Submittal

RKAT05--WW-ENG, Rev 0, 12/2015
©2015 Panduit Corp. All Rights Reserved.
8
Panduit Net-Access™ Cabinet Doors Keep Data Center Equipment Cool and Secure
Table 1. Perforated door airflow reduction and resulting increase in exhaust temperature.
600 mm Cabinet Perforated Door % Open Area
57%
69%
80%
Servers
[qty] type
Airflow
reduction
Exhaust
∆T
Airflow
reduction
Exhaust
∆T
Airflow
reduction
Exhaust
∆T
[42] 1 RU servers
1.8%*
0.33°C
<0.1%
0.21°C
<0.1%
<0.1°C
[21] 2 RU servers
0.4%*
0.06°C
<0.1%
0.04°C
<0.1%
<0.1°C
[4] 9 RU servers
2.8%
0.26 C
1.0%
0.09°C
0.2%*
0.02°C
* Value obtained by extrapolation beyond test data
This table indicates the magnitude of airflow impact that perforated doors have in typical data
center applications and the impact that this reduction in airflow has on equipment cooling. The
amount of airflow reduction is very low. Even the worst-case example – high airflow 9 RU
servers with a high resistance 57% open area perforated door in the narrowest width cabinet –
results in only a 2.8% reduction in airflow through the servers and a fraction of a degree increase
in exhaust temperature.
Security
Preventing unauthorized access to IT equipment is a key function of data center cabinet doors. The
strength of the perforated material is a primary factor in how effectively the door performs this
function. As percent open area of the perforation pattern increases, the area of the door that is
metal decreases. Naturally, the strength of the door also decreases.
The Industrial Perforators Association provides yield strength and elastic properties of perforated
sheet metal. Because their data only includes perforated patterns up to 58% open area, we
explored the impact of the percent open area on a sheet’s strength through finite element modeling
of perforated sheet sections. We considered examples of malicious attempts to shut off or damage
IT equipment and chose the force required to penetrate a door with a #2 Phillips screwdriver to
represent the strength of the perforation from a security perspective. To ensure that all force
differences were due to perforation percent open area only, the hole size and sheet thickness were
held constant across the finite element models. Figure 7 shows the force required to penetrate
each percent open area model.