between the ceiling panels and suspension system. Combining the two products can reduce leakage rates by 80%, which not only gives owners a more optimal design but also saves them big money on operational costs by reducing bypass losses, Dunn said. 

Armstrong was able to help a West Coast colocation data center client reduce its energy costs when it integrated Armstrong products into the facility. 

“We introduced them to our Ultima AirAssure gasketed panels in combination with the DynaMax structural grid,” Dunn said. “We provided them with a client-specific report by taking input from variables such as cooling load per rack, total racks per hot aisle containment, the total number of hot aisle containment zones, overall ceiling area, cost of electricity and operating hours that helped boost their ROI and annual savings.”

Dunn said the client was pleased with the results and is looking to incorporate Armstrong solutions for its build-outs going forward. 

While Armstrong originally intended to use these AirAssure panels to create cleaner spaces in medical facilities and schools, the company pivoted this product to its data center portfolio to integrate a factory-gasketed ceiling panel with the structural grid system.

“We’re seeing more owners wanting to reduce their carbon footprint, and we’re helping to provide flexible options for existing data centers based on the tenants’ future needs,” Dunn said.

Dunn added this trend is happening more often with retrofits where data center owners and tenants want to have the convenience of swapping out the tiles in their ceilings as their needs change with time.

“We can provide the ideal tile design based on the tenant’s visual preference for the data center and suit it for the size of the facility as well,” he said. “Unlike the past where a data center design may be more permanent, our clients can reconfigure some of our structural grid in the ceiling years from now and significantly save them time and money because they don’t have to tear down the entire suspension system.”

Dunn said Armstrong makes sure that all its data center offerings meet the most stringent sustainability requirements. 

“We want to help our clients take a proactive approach to meeting sustainability targets, and all of our products can help them achieve that,” he said. “In our tile and suspension systems, we want our clients to continue to create a flexible data center design that stands the test of time while being safe and environmentally responsible.”

Armstrong, DynaMax and AirAssure are registered trademarks of AWI Licensing LLC and/or its affiliates.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Armstrong World Industries. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to [email protected].