As a service and maintenance engineer for leading uninterruptable power supply (UPS) manufacturer CENTIEL, life is never dull! I work with datacentres and organisations with UPS installations all over the UK. This requires liaising with facilities management teams on a daily basis for maintenance visits, site surveys, installations and emergency callouts.

On a typical day, I will normally have a maintenance call in the diary at some point. This can be for what we call a ‘minor’ maintenance visit or a ‘major’ maintenance visit. A minor maintenance is a visual six-monthly check over of the UPS equipment to make sure it’s all working correctly.  I will also inspect the batteries which provide the back-up power to the UPS unit for signs of wear and tear and do a short battery test on-site.

For a major maintenance visit, I would complete a full inspection of the kit, including lifting the covers, checking the fans, capacitors, batteries, etc. If all is well, I would complete a switching test or a ‘mains discharge test’. This means I literally turn the power off to mimic a power outage to ensure the UPS switches over to battery power. I monitor the batteries during the discharge and re-charge to ensure they are performing optimally.

While the UPS is switched off, the site load is supported by the raw mains supply.  Any mains interruptions while the UPS is on bypass, will directly affect the site load. Due to this, some customers prefer their ‘major’ maintenance visit to take place outside of normal working hours.

However, if their UPS system is set up in an N+1 configuration this redundancy means it is possible to switch the mains power off and remain protected allowing tests to be completed safely.

These tests allow me to make any necessary recommendations for any replacement parts or batteries. It’s really important to replace batteries before their end of life.   We say ‘it’s better to replace one year early than a day too late’ as one faulty battery will bring down the whole string, which could cause power protection issues and end up being far more costly for the client.

Next, I’m out on the road again, often supporting our project management team, checking a new site ahead of an installation. Clients and facilities management teams can give us much of the information we need over the phone, but it is important to check access in person too. This is because we are often installing many tonnes of battery equipment and the UPS itself can weigh around half a tonne, so any access issues need to be addressed in advance.

For a recent pre-installation visit, I discovered a step into the comms room which had not been highlighted. This may seem like a small detail, however, knowing this ahead of the installation allowed me to build a ramp to ensure equipment could be delivered and therefore, avoiding delays during the install.  A different pre-installation visit recently revealed a broken goods lift which was needed to move 16 tonnes of batteries between floors. Identifying this issue ahead of the installation allowed us to work with the client to provide an alternative solution.

Emergency call outs are the other part of my day.  Such calls can happen at any time and often outside normal working hours! Although we manufacture and maintain CENTIEL’s UPS solutions which are renowned for their industry leading levels availability (9.99999999%) with just milliseconds downtime per year, we also look after third party manufacturers’ UPS systems on maintenance and service contracts too.

I was recently called to a major financial institution that had experienced a power outage which took out half the building for half a day. Power protection was supplied by a third-party manufacturer’s UPS which had failed due to a downstream power spike taking out some of the components. I needed to create a temporary power feed to get the system up and running again and the order replacement parts for a permanent fix.

I have to ‘plug’ CENTEIL’s CumulusPower UPS here, which is a ‘truly’ modular system, meaning if one component fails the other modules take over the load so there is no single point of failure and the power remains protected at all times.

Replacement of the modules takes just a matter of minutes. If a correctly configured CumulusPower had been installed at this particular financial institution, there would have been no downtime or disruption at all. Educating clients about the advantages upgrading to a more reliable and available UPS system which also results in a lower total cost of ownership is just part and parcel of the job!

For further information please visit www.centiel.co.uk

IT and DC professionals gain significant advantage from adding fail-safe power to existing single power IT devices (switches etc) and to the complete rack IT equipment using a fully customisable PDU solution

As one of the customising options, Daxten offers the integration of a wire-free power monitoring module directly into the PDU. This enables data centre professionals to measure and control energy parameters like Volts, Amps, kW, kWh, kVA, phase angle and total current for any cabinet and to balance out the loads and power density perfectly.

ServerLIFT solutions simplify installation and make it possible for IT personnel to easily transport heavy IT equipment within the data centre.

For an holistic approach to monitor, detect and identify leaks in the data centre, Daxten will show the RLE SeaHawk and WiNG monitoring solutions on their stand D701

Improved power usage and resource efficiency in your data centre The main benefit of all wire-free monitoring modules is that they are not connected via cable to each other. As soon as they are activa ...

WHAT IS FIRE STOPPING?

Fire stopping definition is the sealing of any openings to prevent a fire. The primary goal of fire stopping is to prevent both smoke and heat from passing through gaps

 

Over the past 15 years Duct Sealing has become an important factor when designing and constructing new buildings; however, it remains both a task and a product that a lot of companies overlook and underestimate the time required to effectively seal ducts.

 

In addition to the popular DN25 DataCool hoses a small bore version has now been added with a 6mm bore version shown with ultraFLOW non spill quick connect couplings alongside a 25mm bore DataCool hose.

 

The DataCool range of hose assemblies has been developed by Hydraquip specifically for the DC market to overcome some of the most common issues faced by designers, installers and developers when choosing a suitable hose for these environmenmts.

Whether planning a new or expanding an existing data centre, it is essential to source the safest, most flexible and cost-effective raised floor and over-head infrastructure. Making the right decision will define the strategy and operational life of the whole data centre, future proofing it for years to come. The use of an innovative load bearing ceiling solution will give data centre and facility managers the maximum flexibility to reconfigure their data centre infrastructure in accordance with ongoing requirements – by saving time, material and labour costs. Daxten will present the innovative Bergvik structural suspended ceiling solution at the Data Centre World 2018 exhibition being held at ExCel, London on the 21st and 22nd March (Stand D540). In addition the company will show innovative and efficient solutions for the distribution of power, the optimisation of the cooling infrastructure and comprehensive monitoring of the data centre.

To control and analyse information relating to the operation of a data centre is a must for data centre facility managers, who want to achieve balanced loads, exploit potential energy savings and create the perfect environment for IT equipment. However, in existing data centres the ability to gather this critical information is very often missing. Retrofitting is usually time-consuming, requiring lots of installation, cabling and configuration work. To make the situation worse, quite often different proprietary solutions are used for the monitoring of power, environmental conditions and leak detection. In addition, often the control of all monitoring units cannot be handled centrally by one joint management tool. Therefore, for all those who would like to avoid high labour costs and the difficulties and frustration in monitoring implementation, it is advisable to take a closer look at a comprehensive monitoring solution called Packet Power. It is based on wire-free radio technology and therefore requires no cabling or configuration work. The solution, which is availabe from Daxten, brings all the mentioned monitoring functions together on one single platform. It will be demonstrated on the Daxten stand (D540) at Data Centre World 2018, which is being held at ExCeL London on the 21st and 22nd March.

To ensure conditioned air makes its way from the CRAC unit through the raised floor, to the cold aisle and ultimately to the front of the server racks,it is necessary to ensure optimal airflow conditions at all raised floor openings. Using conventional grilles or perforated tiles is not ideal as they are unable to direct the conditioned air with the required pressure and velocity to equally cool hardware at the top and bottom of the cabinets. The passive Triad floor tiles from RLE Technologies are equipped with stratification airflow fins that ensure cooled air is directed to all cabinet levels. The unique design of the tile means that they can also be deployed to counteract the effects of negative airflow. The tiles fin and baffle design reverses the effects of air being sucked under the floor which is particularly common in vented tiles located close to CRAC units. These floor tiles will be presented on the Daxten stand (D540) at Data Centre World 2018, which is being held at ExCeL London on the 21st and 22nd March.

Dantherm Group will be part of one of the largest data centre exhibitions in the UK – Data Centre World 2018 – and will bring with them their vast array of products to tackle data centre cooling and dehumidification.

The Datev eG datacentre has a storage space of 20,700,000 gig, hosting an array of equipment and technology. The network infrastructure is huge, and has on average 500,000 remote users logging into the computer centre.

A sudden power failure would have devastating effects on process and reliability, therefore the consequences of a shutdown are potentially catastrophic for the datacentre and its users.

Datev selected Bender Residual Current Monitoring technology to monitor and provide advanced warning of developing causes of electrical failure and provide full visualisation of the electrical infrastructure.

The result is prior warning enabling preventive remedial action, saving Datev considerable time, money and preventing datacentre or equipment shutdown.

 

There are a lot of good reasons why data centre experts need to deal with the issue of leaks: the fact is, leaks have always been one of the primary causes of unscheduled downtime in data centres along with human error, interrupted power supply and hardware failures. If liquids get into the sensitive areas of a data centre, there could be system disruptions, equipment and facility failures or, in the worst case scenario, serious technical and structural damage to the entire data centre infrastructure that could bring operations and all IT services to a standstill.

For the data centre manager the question is not if, but when there will be a leak in the data centre. And because it’s anyone’s guess as to when and how this could happen, taking precautions at an early stage by adopting a water and chemical detection leak system is an important mission critical decision.

Luna Logisitcs supports first phase of major European Logistics Project for global air conditioning company at KAO Park Data Centre