Modine Launches US Chiller Production with Corscale Data Centers

Operating under the Airedale by Modine™ brand, Modine secures significant order at new Rockbridge, VA facility

RACINE, Wis., July 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Modine Manufacturing Company (NYSE: MOD), a diversified global leader in thermal management technology and solutions, today announced that it has commenced full scale production of chillers for the data center market at their new production facility in Rockbridge, Virginia, and further confirmed a significant order with data center giant, Corscale, with plans for further business in the coming months.

Airedale by Modine™ is Modine's data center cooling brand. Headquartered in Leeds, UK and with facilities in Consett (UK), Guadalajara (Spain), Dubai (UAE), Rockbridge, VA (US) and Grenada, MI (US), Airedale by Modine products provide energy and water efficient cooling solutions for a data center market that is expanding to meet the demands of a planet increasingly reliant on data.

With Airedale by Modine cooling solutions set to be installed at Corscale's Gainesville Crossing Data Campus, the Company has secured a healthy pipeline for its OptiChill™ free-cooling chillers, AireWall™ fan walls & SmartCool ONE™ computer room air handling units.

Corscale, the exclusive data center platform of Patrinely Group, is focused on delivering sustainability at scale for hyperscale operators and enterprise clients. Following a substantial period of consultation, Corscale appointed Modine due to its history of ground-breaking, free-cooling technology paired with its in-depth knowledge and understanding of the data center industry.

Having worked closely with engineers from Corscale, Modine has developed a specialized data center chiller based on their existing OptiChill range. The Corscale chiller, with enhanced free cooling, has been designed to meet North American safety standards, using American materials and components, to offer a world-class energy efficient solution. Engineering specialists at the chiller plant in Virginia have worked with their colleagues at Modine's center of excellence in Leeds, UK, to deliver a cooling solution that delivers on performance while operating at higher water temperatures and fluid temperature differentials than traditional offerings, enhancing energy efficiency and free-cooling potential.

Prior to the commencement of site deliveries, the team from Corscale will be invited to a witness test at Modine's brand new state-of-the-art laboratories in Rockbridge, VA, where the units will be put through their paces under various conditions and tested at different heat loads, simulating the environment and conditions they will be operational under. The test center at Rockbridge is capable of testing a complete range of air conditioning equipment up to 2.2MW (expanding to 5MW in future for water-cooled chillers), the climate temperature being fully controllable anywhere from 59°F to 126°F.

The new Corscale chiller operates using twin screw compressors and has a number of special features, included to enhance efficiency and performance, including:

• High-capacity twin-screw compressors offer reliability and flexibility, with staged capacity control
• High water temperatures to suit modern data center designs that prioritize sustainability
• Enhanced controls including fast-start, input power limiting and intelligent management of compressors, refrigerant and pumps
• An on-board variable speed pump to precisely match cooling demand, reducing waste energy expenditure while maintaining water-side temperature differential and saving on space and electrical distribution requirements
• Optimized economizers to provide unmatched free cooling potential
• 100% contained Glycol loop to isolate the economizer from the cooling loop and increase efficiency of the Airwall units
• Enhanced controls platform including redundancy back-up and fast-start mode, to minimize the risk of disruption in the event of mechanical breakdown
• On-board active harmonic filtration, ensuring a clean power supply to the data center, while saving on external plant requirements.

AireWall is a low energy cooling solution for mission-critical environments. This range of computer room air handlers, which doesn't require a raised floor, has been specially designed for low velocity air cooling and suits high-density data center applications with hot-aisle containment. The units are available in a 4, 6 or 8 fan configuration and have been engineered to the highest design and build standards you would expect from an Airedale by Modine precision unit, with the simplicity and effectiveness of a fan wall. AireWall comprises a filter, fan bank and an optimized high surface area chilled water coil. It includes integrated intelligent controls that enable dynamic cooling output variation based on changing IT loads and operates at low fan power to help achieve low installation PUE. AireWall has been designed to operate in tandem with Airedale by Modine's range of free cooling chillers, delivering a high efficiency cooling solution.

SmartCool ONE is a 35kW to 1MW computer room air handler. An evolution of the multi award-winning SmartCool™ precision cooling range, it has been developed to meet the increasing demand for ultra-efficient, large capacity precision cooling systems in colocation and hyperscale data centers across the globe. With a cooling capacity of up to 1MW, optimized air and water conditions and an intelligent controls platform to maximize efficiencies and cooling power, SmartCool ONE is the intelligent solution for large scale data center cooling.

"We are delighted to announce our order with Corscale, as we start full-scale production at our first-class facilities in Virginia, the largest data center market in the world," said Jonas Caino, Vice President and General Manager, Data Centers. "Having invested heavily in our US production facilities, ensuring they deliver the same high-quality service and product that our clients have grown to expect and respect from our European production sites, it has been really interesting and enjoyable to work with our American-based colleagues on such a fantastic project and client as Corscale. This order is just the start for our Rockbridge facility, and I am excited to see what the next few years holds."

Nic Bustamante, Senior Vice President, Development at Corscale added, "We selected to work with Airedale by Modine because we wanted something that mirrors our dedication to deliver sustainability at scale. We wanted to work with an established brand that our customers can trust. Airedale products are renowned for their innovative approach and commitment to efficiency, which in turn reduces wastage, and we were impressed by the work they have done across the world with other data centers."

Modine's Rockbridge facility is ideally located to serve the US data center market, with Virginia being the largest data center market in the world. Northern Virginia is home to more than 20% (100) of all known hyperscale data centers worldwide. Alongside chillers, Modine will also manufacture SmartCool ONE CRAHs and AireWall fan walls in the US, offering complete cooling solutions for colocation and hyperscale data center operators.

At Airedale by Modine, we believe that air conditioning has a critical role to play in an increasingly connected world. We also passionately believe that air conditioning equipment must play a responsible role in an era where sustainability is key to the preservation of our planet.

Airedale by Modine is a global brand providing complete cooling solutions to industries where HVAC is mission critical, like data centers, healthcare, telecoms, education and pharmaceuticals. Our leading-edge products, including chillers, close control and air handling units, are backed up with intelligent software solutions and complete applications & service support. With a strong R&D ethos rooted in sustainability and quality, we are committed to providing experiences, products, service and solutions that support our clients and meet their performance, efficiency and sustainability goals.

At Modine, we are engineering a cleaner, healthier world.  Building on more than 100 years of excellence in thermal management, we provide trusted systems and solutions that improve air quality and conserve natural resources.  More than 11,000 employees are at work in every corner of the globe, delivering the solutions our customers need, where they need them.  Our Climate Solutions and Performance Technologies segments support our purpose by improving air quality, reducing energy and water consumption, lowering harmful emissions and enabling cleaner running vehicles and environmentally-friendly refrigerants.  Modine is a global company headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin (USA), with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. For more information about Modine, visit www.modine.com.

Kathleen Powers
(262) 636-1687
[email protected]

SOURCE Modine Manufacturing Company