Swisscom saves twice over with deutherm cooling technology
Swiss specialist magazines Phase5 and Energeia, both published by the BFE (the Swiss Federal Office of Energy), report on high energy and cost savings that Swisscom is achieving with the aid of technical conversions in their mobile phone systems – and the clever cooling technology from deutherm is a key factor.
More than 5,000 mobile phone base stations in Switzerland ensure that mobile phone customers have comprehensive coverage. New mobile phone technology is being introduced nationwide. This conversion process also entails modernising the existing cooling technology. The old air-conditioning systems currently in place use environmentally harmful coolants, are maintenance intensive and consume far too much energy.
That was why Swisscom began to replace the existing cooling systems with modern, sustainable alternatives in 2019. The previous mix and match of many different air-conditioning systems is being swapped for five standardised devices – three based on pure free-cooling technology, like the Indoor and Outdoor Flexibox-900 and the very quiet DFC-450 system from deutherm, two with active refrigerant production. Work started on the first 1,250 sites which consume the most energy or at which the air-conditioning technology has already been in use for more than eight years.
The aim of project manager Christian Rüttimann is to convert 70% of the installations to free-cooling technology. With about one quarter of the sites having now been converted, a saving of 90% in the costs of electricity for cooling is already apparent. According to Rüttimann, the cost savings are even higher than they had originally calculated.
One of the key contributors to this improvement in efficiency is the Infrabox, a control and monitoring unit that Swisscom developed on its own initiative. The Infrabox works directly with the CC-3000 controller of the free-cooling systems (Flexibox-900 and DFC-450) from deutherm. This ensures the reliable remote monitoring of relevant operating parameters and allows them to be optimised with absolute precision. Upcoming maintenance and repair operations can be planned better and executed more cost-efficiently based on the up-to-date information about the site. It is another important contribution to the sustainability of investment in Swisscom's mobile phone network.
Kühle Köpfe bei der Swisscom dt. Bericht von Phase 5
Têtes froides chez Swisscom fr. Bericht BFE-Magazin
