Johnson Controls has launched the second guide in its AI Factory Reference Design Guide Series, focused on air-cooled chillers for data center thermal management. The guide follows the company’s water-cooled chiller guide released in February and is part of a planned series that will also cover absorption chillers and direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
The new guide supports scalable data center designs up to a 1-GW AI factory using air-cooled chillers. It outlines a thermal cooling architecture combining high-efficiency air-cooled YORK centrifugal chillers, including YDAM and YVAM models, fan coil walls and coolant distribution units to manage both air- and liquid-cooled IT loads.
Johnson Controls said the guide provides sizing references for 220 MW compute clusters, including recommended design temperatures and operating conditions across each stage of the thermal chain. The company said the design can return 50 MW to the AI factory through bifurcated loops for air- and liquid-cooling systems and improve annual energy consumption by 32% through intelligent use of redundant chillers.
The guide also addresses heat island effects in air-cooled chiller plants, with stated peak power savings of 20 MW. Johnson Controls said eliminating cooling towers enables zero water usage and can save more than 12 million gallons daily. Raising chilled water temperature to support warm-water Technology Cooling System loops can improve coefficient of performance by 30% and reduce the number of chillers by 27%, according to the company.
“At gigawatt scale, AI factories require a fundamentally different way of thinking about infrastructure,” said Austin Domenici, president, Johnson Controls Global Data Center Solutions. “The future requires designing integrated systems that can scale predictably, perform efficiently and adapt as technology evolves. This guide reflects how Johnson Controls helps customers plan holistically for AI growth, from design to operations, anywhere in the world.”
Learn more about Johnson Controls’s Reference Guide Series at www.johnsoncontrols.com/industries/data-centers/reference-designs.
