Daikin Applied Europe and CTS Group have developed a patented cooling concept designed to maximise energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and support the next generation of AI-driven data centres.
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) remains one of the most important metrics for measuring data centre efficiency.
The lower the PUE, the greater the proportion of energy directed to IT equipment rather than supporting infrastructure such as cooling systems.
The jointly developed Daikin and CTS Group solution is designed to achieve projected PUE values as low as 1.09 in Nordic climates and below 1.20 even in demanding Middle Eastern environments.
This performance is made possible through the extensive use of free cooling, optimised water management, and an innovative system architecture designed specifically for modern high-density computing environments.
The result is a cooling infrastructure that consumes less energy while enabling a greater share of available electrical capacity to be dedicated to revenue-generating IT equipment.
Artificial intelligence, particularly Large Language Model (LLM) training, creates highly dynamic thermal loads.
Servers can experience rapid fluctuations in heat output, requiring cooling systems capable of responding instantly while maintaining stable operating conditions.
To overcome this challenge, Daikin and CTS Group have developed a patented concept that combines enhanced facility water systems, advanced controls, maximised free cooling, and dedicated buffer pipe technology.
This approach helps maintain highly stable water temperatures supplied to liquid-cooled servers, even during sudden load changes or electrical short-break events.
Full-scale factory testing has validated the concept's ability to handle the demanding conditions associated with modern AI applications.
Cooling efficiency is about much more than sustainability. It also has a direct impact on the economics of a data centre.
By reducing the energy required for cooling, operators can significantly lower electricity costs throughout the lifecycle of their facilities. In addition, more efficient cooling systems reduce the overall electrical infrastructure required to support a given IT load, helping to optimise capital expenditure.
Perhaps even more importantly, greater cooling efficiency allows more of a site's available power to be allocated to computing resources rather than support systems.
This means more IT capacity from the same grid connection, maximising both infrastructure utilisation and return on investment.
As data centres continue to grow in complexity, operators are looking for partners that can provide more than individual products.
Through their patented cooling concept, Daikin Applied Europe and CTS Group have demonstrated how innovative cooling strategies can help meet these objectives, delivering projected PUE levels below 1.2 even in some of the world's most challenging climates and setting a new benchmark for efficient AI-ready data centres.