innovative research, inc. is pleased
the announce the release of tileflow 4.2. this new version contains a large
number of enhancements. these are outlined below.
upflow crac units
tileflow now allows you to include upflow crac units in the data center
layouts. for these units, the dimensions, the details of the return and supply
openings, the flow rate, and the cooling characteristics are specified through
upflow crac unit styles. the supply openings are always located on the top
face, but the return openings can be on any of the five remaining faces.
for a given crac unit, you can
specify:
> a supply plenum with flow
openings on multiple faces
> a rear return duct if the return openings are on the rear face
> a floor stand (required if the return openings are on the bottom face)
> supply and return vents (appropriate for ducted supply or return)
> cooling behavior (supply temperature is known or is determined by the
return temperature, which could be subject to thermostatic control)
database of upflow crac unit styles an upflow crac unit style specifies
the dimensions, the details of the supply and return openings, the flow rate,
and the cooling characteristics of a specific upflow crac unit model. tileflow
now includes an extensive database of the styles representing models from major
manufacturers. the database is editable, and new styles can easily be added.
downflow crac units with fans lowered below the raised floor
selected manufacturers have now introduced downflow crac units with ec fans
that can be lowered below the raised floor. in tileflow 4.2, the definition of downflow
crac unit style has been modified to allow for lowered fans and specify
geometric details of these fans.
expanded databases
the databases of crac units, perforated tiles, and server racks have been
expanded to include new models from various manufacturers.
new in-row coolers tileflow now includes several new coolers from apc and rittal. in addition,
for certain coolers, the option for thermostatic control for the supply air has
been added. this option allows you to specify the airflow rate and the supply
temperature.
floor stands for crac units
in tileflow, you can now place a crac unit (downflow or upflow) on a floor
stand. when placed on a floor stand, a downflow crac unit supplies air above
the floor, and can therefore be used in non-raised-floor data centers. for an
upflow crac unit, the floor stand is required if the return openings are on the
bottom face.
improved rear-door heat exchanger model
the heat exchanger model has been improved using new data for 48-inch wide heat
exchanger. in addition, an option has been provided for clearance, which is the
rack height, measured from the bottom, not covered by the heat exchanger.
finally, the choice of rear-door heat exchangers has been expanded to include
liquicool from coolcentric.
tool to turn off objects
the new turn off object tool can be used to turn off cooling devices (crac
units, coolers, xdo units, and xdv units) and deactivate heat-producing devices
(racks and hot boxes). for cooling devices, this tool turns off both fan and
cooling. for racks and hot boxes, it makes both the heat load and airflow
demand zero.
capturing tileflow animations as movies (avi files) in tileflow 4.2, you can now record cooling plumes, airflow animations,
streamers, billboard traverses, etc.,�as movies in avi format.
editing of avi files
tileflow 4.2 includes an editor for avi movies. it allows you to edit movies,
by trimming individual clips and by joining multiple clips.
automatic html report
tileflow now has a provision to create an html report. the report includes a
title page, tables, images (tileflow screen captures and images from external
sources), excel tables for results, and text. the title page and the contents
of the report can be customized. the report is self contained and can be opened
in a browser like internet explorer.
for a new model created using tileflow 4.2, the initial report is automatically
generated when you calculate the results. for models created using previous
versions, you must use the generate report command (report menu) to create the
initial report. additional contents are added after the results become
available.
the default contents of the report and the fate of the results tables and
screen shots displaying results when the results become invalid are specified
using the report preferences command from the report menu.
distributed leakage area for the drop ceiling
tileflow now allows you to specify a distributed leakage area for the drop
ceiling. this area accounts for the gaps between ceiling tiles and other extraneous
openings.
grid on the drop ceiling
you can now specify the size of the ceiling tiles (which could be rectangular),
and have the option of showing/hiding the ceiling tile grid.
marker tool
often there is a need to mark certain areas in a data center, for example, a
walkway on the raised floor or light fixtures on the drop ceiling. this can now
be done using the marker tool. a marker can be placed on the floor, ceiling,
drop ceiling, horizontal and vertical partitions, and faces of no-flow regions,
solid blocks, and hot boxes. you can assign different colors to the markers.
colors for objects
you can now specify color for under-floor obstructions, vertical and horizontal
partitions, no-flow regions, solid blocks, and hot boxes. with this
functionality, you can further customize your layout by using a color scheme to
identify objects.
view parameters
view parameters determine the position of the windows, the zoom levels, and the
rotation of the geometry in the 3d view. tileflow now allows you to specify
these parameters. in addition, you can save the view parameters�in a file
or read them from a file. the save/read facility allows you to reproduce a
specific view layout. the details of the view parameters are available via the
set view parameters command from the view menu.
new display options
> display all objects command displays all objects, including those for
which the display option has been set to invisible.
> display options have been added for vents and markers. the available
choices are full, outline, and invisible.
> display grid lines on the raised floor command allows you to show/hide the
tile grid on the raised floor.
> display grid lines on the drop ceiling command allows you to show/hide the
ceiling tile grid on the drop ceiling.
expanded rack data import using text file the import server rack data facility, which uses a text file, has been
expanded to import the data from raritan’s dctrack.
rack data import from excel file
tileflow can now import rack data from an excel file. currently, this facility
is available only for racks with single value of heat load.
access to tileflow while
calculations are in progress
in tileflow 4.0 and earlier versions, the program was locked when calculations
were in progress. this design has been changed in tileflow 4.2. now you can use
tileflow—with certain restrictions—even during the calculation phases. however,
still calculations can be run for only one model at a time. you will have limited
access to the file for which calculations are in progress (you can examine the
details of the model) and full access to other files. as stated earlier, you
cannot calculate results for the other files.
expanded af results at a glance
the above-floor results at a glance now includes the supply and return
temperatures and cooling produced by in-row coolers, xdo units, xdv units, and
crac units.
background save
tileflow now includes background save, a feature that will allow you to recover
your work in the event of a crash or power failure. this feature saves the
tileflow file at a certain time interval specified by the user. the time
interval is specified in background save preferences (under the preferences
menu).
this feature is activated only after the file has been saved. if you create a
new tileflow document and do not save it within 15 minutes, you will get a
message prompting you to save the file.
new file formats for screen captures
you now have a choice of file formats for saving the screen captures. the
available formats are png, jpg, tif, gif, and bmp.
commands to display results in excel
new commands have been added to open in excel the files containing airflow
rates through perforated tiles, rack temperatures, and details of cooling units.
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