Tips for Ensuring Power Quality
Written by Paul Kirvan on March 5, 2009 in Business Continuity, disaster preparedness, Disaster Recovery.
Data centers - or any other organization, for that matter – do not have direct control over the availability and quality of electrical power provided by utility companies. Following are several techniques to check, monitor and control incoming power quality.
- Use appropriate equipment to ensure power quality such as voltage regulators and surge suppressors. They can isolate sensitive and costly IT equipment from the local power grid by acting as a buffer to absorb sudden voltage fluctuations.
- Use miniature circuit breaker (MCB) fuses which trip whenever there is a potentially dangerous situation so that the equipment can be saved from damage.
- Lightning arrestors can prevent power spikes from thunderstorms by absorbing the lightning current and passing it to ground
- Use power monitoring systems (e.g., from Dranetz Technologies) to monitor power quality for subsequent analysis.
- Ensure that the data center building is properly grounded, and that the grounding is periodically tested.
- Have backup power systems in place, such as batteries, external generators and uninterruptible power systems (UPS).
For more information, see Power Systems in Emergencies: From Contingency Planning to Crisis Management, by U. G. Knight.
Also, see Study Predicts Worsening Power Reliability.
Tags: backup power, emergency power, power quality, UPS
