Data Center illumination Design plan you should not overlook the details

Ignoring the lighting and causing the computer room to operate incorrectly

In data center design, lighting is often the least noticed. However, the lack of illumination can lead to the occurrence of artificial misoperation. Therefore, it is particularly important to recognize the label and cable color on the wiring board, especially when working under pressure. In fact, most cabinets and devices are now pure black, and since very few light is reflected in the tunnels, this first makes the lighting difficult. But lighting devices are often placed on cabinets and cable trays, even allowing light to go into the aisles. Here are some tips for how to improve cabinet and aisle lighting in data center design, with some other best practices, and some of the ways that IT pros can use.

Similar to most offices, the data center ceiling is often an embedded panel built with a hanging metal grid. The use of suspended ceilings in data centers is also one of the best practices for high-density cooling because of the heat-return ceiling that can be generated. However, the ceiling panel material used in the data center should not have peeling off paint so that no dust can enter the airflow organization.

Designers are interested in specifying the use of standard lighting devices in embedded metal grids because they are easy to install and match other parts of the building. At the same time, the bulk of the purchase can be price concessions and facilitate the replacement of ordinary lighting lamps and other advantages, both for contractors and infrastructure suppliers. However, unless the ceiling grid is designed to be compatible with the cabinet and other overhead equipment systems, illumination may be in all or part of the design being blocked by cabinets and grooves, or entirely off the aisle center that should have been illuminated by them.

The ceiling system is almost always a 2-foot grid, so it is very difficult to align the lighting with the aisles, unless the cabinets are placed at the same width intervals. The use of elevated floors is not difficult to achieve, although sometimes the ground and the ceiling grid is not always able to align, or there is only one column of the abnormal interval of the cabinet has caused the whole room of the uncoordinated situation.

In addition, embedded lighting devices generally large (2x4 feet or 2x2 feet), usually across the aisle a large part of the distance. This makes it hard to avoid at least some of the other overhead devices, blocking part of the aisle or creating shadows. Frankly speaking, designers in the data center design, often do not see the cabinet layout drawings, so the lighting device is placed imaging Office environment as standard mode. This problem can be avoided if IT pros can be provided with sufficient accurate information early in the data center design, or if an experienced consultant is involved. If the ceiling grid and cabinet arrangement can match well, the embedded lighting can certainly work well, but there is still a better choice.

The best data center lighting system should be able to give good lighting to the cabinets, like the shelves in the library, designers seem to like this analogy. In the library, the goal is to read the name and catalogue number on the spine, and the 50-foot candlelight (about 500 lux) of the book's surface is enough. The same is true for data centers, and we want the light to go as far away from the cabinet as possible unless the door is open. This requires that the illumination device have a wide scattering spectrum and is installed not far from the top of the cabinet (often no more than 24 inches). It is also required that the size and position of the illumination device not be blocked by the cable groove and other overhead devices. The best choice to date is a selection of narrow, one or two tubular overhanging tubes, which are suspended in a row. The problem is how to get these tubes and all the other devices that you want to put on top of your head. It is difficult to coordinate the installation of side-by and hanging tubes with the ceiling grid, causing the ceiling to often appear as a Swiss cheese when finished.

Lighting Configuration tips: Small details for big benefits

A good solution is to use the One-fourth-inch threaded pole T-Tube integrated ceiling grid. Both lamps and other overhead devices, such as wire slots and power busbar, can be hung under the grid, where they want to be arranged, and coordinate with each other. The use of smallpox grid bridges do not require holes in the ceiling or drilled into the concrete floors above. A large portion of the weight may accumulate, but the overhead grids have a higher structural strength than the standard ASTM international load. However, such a structure may require additional hanging cables to support heavier equipment.

Lighting is also a place where we can achieve energy saving. Both of these methods are worth considering. One way to use LED lighting. Bright, high efficiency and low calorific value make the LED device become the choice of illumination in green data center design. Unfortunately, the range of options for such products is still relatively small, making LED lighting difficult to use in higher-ceiling data centers, but this will change in the future. With just a little innovation, the available lighting can be used in most cases. There has even been a use of http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/38009.html ">led lamps instead of fluorescent tubes, and part of the overhead cooling system using integrated LED lighting."

Any lighting device can also be fitted with proximity detectors so that when someone enters the area of the equipment, the light is on, and when there is no sound, the lamp is extinguished after the scheduled interval. This also saves energy.

In short, lighting is an important part of data center design, as important as any part of other infrastructure. There is no reason why it should not be fully considered or remedied in the design, and should be coordinated with the cabinet and other overhead devices so that the work area can be illuminated well. Of course, the design should also consider the energy-saving design. (Source: TechTarget China)