Posted by Kim Otte on Thu, May 27, 2010 @ 10:43 AM
Thermal imaging or thermography is very important for different components in your data center. It is a must for all electrical and mechanical systems and should be part of the regular maintenance schedule.
Thermography allows you to detect irregularities in systems before they can become a problem. The following electrical systems should have this performed:
- Electrical switchgear
- Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
- Automatic transfer switches
- Server systems
- Cooling systems
There can be problems in these systems that cannot be detected with the naked eye. Using infrared thermal imaging can prevent equipment failure and unplanned outages and can help detect overloaded circuits or loose connections which can cause degradation.
Thermography also is important role in detecting hot spots in your server racks and network equipment. If these are not detected, these high temperatures can compromise your data center network reliability.
So you can see that using thermal imaging as part of your regular maintenance is really important to keep your data center or server room up and running continuously.
Have you used thermography as part of your data center maintenance? If so, tell us what problems were detected that otherwise might have ended up being a huge problem for you.
Posted by Kim Otte on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 02:44 PM
Preventive maintenance is one of the key approaches to protecting a facility through detection of potential points of failure before the deficiency initiates a system-wide malfunction, this is key for mission critical facilities. What if the output of your UPS or DC power system was interrupted for even a few seconds? This would cause a huge disruption in your critical load, which in turn could cost your business serious downtime and money.
Neglecting to maintain equipment or implementing improper maintenance procedures are two of the biggest reasons why mission critical equipment fails. Two of the heaviest hitters in the data center - power and cooling equipment - require regular maintenance to ensure that power, temperature, or humidity fluctuations do not cost a company thousands, if not millions, of dollars. According to Ken Nason, Power Technician at Electronic Environments, 90-95% of failures that he sees in the field are caused by batteries, capacitors and fans that have not been properly maintained.
Timely and Proper Equipment Maintenance
There are a few important questions that IT and data center managers need to ask themselves to make sure they are on the right track in terms of timely and proper equipment maintenance; these include: What maintenance needs to be done on the equipment or hardware? When? How often?
Pictured here is a damaged UPS Inverter Assembly, the damage happened when one of the aging capacitors blew up; this is the type of damage that can occur if your UPS isn't properly maintained.
There are different scopes of work for each piece of equipment and most equipment manufacturers have a recommended maintenance schedule. Maintenance should include a visual inspection where you are looking for dust, leaks, or corrosion. In the end, a properly maintained system will ensure that when called upon, the system performs according to the manufacturer's specifications.
Electronic Environments' preventive maintenance visits serve as an in-depth examination of specific equipment, as well as a general review of the site conditions. Electronic Environments' goal is to minimize unscheduled emergency visits and maximize infrastructure run time.
Conclusion
In today's critical environments, IT service continuity is a high priority; incorporating a preventive maintenance program will help keep your systems up and running continuously. The below figure depicts the change in the mindset of IT managers today. (provided by Forrester Research, Inc.)
Posted by Michael Kingsley on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 11:42 AM
Engineering, construction and maintenance has become an increasingly complex undertaking in today's data centers. Our blog is to promote an open exchange of ideas, questions and recommendations relating to these issues in data centers, computer rooms and other mission critical facilities.
The blog is hosted and monitored by knowledgeable and experienced engineers and maintenance experts at Electronic Environments Corporation.
We will discuss best practices and trends relating to the physical infrastructure in critical environments like data centers and server rooms; including power, cooling, fire protection, equipment layout, preventive and proactive maintenance, energy management solutions and more.
Electronic Environments offers a broad range of expertise; from engineering, construction and maintenance services (with emphasis on electrical and mechanical systems), to data center cooling and energy management and monitoring solutions. Our mission is to help you keep your critical facility up and running continuously.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Mike
Michael Kingsley
President
Electronic Environments Corporation
mkingsley@eecnet.com