How much air movement does each blade server typically need for cooling?
When all manufacturers follow the ASHRAE Guidelines for listing power and cooling requirements, this will be an easy answer for anyone to obtain. I suggest you check with the manufacturer of your servers before going by “rules of thumb”. However, since you asked for “typical requirements”, the following may help. Air quantity (Cubic Feet per Minute, or “CFM”) is determined by three things: the Wattage draw of the equipment; the entering air temperature; and the heat rise you are willing to accept as the air goes through the equipment. Without getting into the technicalities of air conditioning, wattage is converted to heat at the rate of 3.4 BTU per watt. (BTU=watts x 3.4). The heat rise is the temperature differential between the air entering and the air leaving the equipment, and is simply called “TD”. The formula for air quantity is: CFM = BTU / TD x 1.08 (The 1.08 correction factor can be ignored for small calculations if you want.) Common numbers for Blade Servers would be: Blade
