The First Facility Management Blog

Staco Energy Products Co. has introduced FirstLine® 924 three-phase Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 20kW and 30 kW central emergency lighting system. This true on-line, double-conversion central inverter provides computer grade power quality for virtually any lighting system.

In addition to providing a continuous power supply during blackouts, the FirstLine 924 isolates and protects the connected load from damaging sags, swells, harmonics, noise, and voltage imbalances in the primary AC supply. Isolating the connected load from irregularities in the primary AC supply can significantly increase the life expectancy of lighting systems. Applications include public buildings, commercial and industrial facilities, high security areas, schools and universities, and more.

In the event of an AC power failure, the FirstLine 924 automatically transfers to battery power, providing a continuous power supply for 90 minutes, as required by NFPA 101. When power returns, the FirstLine 924 automatically recharges the batteries in preparation for the next power disturbance. Input voltage rating is 208Y/120 or 480Y/277, Delta connection with optional isolation transformer. Input voltage range is +/- 10% system start up, and +10%/-20% from nominal. Output voltage is regulated to +/-1% of nominal at full load. Total Harmonic Distortion is < 5% for non-linear loads, and < 2% for linear loads.

A front panel LCD display includes 2 x 24 character display, which shows system status and alarms. The user-friendly control panel located on the front of the freestanding NEMA 1 enclosure allows remote monitoring through an RS232 connection. Seismic Zone 4 certified, the FirstLine® 924 is made in the USA and backed by a two-year On-Site Warranty (covering both parts and labor).

The MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 offers scalable power protection.

APC by Schneider Electric, recently released the MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 1000/1100kVA uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Designed for flexibility to meet the needs of many environments, including high power and no rear access, the MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 UPS line also offers paralleling capability, with an external static switch, to enable scalability for increased capacity or redundancy.

These new high power solutions, which can boost capacity from 1000kVA up to 3300kVA, allow IT and facilities managers to respond to increasing demands placed on power infrastructure in growing facilities.

The on-line, three-phase MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 offers scalable power protection using high availability proven topology since 2001 to protect all critical loads. Single module systems are available with 1000kVA to 1100kVA power ratings, and 100% rated continuous duty bypass and output static switches.

Relying on advanced 12 pulse rectifier and inverter technologies to restrict total harmonic distortion to less than 5%, the MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 delivers clean reliable power in even harsh electrical environments with its integrated galvanic copper isolation transformer. The unit can support environments such as data centers and computer rooms, as well as industrial, medical imaging, factory floor, and electrical room applications.

A 100% step-load capability ensures a fast response to load changes with accurate voltage regulation. In addition, the MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 incorporates fault tolerant circuitry that protects the UPS from accidental short circuits usually caused by load side failures or overloads and a 100% rated output static switch with a stable, reliable, pre-determined response time.

The unit interfaces with leading industry universal communication protocols and incorporates four communication slots in a rack mount multi-slot case to support SNMP, J-Bus/ModBus, and RS232-RS485 protocols for interfacing with most devices. With the available Solution-Pac power management software, the MGE EPS 8000 can monitor and control and shutdown multiple servers over a network, while free MGE UPS Web-Pac software enables remote monitoring via the Internet.

Currently available in North America, the MGE Galaxy EPS 8000 is UL-1778 and cUL (Canada) listed.

Given the current economic conditions, here are 10 suggestions for facility managers to get more from their data centers in 2009 while spending less money, courtesy of Emerson Network Power.

1. Cover Your Bases. It may be more difficult to recover from an outage during tough economic times than during prosperous one. A relatively small investment in precision air conditioning and backup power can actually save money. For example, precision air conditioning will adequately protect data center assets; building air conditioning alone will not. A double conversion backup power solution with adequate redundancy is essential to raising system availability and ensuring business continuity.
2. Look Inside Before Outside. Increasing density may be a more cost effective approach to meet the need for more capacity than new facility development. For example new cooling architectures can enable densities notably higher than average data center densities at a fraction of the cost of building a new facility.
3. Assess Before Action. Perhaps one of the smartest investments businesses can make in the coming year will be to asses their data center to identify and resolve vulnerabilities that threaten availability, increase data center efficiency, and improve planning and budget allocation.
4. Go From Room to Rack. Utilizing an integrated enclosure system (i.e. data center in a box or mini computer room offers a cost effective solution to protecting the equipment that may be in a small data center or room. Instead of conditioning the whole room environment, just protect the rack.
5. Cap the Cold Aisle. Cold aisle containment allows cooling units to run at reduced capacity to achieve ideal cooling conditions and save energy costs. This tactic is more efficient and effective than hot aisle containment systems and offers a better environment for data center personnel.
6. Check the Weather Forecast. In many locations, economizers can be used to allow outside cool air to complement data center cooling systems and provide “free cooling” during colder months. This approach lowers energy usage, lessens wear on some components in the cooling equipment, and decreases operational costs. All together, it can be a welcome reduction in the data center electricity bill.
7. Watch Often—If Not Always. The importance of monitoring what’s going on inside the complex and dynamic data center is more important than ever. Keeping an eye on performance will help businesses steer clear of unnecessary maintenance and repair costs. Success in this endeavor will require IT and facilities to integrate disparate data into a centralized portal where actionable and meaningful information can be derived.
8. Improve Energy Utilization. Opportunities exist to improve energy use throughout data centers of all sizes. For example, adding variable frequency drives to cooling systems allows them to recognize reduced loads and operate more efficiently. Every watt of savings achieved on the processor level will create a total of 2.84 watts of savings for the facility.
9. Avoid Cutting Corners. A preventive maintenance plan can extend equipment life and reduce maintenance costs. For example, employ a battery maintenance strategy so that your business isn’t a victim of the number one cause of UPS failure: bad batteries.
10. Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. It may be necessary to minimize capital expenditures but make sure you don’t compromise future scalability. UPS scalability is emerging as a popular solution to reducing the risk associated with miscalculating future capacities. Statistical analysis of UPS system configurations in light of failure rates shows that system reliability begins to decrease sharply when more than four UPS modules are used in a single system.

As part of its work, the California Energy Commission operates a Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Division, which oversees the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. The PIER program focuses on a number of energy areas, including Building Efficiency. This research aims to decrease building energy use by developing or improving energy-efficient technologies, strategies, tools, and building performance evaluation methods.

Periodically, PIER will publish informational briefs based on its research, which is often conducted with a variety of organizations with funding from the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. The briefs are written and prepared by E Source.

PIER recently released a brief on research on the efficiencies of various types of uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) for data centers under a variety of operating conditions. The study, titled “Uninterruptible Power Supplies: A Data Center Efficiency Opportunity,” also proposed an efficiency label for UPSs and estimated the current energy use of the existing stock of UPSs and the potential savings if efficiency standards were in place.

Collaborators on the project included Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its subcontractors, EPRI Solutions, and Ecos Consulting.

The report can be downloaded free of charge at this link. Registration required.