Definition
CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) is a dedicated cooling unit designed to maintain temperature and humidity conditions in data centers and server rooms. CRAC units use refrigeration-based cooling systems to remove heat generated by IT equipment and provide controlled airflow to the data center environment.
CRAC systems are commonly used in traditional data centers, enterprise server rooms, and smaller IT facilities.
How CRAC Works
A CRAC unit typically works by:
- Drawing warm air from the data center environment.
- Removing heat through a refrigeration cooling cycle.
- Conditioning the air by controlling temperature and humidity.
- Returning cooled air back into the IT space.
CRAC units are often deployed with raised floors, hot aisle/cold aisle containment, and airflow management strategies.
CRAC in Modern Data Centers
While CRAC systems remain widely used, increasing rack density and AI workloads are creating new cooling challenges.
Modern data centers increasingly combine traditional air cooling with advanced technologies such as:
- Liquid Cooling
- Direct-to-Chip Cooling
- Rear Door Heat Exchanger
- Intelligent Thermal Management
Related Terms
ATTOM Solutions
ATTOM provides advanced data center cooling solutions designed to support modern infrastructure requirements, including high-density computing, AI workloads, and next-generation data center deployments.
By integrating efficient cooling technologies and intelligent thermal management strategies, ATTOM helps organizations build reliable and scalable data center environments.
