White Paper

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A rack monitoring unit can be congured to
trigger alarms when rack doors are opened
(and can even capture video of the event),
when water or smoke is detected, or when
temperature or humidity thresholds are
exceeded. These “eyes inside the rack”
can be connected to a central monitoring
system where environmental data can be
integrated with power data from the rack
PDUs, while also providing local notication
by activating a beacon light or other alarm if
problems are detected. They should always
be deployed in high-density racks and racks
containing business-critical equipment.
4. Detecting fluid leaks
A single water leak can cost thousands of
dollars in equipment damage—and lose
many times more in lost data, customer
transactions and enterprise productivity.
Leak detection systems use strategically
located sensors to detect leaks across the
data center and trigger alarms to prevent
damage. Sensors should be positioned at
every point uids are present in the data
center, including around water and glycol
piping, humidier supply and drain lines,
condensate drains and unit drip pans.
A leak detection system can be operated
as a standalone system or connect into the
central monitoring system to simplify alarm
management. Either way, it is an important
part of the sensor network that gives data
center managers visibility into operating
conditions.
Control
Current generation infrastructure systems
are equipped with sophisticated controls
that enhance reliability and enable
multiple units to work together to improve
performance and increase efciency.
5. Intelligent control of precision cooling
Intelligent controls integrated into room and
row air conditioners allow these systems to
maintain precise temperature and humidity
control as efciently as possible. They
coordinate the operation of multiple cooling
units to allow the units to complement
rather than compete with each other, as
sometimes occurs when intelligent controls
are not present.
For example, one unit may get a low
humidity reading that could trigger
the precision cooling system’s internal
humidier. But before turning on the
humidier, the unit checks the humidity
readings of other units and discovers that
humidity across the room is at the high end
of the acceptable range. Instead of turning
on the humidier, the system continues to
monitor humidity to see if levels balance out
across the room.
In one large data center’s carefully
monitored retrot application, adding
intelligent controls to 32 Liebert Deluxe
precision cooling units with integrated
Liebert iCOM controls reduced energy
consumption by 200 kW per hour, and
generated a return on investment of 1.2
years.
Integrated control systems on room- and
rack-based cooling systems can also be
used to enable preventive maintenance
programs and speed response to system
problems. Data collected by these systems
enables predictive analysis of components
and proactive management of system
maintenance. Event logs, service history
logs and spare parts lists all support more
efcient service.