Advertisement Feature Cover Story Gimme Shelter
Containerised solutions and transportable modular data centres are an increasingly adaptable solution in the data centre industry and are used in a variety of situations. Darren Pearce, managing director at critical power specialist Powertecnique, explains how its new solutions, DataShelter and PowerShelter, differ from other containerised solutions and how they particularly suit the data centre industry
T
he Powertecnique Shelter range was developed specifically for the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan and with the oil and gas industries, where portable power solutions are needed to oper- ate in harsh environments and chal- lenging circumstances.
The Shelter range takes the five basic elements of data centres and splits them between two packages - DataShelter and PowerShelter. DataShelter contains server racks, UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) and cooling equipment. Both the cooling solution and the UPS are built to incor- porate an N+1 level of redundancy. The second container, PowerShelter, then contains all the necessary switchgear and a back-up generator.
Data centres
Customised for data centres, DataShelter has a hot and cold aisle, which are separated by a fixed portion above the racks with a flexible curtain for access. These cold aisles can be cooled through free cooling technol- ogy if a lower PUE (power usage effec- tiveness) and a smaller carbon footprint is required. The typical PUE in this situation is 1.3.
Powertecnique often recommend modular UPS units in mobile working data centres, because multiple units can be added to form a larger cabinet - in fact with this arrangement it can be simpler to achieve N+1 redundancy by adding another module, providing greater energy efficiencies against a more typical legacy UPS system. Since UPS systems are more efficient when nearing full capacity, modular UPS enables the user to increase the size of the UPS (number of modules) in line with the load requirement, and thus efficiency is kept high.
The unit is designed to be capable of running blade servers which have multi-core processors and generate a lot of power and storage in relatively little space. As this increases the need for cooling, Powertecnique tend to rec- ommend free cooling as an energy effi- cient solution. It can be a great way to reduce the power requirement as it works with ambient air to cool the units down. In the UK in the summer
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Right: Powertecnique’s Maxsis UPS
Below: the Shelter range from Powertecnique was originally
developed for harsh environments for the US military in Iraq and
Afghanistan and within the oil and gas industries
you will still be likely to need some back-up chillers installed.
The containerised solutions feature added capabilities with a remote mon- itoring DCIM (data centre infrastruc- ture management) solution which has significant functionality - it can remotely turn off one network port if needed, and completely control the environment in the data centre. It has a PUE footprint dashboard to measure its effectiveness, it is able to tell you exactly what temperature everything is inside the data centre, and can check alarms, visibility and control security - it’s a visible window into the DataShelter.
Powertecnique has worked with several different clients over the past six months and each package has been completely different from the others. The company’s most recent unit was 25 x 10 x 9.6ft which meant that the units inside could remain fixed, unlike standard units where they are left mobile. Therefore, there is less chance of damaging the equipment if it is in a site that’s subject to volatility such as a war zone. Powertecnique’s engineers are able to utilise the extra space to accommodate specialist cooling equip- ment, as well as a wealth of other fea- tures for customisation.
Against the elements
Because of how DataShelter and PowerShelter came to be created, Powertecnique has proven that the units work in harsh environments abroad. The company is now bringing them to companies in the UK so that they can have more flexible IT and power solutions anywhere.
Although Powertecnique has a stan- dard core offer, each unit is custom- designed around that core, and built to meet customers’ requirements. The company is more than happy to talk through a solution if the customer doesn’t know exactly what they want.”
Customisable solutions The DataShelter and PowerShelter pack- ages work hand in hand to ensure the best for the user, and the systems are com- pletely customisable. There are plenty of options for customising including high security systems, remote monitoring and various door lock solutions. The standard unit is based around a 30ft ISO container. Powertecnique also provide ten foot wide containers for when the DataShelter must be even easier to work in - those extra two feet of internal space will mean a lot in some circumstances.
Powertecnique size DataShelter units in kilowatts per rack (for UPS and cool- ing) and the lowest in the range is around two to three kilowatts with only one or two servers running per rack. However, DataShelter can go up to 20- 25kW per rack and Powertecnique’s engineers are working on a solution to get it up to 50kW per rack.
FEBRUARY 2014 Electrical Engineering
Powertecnique
www.powertecnique.com T: 01489 560 700
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