ColoSpace

I am very excited about this new opportunity to communicate with our current and future customers, our dedicated ColoSpace Team, and everyone else who is interested in learning more about our business from multiple perspectives.  As a technology based organization we embrace the opportunity to work with customers from a varied spectrum each with their own set of technology challenges.  We work hard to stay ahead of the curve as we are implementing the latest technologies each week to meet the needs of our newest customers or a new challenge set forth by one of our existing customers.  Occasionally the challenge for us becomes taking the time to keep up with other technologies, like blogging.  I am glad we are here so let’s get started.

There are many moving parts to each data center operation:  The real estate that houses the facility, power infrastructure, HVAC, network access, monitoring, and more.  Today I would like to take a brief look at data center UPS systems from a maintenance perspective and provide a brief overview of the areas that should be looked at on a regular basis and why.

The UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) power plants at each data center facility are an integral part of our ability to provide high availability power.  Each UPS plant uses DC battery power and converts it to AC power to support data center operations during a loss of utility power.  The systems are designed to run for approximately 15 minutes which allows more than enough time for our emergency backup generators to come online and power data center operations.  The UPS systems also condition power we received from the utility so that we can be sure to deliver clean power to our customer systems on the data center floor.

Each data center has a minimum of two UPS plants to provide redundancy for our customers.  These units contain a cabinet that houses the primary components of the system including an inverter to convert DC power to AC power as well as transformers and capacitors.  One or more battery cabinets will be attached to the main unit each containing approximately 30 or 40 batteries depending on the system.  A single system can operate with just a few batteries or hundreds of batteries depending on the configuration.  Additional battery cabinets will allow you to extend the runtime of your system.

The first item to consider for longevity of your UPS system is the environmental conditions.  UPS systems and the batteries that support them are sensitive to room temperature.  Rooms that house larger UPS systems generally are configured with redundant HVAC systems to maintain the proper conditions at all times.  You should check with your UPS and battery manufacturer to determine the set points for your HVAC units.  Additionally, make sure that you keep the environment as dust free as possible.  Filter changes on HVAC systems and regular maintenance on UPS fan filters are essential.

The second most important item to making sure your UPS system is always providing the proper protection is regular battery maintenance.  UPS system batteries generally have a life span of approximately 5 – 7 years but should be checked regularly.  At ColoSpace we check our batteries quarterly and would recommend that any critical UPS system follow the same procedure.  UPS system batteries should be checked with a high end load tester by professionals.  This process allows failing batteries to be identified and replaced as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately just a few bad batteries can bring down your entire battery string and lead to a number of unexpected problems that may appear that something else is wrong with your UPS system.  Bad batteries also impact the batteries around them reducing the longevity of your entire battery string.  Healthy batteries are the most important component for a UPS system to run properly and deliver predictable results.

The last item that requires regular maintenance is capacitors, particularly in older systems.  The AC and DC capacitors in your UPS plant have a defined life span and can be very dangerous once they start to reach the end of that period.  Capacitor failure can lead to the total failure of your UPS system or fire in the right circumstances.  The life span of your capacitors can usually be determined by the manufacturer and is dependent on the technology used at the time of production.  Capacitor runtime has increased over the years and the timeline for replacement is usually predictable.  Have your capacitors checked by a professional whenever preventative maintenance is performed to avoid unexpected downtime and UPS system failure.

I hope that you have found this quick overview on the basics of UPS maintenance to be helpful.  If you have specific questions about your system please feel free to e-mail me at dsampson@colospace.com or consult your UPS service professional.  I am also happy to entertain future topics for discussion in this forum.