UPS Systems
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KEN'S KORNER - Data Center Environmental Monitoring
Selecting a Monitoring System Monitoring can range from electrical power equipment supporting critical load such as UPS systems, diesel generators, PDU/RPP’s down to individual branch circuits within power panels. When evaluating a monitoring system consider what type of graphics are desired and available. Pictorial diagrams displaying individual monitored components are helpful, especially ones that change color or light up in... -
Worker Electrocuted
That was the headline five years ago when an electrician was working in a data center accidentally touched a high voltage live terminal and was killed while installing an uninterruptible power supply. Five years later the courts have found the electrical contractor negligent in the accident because of failures in communication and management. The electrical contractor claimed to have been... -
KEN'S KORNER - Data Center Facility Staff Duties
Every data center is different; size, structure, and complexity vary from site-to-site. The goal of facility management is to keep the site up and running, to avoid outages and maintain uptime. Where much of facility management’s energy is devoted to monitoring the system, it takes considerable time and resources to install and maintain equipment. Where monitoring needs to be owned... -
KEN'S KORNER - UPS System Preventative Maintenance
UPS Systems & Preventative Maintenance An uninterruptable power supply (UPS) is designed to provide emergency power to electrical equipment when the primary power source fails. A UPS typically serves as a bridge between the primary power source and an auxiliary power system, like a diesel generator, to provide time to properly shut down sensitive equipment. A UPS can either... -
KEN'S KORNER - UPS Systems: Buying and Maintenance
UPS Buying and Maintenance Tips The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has labeled the nation’s electrical grid as a “patchwork system” that will ultimately breakdown by 2020 without massive investments. As the U.S. electrical grid becomes less reliable, and the number and severity of outages increase the steps taken to ensure continuous uptime in tomorrow’s data centers will... -
KEN'S KORNER - UPS System Battery Room Safety
16 UPS System Battery Room Safety Issues At the heart of any UPS system supporting a mission critical facility is the battery. IEEE, OSHA, EPA, NEC, NFPA, and many more agencies, committees and groups offer safety recommendations regarding the design, construction, maintenance and monitoring of battery rooms. Even though the data centers I was responsible for hired consultants and... -
KEN'S KORNER - UPS System Battery Maintenance
UPS Battery Maintenance Tips The weak link in a standby battery based emergency backup system is the battery. Storage battery failures cause more down time and service calls on UPS systems than any other component. Buying the best battery for your intended use is the first step to success, regular monitoring and preventative maintenance is the next step in making... -
KEN'S KORNER - UPS System Battery Basics
Selecting UPS System Batteries (UPS Battery Basics) According to Ponemon Institute’s September 2010 National Survey on Data Center Outages, 95% of the companies surveyed had experienced unplanned outages in the prior two years, with 88% citing the loss of primary power as the culprit and experiencing an average downtime event lasting 107 minutes per outage. The survey also indicated the...