The designs use zero-water cooling, modular plants and a LiquidStack CDU qualified as NVIDIA DSX Ready.
Trane Technologies announced the expansion of its data center thermal management system portfolio with two new 250-megawatt (MW) high-density AI factory reference designs, based on the NVIDIA DSX AI Factory platform, that deliver high energy efficiency and zero water consumption cooling architectures.
The new reference designs build upon Trane Technologies’ industry-first thermal management system reference design for gigawatt-scale AI factories and add technologies from recently acquired companies LiquidStack and Stellar Energy. The new 250 MW blueprints deliver zero water consumption cooling architectures that maximize Token per Watt and reclaim significant electrical capacity for compute workloads. They also introduce Trane Technologies’ first reference design featuring Stellar Energy modular cooling plants, which help reduce time on the job site.
Additionally, the LiquidStack GigaModular Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) platform integrated across both reference designs has qualified as an NVIDIA DSX Ready CDU, meeting applicable NVIDIA DSX reference design requirements for liquid-cooled AI infrastructure.
As a Power and Cooling NVIDIA Partner Network program member, Trane Technologies has expanded its reference design portfolio with two additional high-efficiency solutions for large-scale AI deployments and the qualification of the LiquidStack GigaModular CDU as NVIDIA DSX Ready:
- 250-Megawatt High-Efficiency Air-Cooled System Architecture (Reference Design #506): Engineered for sites requiring rapid permitting and zero water consumption, this design couples direct-to-chip liquid cooling with Trane Ascend ACR air-cooled chillers featuring integrated free cooling. The system achieves up to a 25% cooling efficiency improvement and can reallocate up to 22 MW of power to compute. Additional design features reduce chiller count and improve annualized partial PUE from 1.201 to 1.083 without consuming water.
- 250-Megawatt Modular Cooling Infrastructure (Reference Design #507): Representing Trane Technologies’ first reference design to feature Stellar Energy modular cooling plants, this pre-engineered, factory-built, and UL-listed solution replaces traditional on-site central utility buildings. The modular design combines Trane CenTraVac water-cooled chillers with low-GWP refrigerant and stacks dry fluid coolers directly on top. Operating closed-loop dry coolers delivers a Water Usage Effectiveness of zero, while dedicated dual-temperature loops yield up to a 16% chiller power improvement, reallocating 8 MW of electrical capacity to AI workloads. In temperate climates like Chicago, integrated waterside economizers deliver full free cooling for more than 98% of annual operating hours.
- LiquidStack GigaModular CDU With NVIDIA DSX Ready Qualification: Trane Technologies’ LiquidStack GigaModular CDU has qualified as an NVIDIA DSX Ready CDU, meeting applicable NVIDIA DSX reference design requirements for liquid-cooled AI factory infrastructure. The GigaModular CDU delivers scalable capacity up to 14 MW at a 4°C approach and achieves up to 20% lower capital expenditure compared to conventional row-based CDU installations.
For more information, visit trane.com/data-centers-reference-design.
