Know Your Data Center Deets

3. Coordinate Electrical and Mechanical

Ensure that the electrical power is installed and meets the mechanical cooling equipment operational objective. For example, where a redundant cooling unit is installed, should the electrical power be provided from a separate power panel? The loss of power to a single power panel suppling both the primary and redundant number of cooling units may result in the loss of all cooling until power can be restored.

4. Understand Controls Availability

What happens if there is a loss in equipment controls? In the case of ducted cooling, will the loss of control to variable air volume (VAV) dampers result in their closure and subsequent loss of essential cooling air to equipment?

It’s important to consider those questions upfront and determine if redundant controls are warranted.

5. Create a Labeling Scheme

• Establish a unique and logical identification for each piece of equipment that includes the identification of electrical and mechanical equipment during the design phase.
• Setting a labeling scheme early in the project provides a smoother transition into the occupancy phase of the project.
• Placing permanent placards on equipment, including such items as valve tags, assists with testing and commissioning, and provides on-going benefits to operations.
• Consider using a color-coding system for separate (ex: A-B) electrical and mechanical delivery paths that are part of the project.

6. Remember Acceptance Testing and Commissioning

Including the performance of testing as part of the construction effort is extremely important. This is more than a check list exercise. It should encompass load testing at design capacity. This may be the only time where evaluating the overall capabilities of the systems installed is possible.

Integrated systems testing (IST) is sometimes difficult to plan and execute, but it is extremely important in evaluating data center performance, not only when everything is normal but when unplanned events occur. Construction projects in an active data center pose unique challenges to testing and commissioning, but the absence of IST leaves the owner with unknowns that must be addressed during occupancy.

7. Plan for Interruptions in Scheduling

This is a sobering, but often true, fact in the construction phase. There are several challenges to staying on schedule; equipment lead times and supply chain issues are only 2 of the obstacles affecting construction. For example, in the past, the delivery date did not change. But, given the current supply chain and labor market, this may not be the case.

If your deadline cannot flex, finding solutions to these issues by redirecting subcontractors’ efforts, planning on extended work schedules, and the possibility of reducing the allotted time for contractor startup, acceptance testing and commissioning.

Establishing an agreement on managing schedule changes should be part of the early project planning discussions. Curtailing startup, testing, and commissioning, efforts often fails to identify issues before the transition from construction to occupancy.

Success Story

Recently, we teamed up with 1623 Farnam to expand their cutting-edge data center in Omaha, Nebraska. The expansion project embraced the 7 principles listed earlier to execute the project on time and within budget.

The data center helps about 50 carriers scale their networks to handle surging traffic flows. The strategically located carrier hotel interconnects and hosts 7 of the Top 13 IP transit providers in the world because it’s a centralized point from which to reach across the US.

During this month of environmental awareness, it’s also important to note that the data center is designed with both chilled water- and air-cooling options. Linn Gowan, VP of business development at 1623 Farnam recently shared his thoughts with Data Center Dynamics saying, "…conventional cooling methods only handle around 4kW per rack, and even advanced air cooling systems lose efficiency when racks hit the 10 to 15kW range (when 64 percent of racks require at least 10kW of power, and 33% of racks house 20kW or more). Although most servers are equipped with air cooling, water is 24 times more efficient than air, and can hold 3200 times as much heat."

He also shared that the global data center liquid cooling market is expected to nearly triple in the period between 2019 and 2024, with a CAGR of almost 23%.

This is the kind of forward thinking needed in the data center industry.Those who make the extra effort to learn from past experiences and industry best practices are rewarded.