UNCOVERING THE LAYERS they ’ re also signs of inefficiencies to be smoothed out . To understand how to address the power sags and swells that occur in every cabinet , it ’ s important to first look at exactly why they happen in the first place .
Why waves matter
Unlike , say , a stove or a lamp , data centre IT equipment draws power in a nonlinear way . The electrical current to the equipment comes in high-amplitude short bursts that are more like waves than a steady stream . Baked into this non-linear power load is the idea of something called harmonic distortion , inevitable disruptions in the waveform .
Harmonics cause all sorts of issues , from vibrating buzzes and overheating to voltage surges and false protective trips . Over the years , significant progress has been made to minimise harmonics with electronic devices , but it cannot be eliminated entirely .
If rack power needs to be more efficient , what can be done to fight the problems caused by harmonics ? In this battleground , a data centre ’ s secret weapon is PDU visibility . Simply put , you can ’ t address a malfunctioning wave unless you can see the wave in the first place . The future of PDUs features power monitoring at the rack , enabling data centres to observe power quality continuously in real time .
Enhanced visibility into a rack ’ s power waveforms provides the opportunity to collect granular data , examine efficiency reporting and create automatic alerts at the PDU ’ s inlet , outlet and rack level . As opposed to being completely blind to a PDU ’ s performance , those looking for heightened functionality can gather information that can be used to predict issues caused by harmonics and prevent them before they lead to equipment inefficiencies . Let ’ s look at how advanced PDU monitoring can create important improvements to data centre operations .
A better way to play
With enhanced PDU visibility , though , the state of the power waveform at the time of the incident is automatically captured and available for analysis immediately . Waveform captures can also be performed on-demand , for a live look-in at any given time .
Power wave performance can also be mapped over time . Knowing the total
Assume a disruption such as a PDU outage , device power failure , voltage dip or voltage swell has occurred . Without knowing what kind of harmonics might have caused the problem , meaningfully investigating the disruption is difficult . www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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