FOCUS Compartmentation Case study: Data centre
An ultrasonic room integrity tester, complementing an oxygen reduction system for compartmentation testing, was field tested at a data centre in England earlier this year.
Oxygen reduction system
The oxygen reduction system works by taking nitrogen from the air outdoors and pumping this into the room consistently, in order to suppress oxygen levels down to the level at which combustion can no longer occur.
Need for monitoring
To ensure the system works safely and efficiently, room integrity is of utmost importance for two reasons:
1. A properly sealed room will contain the nitrogen for a longer period of time, therefore putting less work on the air compressor in order to save energy.
2. If nitrogen starts to leak from the server room, there are safety concerns over where this nitrogen would leak to – if it leaks into other rooms and the oxygen levels were unmonitored, it has the potential to harm occupants.
28 MAY 2018
www.frmjournal.com
Server room test
An ultrasonic room integrity tester was used to test several areas of the server room (which has an area of about 91m2
) where leakage
was probable and the readings were noted on the drawings. These areas consisted of the doors, vents, cable penetrations and also sections of the wall where gaps were visible.
Test results
The ultrasonic room integrity tester identified the main source of leaks for the room – the doors – where full readings were clearly detected. Multiple air vents in the room were also improperly sealed and some leakage was found into the external room. In addition, cable penetrations leading to the area outside the server room were found to be leaking.
Conclusions
Once the required maintenance is conducted, and assuming no changes are made to the room, it is safe to assume that the room would retain its integrity, thus complying with and exceeding current ISO 14520 regulations. These require periodic room integrity inspections whereby visual inspection is usually specified but is not sufficient. The most suitable way to address periodic inspections is through the use of ultrasound
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