Boosting Data Center Efficiency with a MeeFog Humidification System
Case Study: OneNeck IT Solutions wanted to cut its energy costs, but still needed a humidification system that would meet its redundancy…
Data Center Cooling & Humidification Systems
Fog-Assisted Heat Rejection for Data Center Liquid Cooling
Keep Water-Cooled AI Chips Cool Even on the Hottest Days
High-density AI servers use direct-to-chip liquid cooling to remove heat from powerful GPUs and CPUs. MeeFog helps reject that heat outdoors by pre-cooling the air entering dry coolers and other heat exchangers to maintain cooling capacity during extreme temperatures without the continuous water use of a fully evaporative cooling tower.
Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling for AI Data Centers
Direct-to-chip cooling dissipates extreme heat by circulating liquid coolant through cold plates mounted directly onto high-heat components such as GPUs and CPUs. The heated coolant passes through a coolant distribution unit (CDU), where the heat is transferred to the facility-water loop and carried to an outdoor dry cooler or other heat-rejection system.
During very hot weather, the outdoor heat exchanger can become the limiting part of the cooling system. MeeFog helps overcome that limitation by lowering the temperature of the air entering the heat exchanger.
Adiabatic Dry Coolers are utilized to efficiently reject heat into the atmosphere using fans and evaporation, reducing the need for traditional energy-intensive chillers.
Optimize Heat Exchangers with MeeFog Pre-Cooling
The intense heat collected by the CDU still must be rejected outdoors by dry air coolers and heat exchangers. MeeFog pre-cooling addresses this challenge by forcing high-pressure water through precision atomizing nozzles, creating an ultra-fine fog upstream of the heat-exchanger coil. As the droplets evaporate, they lower the temperature of the entering air and improve heat-transfer performance.
WATCH: MeeFog Heat Exchanger Pre-Cooling
MeeFog systems generate a precisely controlled cloud of ultra-fine water droplets upstream of the heat exchanger. As the droplets evaporate, they remove heat from the incoming air before it passes across the coil.
The result is cooler entering air, improved heat-transfer performance, and additional cooling capacity during high-temperature conditions—without requiring the outdoor heat exchanger to operate as a continuously wet cooling tower.
Dry coolers reject heat using a closed-loop system that does not require continuous water evaporation. However, during periods of very hot weather, the temperature difference between the outdoor air and the cooling fluid is reduced, which limits heat rejection.
MeeFog systems add evaporative cooling only when required. Ultra-fine fog droplets are introduced upstream of the heat exchanger, where they evaporate and lower the temperature of the incoming air before it reaches the coil. This increases the temperature difference across the heat exchanger and improves its ability to reject heat.
Benefits of a MeeFog Cooling System for Data Centers
MeeFog offers advanced data center cooling solutions that improve performance and reduce energy consumption.
- Hot-Day Cooling Capacity: Lowers the entering air temperature to keep coolant safely within operating limits even on the hottest afternoons, preventing GPU thermal throttling.
- Lower Water Use: Because the system only requires fogging during peak hot periods, annual water consumption remains significantly lower than traditional evaporative cooling towers.
- Equipment-Sizing Benefits: The increased efficiency allows designers to specify much smaller heat exchangers, saving valuable footprint and capital expenses.
- Retrofit Applications: MeeFog systems can be seamlessly retrofitted to existing dry coolers and heat exchangers to instantly boost heat rejection capacity.
Data Center HVAC Cooling and Humidification Systems
While liquid cooling handles high-density server racks, air-cooled systems and ambient conditions still require strict management. In addition to liquid-cooling heat-exchanger pre-cooling, MeeFog systems can support traditional data center HVAC equipment. Applications include air-handler evaporative cooling, humidification, electrostatic-discharge control and chiller-condenser pre-cooling.
Inlet-Air Cooling: Uses an evaporative method to cool the air entering the building. This energy-efficient process helps maintain consistent cooling performance in hot, dry climates, reducing dependence on mechanical chillers.
Adiabatic Humidification for ESD Control: Adds precise moisture to maintain 40–60% relative humidity, preventing static buildup. It protects servers from electrostatic discharge (ESD) to extend the lifespan of sensitive electronic components.
You can also use our systems to cool rooftop condensers. Please reach out to our sales engineer today to find out how a MeeFog system can lower your operating costs.
How a MeeFog HVAC System Is Installed
Click the different areas of the interactive MeeFog HVAC diagram below to learn more information about our data center cooling system.
Reverse Osmosis Water Purification
Reverse Osmosis Water Purification
City water is treated using the Reverse Osmosis water treatment rack. This purifies the water, removing minerals, particulate, and microorganisms. Systems include automated membrane flushing, pre-treatment filtration, and UV Re-Circulation.
MeeFog Pump
MeeFog Pump
The high-pressure pump maintains 1000 psi water pressure in order to atomize the water into tiny droplets that can evaporate into the air stream. The pump rack has a VFD with panel-mounted controller that maintains pressure when staging valves open and close.
Staging Valves
Staging Valves
The valve panel allows precise control over how much humidification is injected into the air stream based on a signal from the BMS. It is possible to control the humidification level in the space to plus or minus 1% RH.
Nozzle Manifolds
Nozzle Manifolds
Fog nozzles are mounted on stainless steel tubing inside the air handler. These nozzles produce droplets in the 10-micron range. These precision nozzles are manufactured and tested in Mee Industries' own facility.
Mist Eliminator
Mist Eliminator
The mist eliminator removes water droplets larger than 5 microns. The filter pads can come off their stainless steel frames and can be washed or replaced easily.
System Overview
Nozzle Comparison
At an operating pressure of 2000 psi, the resulting average droplet size is roughly one-tenth the diameter of a single strand of human hair.
With MeeFog data center cooling systems come benefits like:
- Increases system uptime and reliability.
- Protects servers and IT hardware from overheating.
- Extra cooling capacity during peak heat events
- Supports high-density rack environments efficiently.
- Cuts cooling energy consumption.
- Maintains precise humidity and temperature levels.
Droplet Comparison
Small droplets have a larger surface-to-volume ratio compared to larger droplets. This allows them to evaporate much more rapidly than larger droplets.
Want Proof?
Still not sure if you want to upgrade your data center cooling infrastructure? We’ll gladly supply a detailed payback analysis report for your Hospital or Medical Center, including:
- Installed the MeeFog system cost.
- Predicted process gains per year.
Featured Case Study
NCAR Uses MeeFog Data Center Cooling System to Prevent Electrostatic Damage to its New Supercomputer
The Challenge:
When the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) decided to build a new supercomputing center, it wanted to take advantage of the free cooling available in the high, dry Wyoming environment. But using that dry air risked electrostatic damage to the $25-$35 million Yellowstone supercomputer, the data analysis and visual systems, and all the other storage, networking, and ancillary equipment in the data center.
The Solution:
For reliable, energy-efficient humidification, NCAR installed a MeeFog data center cooling system with two 1.5 HP ceramic plunger pumps delivering 2 gpm of fog into the air handlers, allowing NCAR to safely use outside air.
Opened in 2012, the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) is a 170,000 square foot data center with two 12,000 square foot raised floor spaces. The site houses the IBM Yellowstone 1.6 Petaflop supercomputer in one of those modules, with the other set aside for future expansion.
In addition to the computing space, the NWSC has 6,000 square feet of data storage and archival space, a 2,500 square foot network operations center, administrative offices, and a visitor center, with 100,000 square feet devoted to mechanical and electrical equipment.
Data Centers Cooling System FAQ
Data centers contain sensitive servers, storage, and networking equipment that require stable environmental conditions. Low humidity increases the risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD), which can cause catastrophic damage to IT systems. Industry guidelines recommend maintaining around 45% RH to protect equipment and ensure uptime.
Steam humidifiers require large amounts of electricity or gas to boil water, adding unnecessary heat that increases cooling loads. In contrast, MeeFog uses high-pressure fogging, which cools the air as it humidifies. On average, MeeFog data center cooling systems consume 1/100th the energy of electric steam humidifiers, making it one of the most energy-efficient humidification solutions for data centers.
At its Tier 3 data center in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, OneNeck IT Solutions installed a MeeFog data center cooling and humidification system to reduce energy use. Combined with UPS and BAS modifications, the system significantly cut power consumption.
The MeeFog data center cooling system provided: high-pressure fogging to reduce chiller load, full redundancy (two pumps, two power feeds, two controls), simple integration with existing AHUs, and one fogging system per room handled the load. This approach provided robust reliability while lowering operational costs.
MeeFog data center cooling systems are designed to meet Tier 3 redundancy standards, with dual pumps, dual power feeds, and independent controls. This ensures continuous operation even during component failures. By integrating into existing air handling units (AHUs), MeeFog delivers precise humidity control without compromising uptime.
The ROI is typically very fast, as MeeFog reduces bothhumidification and cooling energy costs. With energy use up to 100x lower than electric steam, operators can achieve payback within 1–3 years, depending on facility size and hours of operation. At the same time, MeeFog data center cooling systems reduce operational complexity and maintenance compared to steam boilers.
Yes, MeeFog humidifiers integrate seamlessly with modern data center BAS and monitoring systems, enabling operators to control humidity levels with the same precision as temperature and airflow. At OneNeck IT Solutions, the MeeFog system worked alongside existing infrastructure while delivering measurable energy savings.
MeeFog Nozzle
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