Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-09-29 Origin: Site
In a liquid-cooled data center the dry cooler is the final heat-rejection step: warm facility water or glycol from the CDUs, immersion tanks or rear door heat exchangers flows through a fin-and-tube coil, and outdoor air driven by axial fans carries the heat away — no evaporation, no make-up water, no water treatment. Because liquid-cooled IT tolerates warm facility water, a dry cooler can hold the loop setpoint for most of the year without a chiller. CSTHEATEXCHANGER manufactures dry coolers, free coolers, hybrid and adiabatic coolers and microchannel dry coolers for data center liquid cooling, built to the site's drawing, and supplies the CDU plate heat exchangers and rear door coils on the same loop.
Heat source | Loop | Dry cooler role |
|---|---|---|
Direct-to-chip cold plates via L2L CDU | Facility water / glycol | Rejects CDU facility-side heat outdoors |
Immersion cooling tanks | Dielectric → plate HX → glycol | Rejects tank heat; our Data Center Liquid Cooling page describes this dry-cooler-plus-immersion arrangement |
Rear door heat exchangers | Chilled or facility water | Rejects rack-level captured heat |
Hybrid hall (liquid + fan wall) | Shared loop | Handles the liquid share; chiller trims the rest |
The dry cooler replaces the cooling tower in these designs, which removes water consumption, Legionella management and blow-down from the facility.
Element | Specification |
|---|---|
Casing | Heavy-gauge hot-dip galvanized steel with zinc-aluminium coating |
Coil | Staggered seamless copper tubes (15.9 or 12.7 mm) with aluminium rippled/corrugated fins (0.14 or 0.17 mm); 2.5 mm fin spacing for air turbulence |
Headers / connections | Thick seamless copper headers; threaded steel connections (flanged on request) |
Test | Pressure tested at 15 bar |
Fans | Direct-drive axial fans with integrated motor and guard; dynamically balanced as a complete unit to grade G6.3; maintenance-free; sealed bearings and encapsulated motor |
Fan control | AC or EC fans; EC fans modulate speed to load and save energy |
Aggressive sites | Pre-coated anti-corrosion aluminium fins or copper fins (0.2 mm) |
Layout | Flat (horizontal), vertical compact, or V-type for high capacity in a small footprint |
A dry cooler can only cool the loop to a few degrees above outdoor dry-bulb. For the hours when that is not enough:
Adiabatic / spray pre-cooling — our Free Cooler range offers an optional high-efficiency spray system that lowers water temperature by 5–8 °C compared with a conventional free cooler, using very little water and keeping the coil dry the rest of the year.
Hybrid dry cooler — combined dry and wetted operation for the hottest hours.
Chiller trim — a screw air-cooled or water-cooled chiller in series, running only when the dry cooler cannot hold setpoint.
Which option is right depends on the site's wet-bulb profile and the loop temperature the IT can accept. We model this per site before quoting.
Heat load at full IT build-out on the liquid loop.
Loop supply temperature required by the CDUs or immersion tanks.
Site design dry-bulb (and wet-bulb if adiabatic is considered).
Fluid — water or glycol concentration; affects capacity and freeze protection.
Footprint and mounting — roof, ground, or container; flat vs V-type.
Noise limit at the boundary — sets fan diameter and speed.
Redundancy — N+1 fans per unit or N+1 units.
We return a dry cooler drawing with connection positions and a performance sheet for approval before manufacture.
Yes, when the IT loop can run warm enough. It eliminates water consumption and water treatment; adiabatic assist or a trim chiller covers the hottest hours.
Dry where the design dry-bulb allows the setpoint; adiabatic (spray) where it does not, to gain 5–8 °C in peak hours.
Yes — plate heat exchangers, rear door cooling coils and the dry cooler can be designed as one loop.
Pre-coated anti-corrosion aluminium or copper fins; galvanized casing is standard.
Typically 20–30 days after drawing approval.
Send CSTHEATEXCHANGER your liquid-loop heat load, required supply temperature, site climate data, fluid, footprint and noise limits. We will size the dry cooler, recommend adiabatic or hybrid assist if needed, and return drawings for approval.
Email: info@cstheatexchanger.com
International business: +86 0519 8878 2189
Website: https://www.cstheatexchanger.com/
CSTHEATEXCHANGER — dry coolers that close the liquid-cooling loop without consuming water.
