Enclosures, Cabinets & Racks

nVent rear door coolers offer solution for high-density racks

nVent has announced the launch of its RDHX PRO rear door cooling unit, a new high-performance solution offering the capability to upgrade data centres with up to 83kW high-density racks, meeting the requirements for the growing use of AI-enhanced applications, demands for higher energy efficiency and sustainability, and the need for greater data centre space utilisation. Rear door cooling solutions are increasingly popular as a pay-as-you-go method for retrofitting increased data centre cooling performance, in many cases without the need for additional re-engineering of the existing facility mechanical design. When installed as a primary method of heat removal, rear door coolers eliminate much of the need for mechanical equipment including fans, blowers and CRAHs, to provide a more optimised cooling solution aligned with the exact requirements for individual racks, at the same time reducing noise and energy waste. Bringing flexibility to rack cooling One of the features of RDHX PRO RDC is the ability to operate comfortably with 57°F (14°C) warm water cooling, making it environmentally friendly. By utilising free cooling, the device significantly reduces the amount of energy required to cool the data centre, not only reducing overall data centre power consumption but also the carbon footprint of operations. The future-proofed solution can also be combined with direct-to-chip (D-2-C) liquid cooling deployments, for customers who are moving towards a hybrid approach to cooling, and especially those looking to maximise heat reuse opportunities, combined with NVent’s liquid cooling CDU 800. Maximum compatibility and availability The new rear door cooling units from nVent are offered in a range of standard sizes for use with 42U, 47U, 48U and 52U data centre racks, in both 600mm and 800mm widths. The coolers themselves are 250mm deep, one of the features of rear door coolers is that they are compact and do not require any additional floor space or ceiling headroom, it can free up white space compared to other competitor RDCs and cooling devices CRAH and CRAC units may be eliminated from the data centre. Each unit has a maximum power draw of 1800W and features 12x axial brushless DC fans – more than any competitive unit. However, the large number of fans mean they individually do less work than a smaller number of large fans, reducing stress on the electromechanical devices and increasing their lifecycle. In the event failures do occur, nVent has developed an innovative, tool-less and hot-swappable method for fan replacement as well as other critical components such as PSUs. This feature allows uptime to be maximised at the same time as reducing service callouts and associated costs. For ease of integration with data centre management applications as well as BMS software, the new rear door cooling units also feature a newly designed controller which is compatible with most popular network and control protocols including Web Interface, Ethernet, SNMP, Modbus TCP, RTU, and Redfish. The new RDHX PRO RDC is available from September and will be on demonstration at DCW Paris and SuperComputing in Denver, Colorado, US.

Inspur Information and JD Cloud launch liquid-cooled server

Inspur Information and JD Cloud have announced they have jointly launched the liquid-cooled rack server ORS3000S. The server utilises cold-plate liquid cooling to reduce data centre power consumption by 45% compared to traditional air-cooled rack servers, making it a green solution that dramatically reduces total cost of ownership (TCO). Cold-plate liquid cooling technology allows ORS3000S to improve heat dissipation efficiency by 40%. It adopts a centralised power supply design with N+N redundancy that is capable of meeting the demands of whole rack power supply, and can function at the highest efficiency throughout operation due to power balance optimisation. This results in an overall efficiency increase of 10% when compared to a distributed power supply. Pre-installation at the factory, plus efficient operations and maintenance (O&M) allow for 5-10x faster delivery and deployment. The ORS3000S has been widely deployed in JD Cloud data centres, providing computing power support for JD during major shopping events. It brings a performance increase of 34–56% while minimising power usage effectiveness (PUE), carbon emissions and energy consumption. Inspur Information has been a pioneer in direct and indirect cooling. With new heat conduction technologies such as phase-change temperature uniformity, micro-channel cooling and immersion cooling, Inspur achieves a 30–50% optimisation in the comprehensive energy efficiency of the cooling system. This is achieved via cooling improvements throughout the server design, including a micro/nano-cavity, phase-change, and uniform temperature design for high-power components such as the CPU and GPU. This improves heat dissipation performance by 150% compared to traditional air cooling technologies. Experienced in the industrial application of liquid cooling, Inspur has built one of the world’s largest liquid-cooled data centre production facilities with an annual manufacturing capacity of 100,000 servers. This includes a full-chain liquid-cooling smart manufacturing solution covering R&D, testing, and delivery for the mass production of cold-plate liquid-cooled rack servers. As a result, the PUE for data centres is less than 1.1, and the entire delivery cycle takes five to seven days. Inspur Information’s cold-plate, heat-pipe, and immersion liquid-cooled products have been deployed at a large scale. In addition, Inspur offers complete solutions for liquid-cooled data centres, including primary and secondary liquid cooling circulation and the coolant distribution unit (CDU). This total solution enables a full-path liquid cooling circulation for data centres with the overall PUE reaching the design limit of less than 1.1. Inspur holds more than 100 core patents in the liquid cooling, and has participated in the formulation of technical standards and test specifications for cold-plate and immersion liquid-cooled products in data centres. The company is committed to and will continue to lead the rapid development of the liquid cooling industry and the large-scale application of innovative liquid cooling technology.

Kohler launches design solutions to enable access to high-power gen sets

Kohler has launched its range of walk-in Power Optimised Design Solutions (PODS) in response to the increased market demand for high-power gensets. They offer the highest standards of performance, reliability, robustness, safety, modularity, and competitiveness. Crucially, their size allows for enough internal cooling power to accommodate Kohler’s KD SERIES generators, giving customers the power to utilise generators without compromising on installation and maintenance. The walk-in PODS have generous spacing with a 4m width and height for the base module. The enclosures offer optimal access to different elements of the diesel genset allowing personnel to perform all operations and maintenance tasks with ease. Single swing doors with locks and anti-panic bars facilitate daily access into the enclosure. A push-button located near the access doors controls the interior lighting system. Adherence to noise standards was a critical design consideration, with 85 dB(A) sound reduction at 1m, with 75 and 65 dB(A) configurations also available. Soundproofing panels are made of mineral wool with an M1-class fire rating covered by glass fibre and metal sheet. Rain barrier grilles fitted with an anti-volatile barrier protect air inlets and outlets from harsh weather conditions. A specialised primer coat and polyurethane finish enhance the durability of the enclosures.   “Our first walk-in PODS have been delivered to their new homes in Germany proving the success of the enclosures,” says Cédric Briand, product manager, industrial generators. “The innovative, modular design enables mounted radiators on the generator base-frame even for the KD4500 model. Units are installed onto an external slab with all the options already previously connected and tested in factory, making for a quick and adaptable installation. Our walk-in PODS are inspired by our customers, and we offer a wide range of options and specific adaptations to meet customer needs.”

Enclosure-based infrastructure offers 80% reduction in deployment time

In an age where speed to market is of greater importance than ever, the continuing disruption caused by COVID-19 still impacts global supply-chains. Manufacturers, integrators, and customers are developing new business processes whilst working together to maintain efficient delivery and installation of critical IT infrastructure. Many manufacturers are reassessing supply-chain and plant capabilities in important customer regions. Across the supply-chain the requirement to simplify the ‘order-to-installation’ process is gaining momentum as resources are stressed and national and international restrictions continue to constrain logistical capabilities. In today’s complex technology space environments, data centre enclosures can require up to 35 additional products to complete the deployment of each rack. Untested infrastructure components, cables, hardware, grounding, and blanking plates each contribute a risk to effective functionality and fit to the solution. Supplying preconfigured modular solutions based on a single SKU allows customers to reorder assessed, tested, and optimised enclosures containing all the components required for specific solutions. This capability ensures infrastructure that provides reliable, high performance results in a given technology space.  Preconfigured cabinets can save up to 80% of on-site deployment time. Figure1: Delivers up to 80% reductions in time to deploy Rack densities are increasing and the need for effective thermal and device management is paramount as hot spots are potentially fatal to active technology. Chiefly, the pre-configured option is a tier one customer solution which reduces ordering complexity and the need for onsite construction and so offers a system solution rather than a box of parts that require manpower and hours of on-site construction. The cabinet configuration is pre-engineered and validated to the customer’s specifications. In many cases complete cabinet systems are tested within Panduit’s extensive thermal lab facility to ensure customer and safety thermal and environmental parameters are met. This guarantees cabinets arrive on site ready to populate with active components whilst optimised for power, space, speed and performance. Assured air containment and sealing systems within the cabinet assists in a reduction in cooling energy by as much as 40%. This solutions development is the result of over 10-year partnership with Cisco and other data centre industry suppliers on standardised converged infrastructure appliances. As compute density increases the heat generated within the cabinets requires proper inlet air conditions to ensure server, switches and storage provide optimal thermal interface to allow airflow across the surface. Hardware is tested in a simulated data centre environment to maximum equipment power consumption and heat dissipation. Customers are supplied with key performance data collected to verify all equipment operates within expected limits. Figure 2: Cabinets deliver optimal thermal interface Delivered as a dynamically load rated cabinet optimised for space and scalability it is ready to receive the active equipment, as well as the supplied complete colour coded and sized connectivity components (cables; copper and fibre), cable managers, grounding and bonding system, intelligent PDUs, patch panels and blanking panels. Utilising the supplied easy-to-follow instructions guide and elevation diagram simplifies and speeds the ability to complete the build and have the units available for installation. It is estimated that this saves between nine and 14 hours of construction time per cabinet. Preconfigured enclosures also greatly reduce packaging associated with logistics and additionally assists supplier and customer to remove substantial amounts of waste packaging from the product and supply-chain cycle. Large- and small-scale operations can - over time and after numerous MACs - lose track of device locations. Therefore, asset management is essential and device traceability within the cabinet environments is simplified through the use of monitoring and sensor systems such as SmartZone. Customers can maintain effective device mapping within cabinets and across time, ensuring MACs are reported and changes to topology recorded.   Wireless environmental monitoring increases the system’s capabilities to record and analyse real time environmental conditions and alert the system for automated response to any unplanned changes in conditions. When human intervention is required the system will notify the site engineer or systems management of the situation and can provide analysis of the problem, so an engineer is dispatched with the equipment required to resolve the problem, without the need to return a second time. The pandemic highlighted on-going challenges with the procurement process many organisations follow. Today’s converged IT infrastructure solutions accelerate and can simplify design procurement and deployment cycles for site management. Panduit’s solution allows customers to plan a streamlined process in less time and with reduced errors and waste, providing an easy route to expanding or renewing data centre or large enterprise infrastructure projects.

Rittal ePocket awarded enclosure sustainability prize by Siemens

Sustainability calls for ideas, technologies and collaboration between companies. This concept is also followed by the Siemens Sustainability Award for the Cabinets material field, which was presented for the first time by the Purchasing Council Cabinets & LV Switchgear in 2021. The award honours suppliers and Siemens employees whose ideas support Siemens’ goals of high sustainability. The first award winners are Rittal and a business unit of Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI). They introduced Rittal ePocket, the digital wiring plan pocket, as an idea for strengthening sustainability at Siemens. How can a reduction in carbon emissions be achieved with less paperwork? Today, thick paper folders with equipment and system documentation for the enclosure still form part of day-to-day production work. Depending on the system, 500 or more pages of documentation can quickly accumulate, and these are often reprinted in the event of changes. If all this paperwork is eliminated, the carbon emissions to the environment will also be reduced. From the Eplan and Rittal point of view, paper is a thing of the past when data can be used digitally and centrally. Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure Team immediately recognised this sustainability potential. The result is that every single member of the VX25, VX SE, AX and KX enclosure range will have its own 'place' in the Eplan Cloud. The owner of the ePocket will be able to access the equipment and system documentation, including a digital twin, in the Eplan cloud via a QR code on the enclosure. However, the immediate benefit is not just that of huge savings in paper. The digital version also makes work easier and saves time. Thanks to consistent digital processes from engineering to construction, all the data is available to create digital machine and system documentation rapidly. This current documentation in operation also helps service and maintenance employees. One can access the circuit diagrams directly on the system with a smartphone or tablet via the integrated Eplan eView. This ensures quick retrieval and troubleshooting during maintenance. “ePocket is sustainable in two senses: besides the carbon savings, it also digitally strengthens the long-term, efficient cooperation between operators, planners, switchgear manufacturers and manufacturers,” says A. C., SI’s Global Commodity Manager for the Cabinets & LV Switchgear material field. “Siemens has set itself impressive targets in climate protection and sustainability. The award winners have proven that these can be achieved through a collaborative approach to the task,” adds Levent Sander, PuC Manager for Cabinets & Switchgear, who presented the new partner prize: “We will progress more quickly when our suppliers, as long-standing technology partners, think ahead and work with us to identify opportunities and develop solutions. Siemens has set itself impressive targets in climate protection and sustainability.” “Thanks to the close technological exchange with Rittal, we were able to identify the potential benefits for Siemens immediately, even before the digital wiring plan pocket was on the market,” A. C. states. “With end-to-end digital processes from engineering to configuration, procurement and manufacturing, panel builders and switchgear manufacturers can now not only attain increased efficiency, but also a high quality of data in digital documentation. We want to make this data easier to use for the system operators,” says Thorsten Freytag, Value Chain & Digitalisation Product Manager at Rittal. “Today, major industrial companies are striving for all-round transparency, for example in production. As part of the factory, the control and switchgear systems should not fall behind. This is where ePocket can play a future role.” Sustainability boost through technology “We’re delighted by the award. We have a long-standing partnership with Siemens and we enjoy driving innovations together,” says Mathias Heun, Rittal’s Global Key Account Manager: “Siemens shows that technological innovation, digitisation and sustainability are interwoven for the future of industry.” By committing to making itself carbon-neutral by 2030, Siemens has sent out a clear signal that companies must play a leading role in promoting decarbonisation. The aim is for all Siemens production facilities and buildings worldwide to have a net zero carbon footprint by 2030. Meanwhile, Siemens has already cut its own CO2 footprint by 54%.