Indirect Evaporative Cooling Chiller Project at a Communication Production Base in Shiyan City, Hubei Province

Project Overview:
The Shiyan Mobile Communication Production Base in Hubei Province is a key node in the national "East Data, West Computing" project's layout in the northwest Hubei region. It is also a major construction project for Hubei Mobile during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. Traditional data center cooling systems rely on mechanical compression refrigeration, which accounts for a high proportion of energy consumption, results in significant carbon emissions, and incurs high operation and maintenance costs. These issues have become a core bottleneck hindering the industry's green transformation. This newly implemented project addresses the centralized cooling needs of the base's communication hub building by adopting Aolan's customized indirect evaporative cooling solution. This technology maximizes the utilization time of natural cooling sources from dry air through indirect evaporation, significantly reducing the operating duration of mechanical refrigeration systems and achieving substantial energy savings and consumption reduction.

Operational Modes:
The project has a total construction area of approximately 5,528 square meters, with the new hub building covering about 5,303 square meters, providing an installation capacity for at least 707 racks.

The project is equipped with 2 sets of Aolan indirect evaporative cooling towers, which operate with intelligent switching for different seasonal conditions:

• During high-temperature and high-humidity summer conditions, the units operate as cooling towers. Under conditions with a wet-bulb temperature ≤29°C, the supply/return water temperatures are 36°C/30°C, achieving a 1°C approach temperature. This provides low-temperature cooling water for the mechanical refrigeration system, significantly improving its energy efficiency.

• During the spring/autumn transitional seasons and winter, the units operate directly as the cooling source. Under conditions with a wet-bulb temperature ≤17°C, the supply/return water temperatures are 17°C/23°C, achieving a 0°C approach temperature. The cooling towers provide stable chilled water to the terminal equipment via plate heat exchangers, effectively reducing system energy consumption.

Results Showcase:
The project was officially put into operation in late October 2025. Calculations show that the project's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is as low as 1.272, placing its energy efficiency level at the forefront of the industry. This solidifies the foundation for green computing power and provides robust support for the continuous output of high-quality, efficient computing infrastructure services.