Digital schematic and equipment selection of final power distribution in data center

Ancremow Karen

Quoted from WeChat public account Data Center Operation and Maintenance Management March 13, 2023 Why are smart PDUs important for data centers?, the original text is as follows:

As an IT buyer, you may want to find value in choosing the right PDU. A basic PDU provides reliable power distribution, while a smart PDU offers much more than reliable power distribution, including power meters, environmental monitoring, remote control of outlets, and more.

What is the difference between a normal PDU and an intelligent PDU?

A rack-mounted power strip or rack power distribution unit (PDU) is a device equipped with many electrical outlets that distributes power to servers, storage and networking equipment located in a data center rack or cabinet. Analyst firm IHS will be them divided into two categories:

1) Basic PDUs provide reliable power.

2) Intelligent PDU provides features such as energy metering, environmental monitoring and remote outlet control. Smart PDUs can be divided into the following subcategories:

a) Metered Inlet PDU - The Metered Inlet PDU measures power at the PDU level and displays the data locally and on the network. Metering Allows users in to determine the power consumption and available capacity of the circuits feeding the rack, making it easier to provision equipment. Entry-level metering allows users to avoid overloading circuits and easily calculate efficiency metrics such as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). .

b) Metered outlet PDU——same as metered inlet PDU, outlet metered PDU Helps users determine rack power consumption and usable capacity, and facilitates configuration. Most importantly, users gain insight into actual power consumption at the device or server level, enabling them to compare the efficiency and allocate costs to specific business units or customers

c) Switched PDU——Switched PDU heyhas metered inlet PDU features that also provide controlled on/off switching of individual outlets or groups of outlets. They allow authorized users to remotely reboot devices in a specific sequence, provide power sequence delays to reduce inrush current and prevent unauthorized configuration of devices. They are critical in remote deployments and colocation facilities because they allow you to quickly restore service by rebooting servers. Unused equipment can be turned off remotely to save energy.

d) Switched PDU with Outlet Metering - Switched PDU with Outlet Metering combines all the features of a Switched PDU with an outlet metered PDU Each subcategory of intelligent PDUs has features that help data centers reduce operating costs, increase uptime/availability capacity, and improve mean recovery time (MTTR), improve energy efficiency and manage existing capacity.

Why is it important to choose the right PDU?

Looking for better long-term value

As IT buyers struggle with smaller budgets, lower prices are often a decisive factor. Since Basic PDUs have a lower retail price, so purchasing them may seem like a better deal. Others may not be convinced that the features of Smart Rack PDUs add value, or their organizations may not have the time or resources toto take advantage of this. As a result, many buyers choose simple small PDUs, although smart PDUs can provide greater value and cost savings in the long run.

To understand why smart PDUs are a better choice, let's first explore the common problems they can solve. Almost all The main challenge data centers are facing right now

Data centers are most one of the main purpose is to ensure business continuity. Rack PDUs help achieve this by providing consistent, reliable, and sufficient power to everything connected to it (servers, storage, and networking equipment). However, some other major challenges must also be taken into accounting .

• Power capacity management and configuration

• Power Management

• Environment Manager

• Physical and Network Security

• Computing Power Requirements

• Asset and change management

power capacity management and configuration - Many data centers grow in chaotic and unplanned ways. Technicians stabbingak new equipment in the first available socket without any knowledge of the available capacity. This can cause the fuse to blow and cause downtime. According to statistics, the average cost of downtime in 2013 was as much as $7908 per minute.

Power management - Many data centers support more infrastructure than necessary. A research report found that the average server only runs at 12-18% capacity. Because, therefore, adopting different practices can reduce electricity consumption by as much as 40%.

Environmental management – Although IT equipment accounts for 50 percent of energy costs, an additional 37 procent used for cooling and air circulation. Data centers are often overcooled to prevent equipment failure, but every degree Fahrenheit increase in thermostat temperature can save up to 3% on current energy bills.

Physical and cyber security - The need for secure access control to cabinets and aisles is increasing. In 2011, US-listed healthcare company Health Net, Inc. that the personal medical records of as many as 1.9 million people across the country had been compromised due to the loss of multiple server drives in data centers it controlled.

Demand for computing power—While data centers shrink and expand,is a constant trend in the near future demand for more computing power, and this rapid expansion will exceed data The center has experienced much more power requirements in the past.

Asset and change management—For data centers that are expanding, manually tracking assets can be cumbersome and costly. One study found that inventory counting, inventory reconciliation, finding misplaced assets, manual repository updates, and replacing misplaced assets cost $714,000 and about 706 business days per year.

Solving these challenges requires a smart approach

In short, data centers face enormous challenges. These challenges must be addressed to control operating costs and meet new business demands. Data centers will need to optimize the use of power, space, cooling and people. The Intelligent PDU is the platform that can solve all these problems. Now we discuss how to choose the right rack PDU for your data center, how to power your racks with reliable power and how to create a reliable and environmentally friendly data center for now and in the future.

Summary: One of the main purposes of the data center is to safeguard businessjfscontinuity. the final power distribution, such as multiple independent high-voltage power supplies, medium-voltage large-capacity diesel generator set, redundant configuration of UPS, etc., which often involve high costs, all need to improve the fault tolerance of the power Power and distribution system Power distribution boxes (also called column boxes) or busducts The operational stability of the final power distribution link that provides stable and reliable power for IT equipment such as data center servers, storage and networking is also extremely important. In this link, almost all data centers face some common issues. Global challenges including power capacity management and configuration, data center power management, environment management, security management, compute demand expansion, asset and change management, etc. This document uses the digital solution of power distribution of data center terminalsto partner with energy efficiency data center management systems to explore how to overcome these challenges.

1Challenges for terminal power distribution in data centers

Power Capacity Management and Configuration: Many data centers miss planned growth and expansion, engineers often plug new equipment into apparently available circuits, and there are little is known about the available load capacity of the circuits. This can cause circuit overload fuses to blow causing downtime and large financial losses, with service interruptions being paid out in seconds.ld.

Power management: the calculation of the main energy efficiency index PUE of the data center includes The energy consumption of all IT equipment and the measurement of energy consumption of IT equipment is concentrated in the terminal power distribution, so energy measurement and management are required at the terminal.

Environmental stewardship: Although IT equipment consumes more than 50% of energy costs, but another 36 percent is used for cooling and air circulation. Data centers usually adjust the temperature of the computer room to be too cold to prevent equipment failure, but increasing the temperature of the computer room by 1 degree Celsius can save up to 7% on cooling energy costs, so it is necessary to strike a balance between temperature control andenergy consumption.

Security management: noThere is no point in putting power distribution security management at the end of the power supply and the distribution front end to be ignored in terms of reliability. Attention should also be paid to the contact and temperature rise of the plug terminals at the end.

Computing power requirements: a constant trend in the near future Is the need for more computing power, and this rapid expansion will lead to an increasing demand for electricity in the data.

Asset and change management: For data center expansion, manually resize assets and precious. Research indicates that the process of inventory collection, inventory reconciliation, the localretrieval of lost assets, manual repository updates, and replacement of lost assets incurs significant annual human and financial costs.

2Digitization solution for final power distribution in data centers

To meet these challenges, improve business continuity, control operating costs and meet emerging business development needs, have data centers There is monitoring and management of the end power distribution link. Intelligent power distribution boxes and smart small busbar systems can offer a solution. We then discuss how to select the right digital end-distribution solution for the data centere chosen to create a reliable and environmentally friendly data center.  2.1 Power distribution box digital schematic

The power distribution box supplies power for the IT equipment cabinets in the data center Terminal distribution equipment generally uses a two-circuit power supply. Power comes from two redundant UPSs, which are divided into AC and DC power supplies. They are generally placed at both ends of the box array, also called the column box, as shown in Figure

1.

Figure 1 ANDPF verdeelkast

Ankerui's power distribution monitoring solution targets the digital requirements of power distribution cabinet monitoring, including AC (AC220V), DC (DC-48V/240V/336V) system. It is composed of touch type LCD display, comprehensive information processing host module, switch state acquisition module, current transformer (AC) or Hall sensor (DC) acquisition unit module, etc. Monitor the power parameters of the two main incoming lines and the A+B double-sided power supply circuit, switching status, harmonic content, cabinet temperature and humidity and other data, which can be displayed on the local touch screen and uploaded to the AcrelEMS-IDC data center energy efficiency management system for display and call the Police.

The product schedule is shown in table 1. table 1 Product selection of Ankerui Power Distribution Cabinet Digital Solution

2.2 Busduct digitization scheme

In recent years, with the rapid development of data center construction, the application of smart busway solutions is more and more Many. Compared with the traditional precision power distribution box, the data center busway is overhead, which increases the has advantages of easy installation and maintenance, no land occupation,fast heat dissipation and easy capacity expansion. The busway takes power from the front - terminate the UPS through the headbox and use the busbar system. Form a power transfer structure and adopt a plug-and-play method to supply power to the PDUs in any IT box via the plugin box.

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of slim busway data acquisition scheme

Ankerui\'s intelligent busway solution is equipped with AMB100/AMB110 monitoring unit in the head box and plug box to monitor the voltage, current, frequency, active power, reactive power, power factor, active energy, reactive power Functional energy, harmonic distortion, temperature and humidity, leakage current and other data can be transmitted by wired or wireless means, displayed on the local touch screen, and uploaded to the data center energy efficiency management system to realize the data display and abnormal warning of the bus stop.

In addition, because the busway is made of overlapping copper busbars, the connections can become abnormally hot due to poor contact, so it is necessary to measure the temperature of the busway connections Real-time monitoring, Ankerui AMB200 bus connection temperature monitoring device for contact temperature measurement, AMB300 monitors the bus temperature through infrared non-contact temperature measurement, the data is wired or wirelessly transmitted through local touch screen display and can be uploaded to the data center energy efficiency management system for real-time early timingTo realize bus channel temperature warning, the equipment selection is shown in Table

2.Table 2 Smart busway solution selection table

3 AcrelEMS-IDC Data Center Energy Efficiency Management System

AcrelEMS -IDC Data Center energy efficiency management system is based onhigh, medium and low voltage power distribution systems, diesel generators,The real-time monitoring of UPS and the power monitoring, PUE analysis and dynamic environmental monitoring of data collection in the terminal power distribution system help data center managers understand the power operation of the data center, pay attention to fire protection and electrical safety , and warn abnormal situations in time to ensure the stability of the data center. Reliable operation. In addition to monitoring the substation, diesel generator and UPS, especially for the data center final power distribution connection, the system data tracks the electrical parameters and switching status of each circuit, temperature and humidity data, etc.

3.1 Managing and configuring current capacity

 The system Monitors the current, power, switching status, and power consumption of each power supply circuit. You can also configure temperature and humidity sensors to monitor line contact temperature and cabinet humidity and set the high and set low limit alarms to prevent accidents caused by overloaded circuits.

3.2 Power Management

The calculation of the main energy efficiency index PUE of the data center includes all The energy consumption of IT equipment, the system collects the power consumption of the data center of high voltage to the terminal and calculates power consumption based on IT equipment, cooling system (chilled water unit, air conditioning terminal, fresh air, etc.), power system (transformer, UPS, generator, switch), classify lighting and office energy, calculate data center PUE value, cooling load factor CLF, power supply Electrical load factor PLF, etc., provides data support for energy efficiency diagnosis in data centers.

3.3 Environmental Management

The system calculates the PUE of the data center and the change of the CLF value is used to help the administrator find the operating temperature and find a balance between temperature control and energy consumption. At the same time, the system monitors data center temperature and humidity, water immersion, smoke, and other factors affecting the normal operation of the data center, and provides early warnings.

3.4 Security Management

The system monitors the temperature of the electrical node of the power distribution box or busway system and leakage current, and set temperature and leakage alarms to eliminate hidden dangers in the system in time. At the same time, real-time online monitoring and early warning is performed for de internal resistance, temperature and combustible gas content of a large number of UPS batteries in the data center to ensure the safe operation of the data center.

3.5 Asset and change management

The system provides equipment management, operation and maintenance management functions for the data center, including equipment ledger, equipment maintenance, work order management and inspection records, defect management, emergency repair records and other functions, bid farewell to manual accounting, reduce labor and time costs.

4 Conclusion

As the demand for computing power increases, the data center will also accelerate its development. In order to ensure the stable and reliable operation of the data center, in addition to the power supply and front-end power distribution system, the terminal power distribution of the data center System digital management is more important.AcrelEMS-IDC data center energy efficiency management system cooperates with Acrel power distribution cabinet system and intelligent bus channel system to provide load monitoring, energy efficiency management, safety warning and equipment operation for terminal power distribution of data center Dimension management, guidance for the continuous and stable operation of the data center.

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