Introduction to Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement Technology in data centers

Introduction to Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement Technology in data centers

The data center has high temperature requirements and requires 365 days of constant temperature throughout the year. However, in fact, the temperature in different locations is different within the data center. If the ventilation is not good, the temperature in the same data center may vary by a few degrees, in this way, the temperature at the local location is relatively high, and devices in this location will be affected for a long time, and even accelerate the aging of the device. Therefore, some temperature sensors are usually deployed in the data center, the local temperature of the data center is monitored by using thermal resistance sensors, Thermocouple sensors, and special semiconductor sensors, however, this method has a small measurement range, complex wiring, high damage, and heavy maintenance workload. Generally, only 1 ~ The number of points collected for the two temperature collection points is too small to detect the air temperature in and out of each cabinet. It is difficult to monitor the local hot spots or local cold points in the data room, in practice, the effect is not very good, and it cannot completely reflect the actual temperature of all local points in the data center. If the collected temperature data is inaccurate and there are even many missing local points, it cannot provide meaningful data for energy-saving optimization of the data center and provide reference for precise air supply of air conditioners, local over-temperature points cannot be detected in a timely manner, resulting in serious security risks.

How can we solve the internal temperature monitoring problem in the data center? The optical fiber temperature measurement technology provides the possibility. The optical fiber temperature measurement technology is a new technology developed in recent years, and has gradually revealed some outstanding features. The optical cable used is both a transmission medium and a sensing unit. The pulse emitted by the light source is transmitted along the optical fiber after the wavelength division multier. The optical fiber molecules play the same role in the transmission process and generate spontaneous Raman scattering light. The stochastic light is not temperature sensitive, anti-stoks light is sensitive to temperature, and the two scattered light are detected by a high-sensitivity detector after separation by wavelength division multiplexing. Because the time for transmitting the Raman scattering signal generated at different locations of the optical fiber cable to the detector is different, the location of the Raman scattering can be determined by the return time of the detection signal. Combined with the high-speed signal acquisition and data processing technology, you can obtain the temperature information at any point on the entire Optical Cable accurately and quickly. This technology has been widely used in electric power, petrochemical, tunnel, construction and other fields, because of the large difference in the spatial resolution, temperature accuracy, measurement range and measurement time of Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement, therefore, there are few applications in data centers with high precision requirements. With the improvement of Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement Technology in recent years, it is possible for Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement to enter the data center. In the data center, a single optical fiber is used for Temperature Monitoring and signal transmission, and the spatial temperature distribution along the optical fiber is measured in real time using the Optical Fiber Raman Scattering Effect and Optical Time Domain reflection measurement technology, real-time precise temperature information collection can be performed on any specified measurement point.

Compared with the traditional Temperature Monitoring System in the data center, optical fiber temperature measurement has many advantages. First, in the data center, optical fiber cables are deployed throughout the entire data center. As long as there are equipment and business traffic, optical fiber cables cover 100% of the monitoring area without blind measurement areas. Secondly, because Optical Fiber Sensors use wavelength encoding for temperature information, the entire temperature measurement system is no longer affected by factors such as the power fluctuation of the light source and the bending of the optical fiber, and the reliability is high. In addition, the optical fiber sensor has simple structure and small size, so it does not occupy space. The traditional Temperature Monitor is usually mounted on the ceiling, which is still at a certain distance from the equipment area. The monitoring temperature data is not accurate and is not sensitive to local temperature. If it is placed near the frame, A large amount of space is required. Sometimes this method cannot be implemented at all, so traditional temperature monitors are installed on the ceiling. The third is the anti-electromagnetic interference, anti-corrosion and explosion-proof optical fiber temperature measurement, which can work stably in harsh environments. The optical fiber exterior has a thick protective film, unlike traditional temperature monitors that rely on probes for temperature monitoring. Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement and insulation performance, suitable for installation in high and low voltage power distribution equipment. Finally, the optical fiber temperature measurement is sensitive and real-time. Through the monitoring system, the temperature along the optical fiber can be displayed in real time to draw a temperature distribution chart, which is intuitive and effective. Through the temperature eye, we can see where the temperature is too high. When the temperature exceeds the threshold, we can provide the alarm information in time and locate the alarm location accurately, and directly report the alarm information to the data center monitoring personnel. With these advantages, it is possible to deploy the Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement Technology in the data center.

Through optical fiber temperature measurement, the real-time temperature distribution chart of the entire data center can be well grasped, which gives us the construction of a green data center and improves the reference data. The optical fiber temperature measurement technology can make the air-conditioning system in the best energy-saving status and eliminate internal hot spots. The use of Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement has high reliability, stable operation, and simple construction and installation; the use of Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement improves the maintainability and management level of the data center, which can save a lot of money for the data center and reduce the energy consumption of the data center. A small optical fiber temperature measurement function is not small. Although Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement has so many advantages, in practice, especially in domestic data center rooms, there are few applications, and it is still in the initial development stage. Optical fiber temperature measurement has been a very mature technology application in foreign countries. This is mainly because the domestic Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement Technology is not accurate enough, and the price of foreign technical products is too high, the air conditioning feedback control interface is also complicated during installation, professional installation and post-maintenance are required, which requires high technical requirements, which makes the application of optical fiber temperature measurement technology basically unavailable in domestic data centers. Of course, the optical fiber can only be deployed where devices are connected. It cannot be covered in areas far away from the cabinet. Although these areas are less likely to be hot, just in case, it is best to have temperature monitoring. Therefore, if possible, it is best to use traditional temperature monitoring and Optical Fiber Temperature Measurement in a data center. Some Temperature Monitoring probes can be installed in areas not touched by the optical fiber deployment, collect the temperature information so that you can know the temperature in all the places inside the data center to monitor the overall temperature.

As people call for building green data centers, optical fiber temperature measurement, as a new application mode of Temperature Monitoring, provides effective technical support to improve data center security and energy efficiency, it provides a large amount of analytical data for the construction of green data centers. In the data center, the optical fiber temperature measurement technology will surely gain more attention and development.