Intelligent Data Centres Issue 21 | Page 14

LATEST INTELLIGENCE

THE POWER OF FUSES :

AVOIDING DOWNTIME & RISK

PRESENTED BY
DOWNLOAD WHITEPAPERS AT :
WWW . INTELLIGENTDATACENTRES . COM / WHITEPAPERS

Those working in the data center space know they must do everything in their power to avoid the “ dreaded d-word ”: downtime . And with downtime comes outrageous costs and inconvenience .

Innovation in today ’ s world means quicker , convenient , more efficient . Long gone are the days of dial up tones or spinning wheels on your screen . If a search engine offers anything less than instant gratification , then we don ’ t care enough to sit around and wait for the results .
And while the average person has no idea what goes on behind the scenes to achieve this euphoric immediacy – data center managers know all too well .
This feat requires increased infrastructure : more servers and racks , sufficient cooling , reliable network connectivity and security , and increased power .
Without power , data center operation grinds to a halt : downtime is inevitable , and panic ensues .
Risk Management with OCPD Fuses vs . Circuit Breakers
While the continuation of uptime in data centers is of mission critical importance , the need for overcurrent protection deployment throughout the entire power system architecture cannot be understated .
For your power distribution system , the two main types of current-limiting devices are fuses and circuit breakers . As every electrician knows , fuses are a “ one-use only ” OCPD , containing a metal wire or strips of a certain material ( i . e . silica ) that melt when too much current flows through them , thus clearing ( disconnecting ) the current . The fuse must then be replaced . Circuit breakers are switches designed to automatically cut-off an electrical current when an overcurrent is detected . ◊
14 Issue 21 www . intelligentdatacentres . com