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44

7X24 MAGAZINE SPRING 2015

more efficient, which means, as with

the other solutions covered in this

article, that operating costs are

reduced. Approaches such as two-

stage power distribution also enable

high-density environments to achieve

the same levels of availability and

scalability as low-density

environments.

Single-stage distribution often is

unable to support the number of

devices in today’s data center, as

breaker space is used up long before

system capacity is reached. By

separating deliverable capacity and

physical distribution capability into

subsystems, two-stage distribution

overcomes this limitation.

The first stage receives high-voltage

power from the UPS and can be

configured with a mix of circuit and

branch level distribution breakers.

The second stage or load-level units

can be tailored to the requirements of

specific racks or rows.

Growing density can be supported by

adding breakers to the primary

distribution unit and adding more

load-level distribution units.

Additionally, higher amperage in-rack

PDUs can be deployed to manage

higher electrical requirements within

the rack. These systems can provide

60 amp capacity per strip, compared

with 15 amp for traditional rack

power strips, and they also feature a

modular design that makes it easy to

add receptacles or support high-

density equipment.

AUTOMATE ENERGY USAGE

DATA COLLECTION AND

ANALYSIS

Energy efficiency monitoring can track

total data center consumption,

automatically calculate and analyze

PUE, and optimize the use of

alternative energy sources.

Unfortunately, many facilities don’t

have energy monitoring capabilities.

Automating collection and analysis of

data from the UPS and PDU

monitoring systems can prevent

overloading, improve energy

efficiency and increase IT productivity.

Power should be monitored at the

UPS and the room PDU and within

the rack.

Using data from the UPS, the

monitoring system can track UPS

power output to determine when UPS

units are running at peak efficiency.

Monitoring at the room or row PDU

provides the ability to plan more

efficient loading of power supplies

and dynamically manage cooling;

panel board monitoring provides

visibility into power consumption by

non-IT systems, including lighting and

generators, to ensure efficient use of

those systems; and rack-level

monitoring provides the most

accurate picture of IT equipment

power consumption with continuous

monitoring of volts, kilowatts, amps

and kilowatts per hour. The ability to

automate data collection,

consolidation and analysis related to

efficiency is essential to data center

optimization and frees up data center

staff to focus on strategic IT issues.

MAKE SMART USE OF

INTELLIGENT DIGITAL

CONTROLS

Some UPS systems are equipped with

intelligent digital controls that enable

more efficient operation through

other options such as intelligent

paralleling in multi-module systems.

Intelligent paralleling manages the

load across multiple UPS modules

and can automatically deactivate

modules that are not required to

support the load, while still ensuring

that the system is providing adequate

redundancy. For example, a four-

module N+1 system sized to support

700kVA using four 250kVA UPS

modules can support loads below

400kVA with only three modules. This

capability boosts utilization rates and

can improve system efficiency by up

to 6 percent without sacrificing

protection.

IMPROVE UPS UTILIZATION

RATES BY DEPLOYING A

RESERVE ARCHITECTURE

A dual-bus (2N) architecture is often

chosen for the power system in

enterprise applications because it

provides the required level of fault

tolerance and concurrent

maintainability for Tier 4 data centers.

A properly designed dual-bus system

will eliminate every single point of

failure, and maintenance can be

performed on any component while

continuing to power the load.

But the downsides to failsafe uptime

are higher cost and low utilization

rates for power system components.

This is because to ensure safe

operating conditions when one bus is

carrying the full load, power system

components on each bus are typically

over-provisioned to about 110

percent of the data center load. With

more capacity than needed, the UPS

utilization rate falls below 45 percent

under normal operating conditions. In

periods of low demand—for example,

when the data center is first

deployed—utilization can be 20

percent or lower. Typically UPS

systems operate most efficiently at

utilization rates above 30 percent. At

The reserve architecture creates a fault tolerant

architecture with utilization rates of

approximately 75 percent.