Liquid cooling water quality sensors speed AI data center commissioning

Rika Sensor is pitching its water quality sensors as a way to pull coolant monitoring earlier into liquid cooling commissioning for high-density AI data centers. In one Dubai hyperscale cloud center project, the company supplied 86 monitoring units that it says were pre-calibrated and factory-configured to speed installation and bring usable data online during construction and startup.

The Dubai project’s first phase included 2,000 high-density cabinets using cold-plate liquid cooling with a propylene glycol-water coolant. Because the cooling system and monitoring infrastructure were commissioned in parallel, Rika Sensor delivered monitoring units pre-set with communication addresses and basic alarm thresholds, eliminating the need for field calibration. The company says this allowed installation in under 15 minutes per monitoring point.

Those units collected data over RS485 and then transmitted it over Ethernet to a temporary management platform used during commissioning. Rika Sensor says the monitoring units were wall-mounted to avoid interference with pipe pressure testing and to avoid additional welding work. After handover, access was transferred to the customer’s operations and maintenance team, while historical monitoring data was retained so operations didn’t have to restart monitoring from scratch.

For data center engineers, the blunt takeaway is that liquid cooling commissioning gets messy when instrumentation shows up “late.” If monitoring and control points aren’t ready early, teams lose time validating loop health, chemical treatment, and filtration performance while other trades are still active on site. Pre-configuration can help, but only if the comms, addressing, alarms, and mounting approach actually align with how the project is being staged.

Rika Sensor’s liquid cooling monitoring parameters include pH, electrical conductivity (EC), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and turbidity. The company also lists multiple interface options for integration, including RS485, Ethernet, and 4–20 mA.

In a Tier IV data center in Bavaria, Rika Sensor says it installed 24 monitoring units across 12 racks and connected them to an existing BMS via 4–20 mA signals. During commissioning, two monitoring points showed abnormal readings; an engineering investigation determined the sensors were too close to chemical injection ports, and the monitoring points were relocated.

“Faster commissioning does not mean reducing the necessary validation steps,” said Michael, GM of Rika Sensor. “It means completing more of the preparation in advance. From factory calibration and configuration to on-site deployment and system integration, each stage needs to align with the commissioning schedule.”

Rika Sensor did not provide pricing or availability details in the material, but it emphasized factory calibration, device configuration, and communication setup as part of its delivery approach for liquid cooling monitoring deployments.