The State of Oklahoma’s OMES Criminal Justice Information Services required a new, secure location for its data center. The decision was made to convert an existing first-floor shell space within the recently constructed Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Forensic Science Center. The approximately 1,525 SF space had originally been set aside to accommodate future expansion of the building’s mechanical yard but would now house the OMES Data Center and take advantage of that facility’s durability, centralized location and cutting-edge security system.

With space at a premium, the decision was made not to utilize standard underfloor cooling systems, and instead design separate power and cooling systems operating independently of the larger OSBI facility. As chilled water could not be used in the OMES Data Center, a customized system was designed with over-rack cooling units using pumped refrigerant as the heat transfer medium, routed within the space.

The pumped refrigerant for the over-rack cooling units is circulated through a heat exchanger which decouples the chilled water from having to be routed within the OMES Data Center.  Since the existing building’s chilled water system does not operate year round, the chilled water to supply the data center is sourced from new air-cooled chillers located in an adjacent mechanical yard.

Due to the continuous demand for chilled water, a dry-cooler also was installed, so free cooling can be utilized during the year when outside temperatures are below 40 degrees. This design provided substantial energy savings for the client.

All of the mechanical components in the system are redundant, so in the event of a failure with a chiller, pump, heat exchanger or over-rack cooling unit, a backup is immediately available to take its place. This minimizes the chance of a loss of temperature control in the space, so the OMES Data Center can remain operational through a mechanical component failure.

Completed, the OMES Data Center provides space for 40 server racks, configured as four rows of 10 servers. FSB’s engineers and architects worked closely with the facility manager throughout the design and construction process.