Aligned Data Centers has launched a new version of its in-house air cooling system, Delta Cube.

Built in partnership with power and cooling vendor Munters, Delta Cube (Delta³) 3.0 apparently delivers a ten percent increase in cooling capacity and a ten percent boost in energy efficiency within the same physical footprint as previous iterations.

A closed-loop system, it requires zero water for operational cooling and can drive “a meaningful reduction in total campus power consumption at scale,” the company said.

"For more than a decade, Aligned’s growth has been fueled by a commitment to cooling innovation," said Michael Welch, Aligned Data Centers CTO. "As compute densities rise, air cooling isn't going away, it just needs to adapt to ultra-high-density environments. We engineered our new airside solution to deliver meaningful gains in capacity and efficiency within the exact same physical footprint. By reducing the energy needed to move air, those watts can be used by our customers for revenue-generating applications.”

While many data center companies are installing liquid cooling systems to cater to high-density racks required for AI workloads, air cooling remains a key ingredient in many data centers, and Aligned is pitching Delta Cube 3.0 to customers looking to set up a hybrid environment, with both air and liquid cooling elements.

The company said it has made enhancements to its proprietary heat exchangers, supply fan impellers, and drive motors to achieve the efficiency gains, and has worked closely with Munters R&D team to develop the cooling units, which will be manufactured in the US.

"With a workforce of more than 670 employees, our Selma, Texas, and Daleville, Virginia facilities play a vital role in manufacturing the mission-critical digital infrastructure underpinning the global economy," said Frank Pellegrino, group vice president and president of data center technologies at Munters.

"The rollout of Aligned’s Delta Cube 3.0 is a testament to what can be achieved when two industry leaders commit to advanced manufacturing right here in the US. We are immensely proud of our teams in Texas and Virginia, who are putting their skilled craftsmanship into assembling the technology that cools the world's most advanced compute."

Companies using Delta Cube include Aligned-owned Brazilian data center platform Odata, which announced it would start using the technology in 2024. US data center firm Netrality is also a user of Aligned’s Delta³ system at its 1301 Fannin Street facility in Houston, Texas.

Aligned, which was acquired by a consortium of MGX, AIP, and BlackRock in July for a record-breaking $40 billion, launched a liquid cooling system in January 2024 called DeltaFlow~ that can be integrated with Delta Cube. The company operates a cooling technology lab in Phoenix, Arizona, where it develops both liquid and air-based systems.