Drives&Controls & BACK TO BASICS n SPONSORED BY Data centres should prevent harmonics at their source Data centres are hotbeds of harmonics. While there are various ways of mitigating them, stopping them at the source can help to enhance reliability and reduce the risk of downtime, as Scott Birchall, HVACR global application engineer at ABB, explains. Data centres are incredibly power-hungry, and the emergence of AI means that facilities and the server racks that fill them have become larger and more densely packed to handle the trillions of computations required every second. This has led to vast increases in power demand. The power supplied must also be clean and high quality, with the lowest possible harmonic content. Any data centre downtime can incur huge fines and reputational damage and must therefore be avoided at all costs. And since data centres are essentially packed from floor to ceiling with harmonic-generating electrical devices, effective harmonic mitigation is essential. One way of addressing the high harmonic content is by oversizing equipment such as transformers and back-up generators. If you’re using a six-pulse drive in a data centre – as opposed to an ultra-low harmonic (ULH) drive – then you’ll typically have to oversize your generator by around 50%. As well as sending costs skyrocketing, using oversized equipment reduces system efficiency. In addition, it not only potentially takes up precious space that could otherwise be used for more computing equipment, but also generates more heat. Harmonic filters are another option, and are typically used on EC fan systems or drive systems with no built-in mitigation. However, filters create additional power requirements, and are also an additional point of failure. If your filter goes down then so too does your mitigation, which can lead to major issues across the facility. Installing filters as and when you need them means that you are already risking downtime. Conversely, if you use ULH drives instead, this prevents the problem at the source, so that even if one drive fails, the remaining drives will still continue to provide mitigation – more than enough to prevent any downtime. For more information about ABB’s ultra-low harmonic drives, search for “ABB ULH”. ABB will be showing its ULH drives at Data Centre World, from 4-5 March, at Excel, London.
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