Transcript Precision Air Aug

“Improving your Data Centre
Anti-Contamination Strategy”
A Presentation By
Alan Fisher
(Contamination Control Specialist)
2011
The Facts
• Dust and dirt are two of the biggest enemies in a data centre
• Dust clogs fans in IT Equipment, causing it to run hotter,
increasing energy use, and reducing its lifespan
• Dust gets into computers and causes data read/write errors.
• Dust collects and is a major fire hazard
• Equipment running creates dust particles
• People carry dust on their clothes especially their shoes
where people walk in from the outside environment carrying
in dirt and dust from the pavements and roads
• “1 hour of downtime can cost from £50,000 to £500,000”
(IBM Today)
Contamination is a Reality
According to the major IT equipment
manufacturers, the number of data
centres with contamination-related
failures is on the rise
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning
Engineers Inc. (Ashrae) “2011 Gaseous and Particulate
Contamination Guidelines for Data Centers”
Green can be Green
“Dust and Dirt are enemies of the Data
Center. Dust has a way to clogging
equipment, air inlets, and clinging to the
inside of active equipment. All of this
dust requires more airflow and more
“cooling dollars” in the Data Center”
“Creating the Green Data Center – Simple measures to reduce
energy consumption” ADC
How Important is
Your Data Centre?
“Your data centres host some of the
most important and sensitive
equipment within your business, which
means that you need to take extra
special care of these rooms if you want
to avoid the costly implications that
contamination can cause”
Seth Ranjikt – All Clean – “The importance of undertaking Data
Centre Cleaning”
Keeping Your Data Centre Clean
“When dirt and particle matter settles on vents and
drives, the effectiveness of a cooling system can be
reduced, resulting in increased energy consumption
to keep IT equipment at the optimum temperature.
Furthermore these contaminants can severely affect
technology performance, causing costly corruption,
corrosion and damage to hard disks, servers and
other sensitive IT equipment”
Natalie Coleman Hi-Tech Cleaning – “Greater Efficiency and
performance through data centre cleaning”
Guidelines for
Contamination Control
• Establish Data Centre Protocols
• Limit access and establish strict rules of entry
• Use all best practice in the design and
construction of the Data Centre
• Maintain positive air pressures in the room
• Maintain a disciplined cleaning regime
• Place contamination control mats at all
entrances to the Data Centre
Particular Matter
• Particles are defined as bodies with definite physical
boundaries in all directions; diameters ranging from 0.001
micron to 100 microns; & liquid or solid phase material
characteristics
• One micron equals one-millionth of a metre
• 25 mm = 25,400 microns
• Eye of a needle = 749 microns
• The dot of an (i) = 397 microns
• Depending upon light intensity/quality, most eyes cannot see
below 10 microns
Particle Visibility
• The ability to see individual particles depends on the eye
itself, the intensity, the quality of light, the background and
the type of particle
• Particles seen on furniture or floating in rays of sunshine are
50 microns or larger
• The majority of invisible particles are 3 microns in diameter
and smaller
• In ambient air, 99% of airborne particles by count are less
than 1 micron
‘Brownian Motion’
• Particles less than 1 micron have settling velocities so low that
they are affected by air movement from hot machinery/plant
• This makes them subject to erratic movement in a fluid (in this
case air)
• ‘Brownian’ effects become dominant on particles less than 0.3
micron in size, where their random motion keeps them almost
indefinitely suspended in the air
Who Generates these
Particles?
• In short, everything generates particles
• 97% of these particles are not visible to us
• All particles represent a threat/danger to the integrity and
quality of products
• 80% generated by personnel
• 15% generated by equipment
• 5% generated by environment
• Particles can negatively influence yields of products
• Fact that 40% to 60% of damage to yields is caused by
particles
The Problem
• Dust contamination is known as the “Undetected Disaster”
• IT industry research has concluded that up to 70% of computer-related
breakdowns are caused by dust and other debris.
• This often takes the form of “construction dust” or “Organic Particulate”
• It can build up over time, often unnoticed, until it causes a catastrophic
failure in the Data Centre, e.g. Fan burn out leading to a discharge of
expensive fire suppressing gas.
• It creates the slowing down of mission critical systems
• It can cause unexplained disk errors
• It can be responsible for the overheating of servers or other boxes
• It can explain the reason why servers and/or other IT Equipment shuts
down unexpectedly
Effective Contamination Control in
Data Centres
Sources of
Contamination
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Critical
Manufacturing
Environments
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Classic
cleanroom
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Controlled
areas
People
Processes
Objects
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Effective
Contamination
Control
Product selection
Spec of material
Cleaning
procedure
Sources of Contamination
Volatile Organic
Contaminants
Nonvolatile
Residue
Fibers
ESD
Airborne Molecular
Contaminants
Absorbed
Molecules
Microorganisms
Ions
Submicron
Particles
Visible
Particles
Surface
Removing existing environmental contaminants
without adding new ones
What is Contamination and Where
does it come from?
• Particles can be viable or non-viable
• They come in different shapes and sizes
• The most common are less than 10 microns and invisible to
the naked eye
• People are the major source of contamination through body
regenerative processes, behaviour and work habits
• Particles which fall to floors with gravity or air pressure will
break down into ones that will move with air turbulence
Contamination Control
• 70% to 80% of all contamination entering a room is carried in
on wheels or feet (Department of the Environment)
• Contamination on unprotected floors will rise to shoulder
level and above on air particle movement created by vortices
• Installation of a contamination control system at floor level is
the most cost effective solution to the removal of the majority
of contamination
• By removing 80% for small cost compared with the expense of
trying to cope with the 20% (air handling systems, gowns,
hats, gloves, Clean Room costs!!)
How and Where does
Contamination Enter?
The Damage: Hardware
• Dust can cause irreversible
harm to computer systems by
clogging heat-sinks and cooling
systems
• This could lead to overheating
and induce a fire hazard.
• As well as reducing the lifespan
of any of your systems
• Higher cost for replacing filters,
or using more expensive filters
The Damage: Energy
• Dust clogging filters and
heat sinks
• Leads to excess heat and
more energy used not only
by the severs themselves
but by all the cooling units
• Added cost for all the excess
energy usage
• Lowered efficiency of data
centre
• More emphasis on running
Green technology in data
centres
The Damage: Loss of Data
• Malfunctions in hardware
• Leads to problems with
operation of servers, and
software used on systems
• Loss of data
• Possible large cost
replicating lost data
• Customers not satisfied with
service if data is lost
• Damage to company
reputation
Benefits of contamination
prevention
• Reduced downtime and costs.
• The equipment may last longer and cost less to run
• Staff and other stakeholders see you are serious about the
importance of the equipment
• Reduced Life Cycle cost
• Increased confidence
• People fault finding and repairing breakdowns
Solutions: Dust Mats
• Made from various materials like
coconut, jute and synthetic
substances
• They can trap and hold dirt and
dust but can themselves be a
source of contamination
• They are not designed to hold
particles for any significant length
of time
• It is possible to transfer off the dirt
and dust
• They are usually cleaned by
washing them
Solutions: Tacky Mats
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Multiple Layers of Polyethylene film
coated with an acrylic adhesive
Adhesive strength alone collects
contamination
Performance deteriorates after several
footsteps/overstrikes
Appropriate for confined spaces, with
low personnel traffic volumes
Low efficiency in particulate removal
for smaller particle sizes of less than
10µmicrons
When peeled, tens of thousands of
viable and non-viable particulates are
released into the environment
Cannot be recycled
High costs when analysed on an annual
basis
Solutions: Polymeric flooring
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Polymeric Composition
Optically smooth, flexible surface enabling
maximum contact between shoe and wheels
High surface energy (Van de Vaals forces)
allows maximum collection and retention of all
particulate sizes
Ability to collect/retain contamination over a
wide range of particle sizes, with effective
removal in the 2 to 10 µmicron range
Simple and regular cleaning regime
guarantees effective contamination control
over several years
Picks up contamination over a full floor
coverage
Particulates removed are contained within the
controlled medium thereby preventing their
release into the environment
Flooring can be recycled at the end of its life
Case Study Polymeric tiles
CUSTOMER
IFL - Internet Facilitators Ltd (UK)
CHALLENGE
As a major provider of state of the
art collocation facilities and data
centre services, IFL were looking for
ways to help prevent Dust from
entering the data centre.
SOLUTION
Polymeric flooring was installed on
top of access tiles to effectively
control foot borne contamination.
Cleaning your Polymeric
Flooring
Use a Mop and Bucket with a Suitable
Solution
Use a “trigger spray” with a mop or
cloth
Clean in only one direction
From above to below
From far to near
From more cleaner to less clean
So how do we prevent...
• This sort of contamination
from dust and dirt…?
Summary
• Contamination can cause any number of equipment
problems, including intermittent or permanent
failures, overheating and loss of energy efficiency
• This damage is caused by the chemical, electrical and
mechanical properties of the contamination
• The amount of contamination will depend upon a
number of factors particularly the amount of traffic
(feet and wheels), the location and the design and
construction of the Data Centre
Conclusion
• IT Industry research has concluded that up to 70% of
computer-related breakdowns are caused by particles of dust
and dirt
• The Environment is the source of this contamination
• 80% of all dirt and dust is brought into areas on the soles of
feet and/or wheels at floor level
• Unless controlled and trap this dust can cause untold damage
and affect performance/energy consumption/hardware
• For a relatively small investment this dust/dirt can be
controlled, trapped and removed preventing it from
continuing to be
• “The Unseen Killer –An Undetected Disaster”
The End
Any Questions?