Heat: designing for the peak
Cooling equipment is sized for the hottest hours of the year, not for an average day. In the Gulf, those hours are many, and nights bring little relief on the coast. Exchangers must therefore offer more surface, and outdoor electrical equipment, which is also sensitive to temperature, is selected and ventilated accordingly.
Layout matters as much as machinery: orient the buildings against the sun, shade the facades and the equipment, and keep the hot air released by one exchanger from being drawn in by its neighbour.
Dust and sand
The shamal winds raise fine dust that clogs the fins of the exchangers, lowers their performance and wears the fans. Three precautions work together: filter the air entering the halls and the plant rooms, provide exchangers that are accessible and easy to clean, and time maintenance to the windy seasons rather than to a fixed calendar.
Liquid cooling limits exposure: when the heat of the processors leaves in a liquid, far less outside air needs to pass through the halls.
Humidity and salt air on the coast
On the Gulf coast, the air is humid and salt-laden, and rain rarely washes it clean. Salt settles and speeds up the corrosion of exposed metals: fins, frames, electrical connections. The answers are suitable coatings and alloys, enclosed electrical rooms kept at slight overpressure, and dehumidification wherever condensation threatens.
Water and energy
In these countries, fresh water comes mostly from desalination. Closed-loop cooling, which consumes none, is therefore called for as much for the area as for continuity of operations. On the energy side, natural gas fuels most of the region’s power generation: turbines installed on site give power that is available day and night, with or without the grid, complemented by storage and, when the project allows, by solar.
One climate, several climates
“Desert” covers very different situations. The Gulf coast is hot and humid; the interior of the Arabian Peninsula is drier, with more sand; southern Oman receives a summer monsoon. The same campus is not designed the same way in Dubai, Riyadh and Salalah: that is why reading the site always comes before the first drawing.
Key points
- Size for the hottest hours, not for the average.
- Filter, make the exchangers cleanable and time maintenance to the windy seasons.
- On the coast, protect metals from salt and humidity.
- Cool without water and generate power on site.