Power distribution systems and methodology

Abstract

The invention addresses the needs associated with the entire data center power distribution lifecycle—design, build, operation and upgrades. The design and construction is facilitated by a system for prefabricating power whips that accommodate changing data center needs. The invention also allows for upgrading power supply components without powering down critical equipment. Improved power and network strips and associated logic further facilitate data center operation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 12 / 891,500, entitled, “Power Distribution Methodology,” filed on Sep. 27, 2010, which is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT / US2009 / 038427, entitled, “Power Distribution Systems And Methodology,” filed on Mar. 26, 2009, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 039,716, entitled, “Power Distribution Methodology,” filed on Mar. 26, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein as if set forth in full.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to the design and operation of data centers and, in particular, to systems and functionality to supplying power in data center environments.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention addresses specific issues that arise in the design, implementation, operation and upgrading of data center environments. Data centers have a specific set of issues that they must face in relation ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]The present invention is directed to systems and methods for addressing needs associated with the entire data center power distribution system lifecycle; design, build, operation and upgrades. It enables professional design practice, consistent and reliable buildouts, high operational change rates with minimum cost and disruption, supports almost all needed power configurations and allows data center power distribution capacity upgrades to be easily accomplished while delivering very high reliability power distribution and meeting the service availability levels demanded of modern 7×24×365 data center environments.

[0005]At a high level, the invention enables a superior design process, coupled with an improved materials fabrication and installation method. It also delivers a superior operational environment and provides a pre-engineered turnkey A-B redundant power distribution layer that enables and encapsulates the vast majority of changes needed in power delivery configurations, capacity provisioning, and upgrades to equipment racks during the data center lifecycle. This reduces operational costs enormously and reduces risk compared to the traditional methodology where every power configuration change is made “hot” at the PDU's by adding or removing power whips.

[0006]It also greatly reduces the difficulty and costs of upgrading power distribution capacity which in the traditional methodology is both expensive and operationally disruptive. Further, it also enables embedded power / environmental / security monitoring and management capabilities at the rack level, where they can best be used to gather data that can be used to assemble a very detailed and coherent picture of what is really happening in the data center.

Problems solved by technology

It also greatly reduces the difficulty and costs of upgrading power distribution capacity which in the traditional methodology is both expensive and operationally disruptive.

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