TAS Energy
Creating Energy-Efficient Data Centers

The advent of artificial intelligence, the connection of smart devices, and the introduction of other advanced computing technologies into the digital ecosystem is driving the demand for accelerated data center construction and requires the re-thinking of data center infrastructure at the same time. Modular design and offsite manufacturing of data center infrastructure, as well as new approaches to the electrical and cooling systems, are being implemented to meet these challenges. This is where Houston, Texas-based TAS Energy is focused and is leveraging its core competencies of engineering and manufacturing large scale modular solutions while developing advanced cooling systems optimized for data centers. TAS Energy is making considerable investments to support hyperscale data center customers’ modular needs, including building a Modular Solutions Laboratory (MSL), at its Houston facility to solve the problems of attaining maximum cooling efficiency. TAS Energy addresses data centers’ growing demand for power, their pursuit to augment computing prowess, and reduce cooling expenditure through its innovative designs and products.

“Our core competency is in modular systems, and we deliver the required design services and modular building techniques to users in the data centerspace,” states JT Grumski, President and CEO of TAS Energy. The modular approach requires the breaking down of the bigger data center picture into individual subsystems and modules and results in accelerated facility construction, significant cost reduction, and phased incremental capacity deployment. TAS Energy has used this approach over the last eight years and successfully completed over 22 major projects for leading data center customers.

“The benefits of building ‘modular’ are a given, and by using the pilot data center in the MSL for R&D, we continually improve our offerings to match ever changing client needs.” claims Jack Kolar, TAS Energy’s VP of Mission Critical Business.

When properly planned and executed, modular, offsite construction can work at any scale, and its use is not exclusive to any one client’s profile. Numerous data center owners operate low-density configurations and need to use techniques like hot or cold-aisle containment.

The benefits of building ‘modular’ area given, and by using the MSL for R&D, we continually improve our offerings

There are challenges specific to those styles of rooms, and the proper modelling of the fluid flows of the whole environment is key.

The trend toward higher performance and higher densities drives others to more sophisticated solutions, including hybrid or advanced-adiabatic systems, liquid cooling, or even to the servers themselves. When cooling a room with air, direct heat rejection to the atmosphere, without refrigeration is the least cost operationally and we have solutions for that. The clients who achieve the highest densities and greatest efficiencies are those who can use liquid cooling inside the rack. We offer liquid cooling solutions from a single-rack micro center up to a hyperscale center of nearly any size.

Using a holistic, systems engineering approach to the design and implementation of these solutions with an array of clients, grants us the opportunity to create bespoke systems, employing these cutting-edge technologies that are a match to owner’s unique requirements.

“By using the 100 kW pilot data center inside our MSL, we can test prototypes of these systems, and compare the performance against the predictive modeling, and tweak these to their optimum effectiveness.”

TAS Energy’s focus is to make its operations scalable while maintaining delivery speed. As its roadmap is anchored on serving the data center arena through customized, yet cost-effective systems, development efforts and investments are set to continue to develop advanced energy-efficient solutions that address increased density with eco-hybrid or liquid cooling systems to drive business growth.