Upgrading Data Centers' Electrical Systems: Selecting the Best Electrical Design Configuration for Existing Data Centers

The increasing amount of data processed by companies and institutions as a result of the Internet boom has stretched most existing data centers to their limits. Today more people than ever own cell phones, watch videos on mobile devices and make all kinds of online transactions. All the data necessary to make all of these activities possible are processed and stored on servers and computers housed in data centers around the world. Data processed and stored in these servers and computers are accessed 24/7 and as a result, most are required to be operational all the time. In order for these servers to be continuously operational, data centers’ electrical systems need to be very reliable. However, because most existing data centers are decades old, the reliability of their electrical systems are not adequate unless they are upgraded and well maintained. The high cost of power has also increased the need to make data centers’ electrical systems more efficient. In general, before any upgrade is made, data center managers evaluate their existing electrical systems to identify the needs of their data centers and develop the best plan to upgrade these electrical systems. A data center electrical system can be an “N”, “N+1”, “2N”, “2(N+1)” configuration or a variation of these configurations. An N electrical system configuration has just one distribution pathway with no extra capacity and an N+1 electrical system configuration also has just one distribution pathway but with some extra capacity in the UPS subsystem and the backup generator subsystem. Two distribution pathways exist for 2N and 2(N+1) configuration. The level of upgrade done on an existing electrical system generally depends on the type of configuration and equipment of the data center. This report looks into some of the considerations necessary to select the best electrical design configuration for existing data centers. Specifically, the report identifies what can be done to make some existing data centers’ electrical systems more reliable, more efficient and easier to maintain