数据中心如何实践灵活配电
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采用小母线方式实现更灵活配电
Raising the Bar for Higher Power
数据中心内采用机柜顶部安装小母线配电的优势
The Advantages of Overhead Power Distribution in Data Centers
本文由Starline授权翻译并发布至DeepKnowledge
我们通常对支撑日益数字化和世界互联的基础设施存在惯性认识。带宽的需求只会增长，因此，对电力的需求也会相应增加。
We often take forgranted the infrastructure necessary to support our increasingly digitized andinterconnected world. This demand for bandwidth is only growing, and with it,so is the demand for power.
支撑关键任务的基础设施应该充分支持更多服务器运行所需，设施经理要有能力满足新增容量的持续需求。为支持所需的额外设备，全球各地在服务器、电力、制冷管理方面的IT支出在过去10年间快速增长。成本上升的同时，对电力更高电压电流的需求是格外需要面临的挑战。
Mission criticalfacilities need to be larger to accommodate for more servers, and facilitiesmanagers need to be able to quickly address this constant need for additionalcapacity. In order to support the extra elements required, worldwide ITspending on servers, power and cooling, and management/ administration hasrapidly increased over the past decade. But other than just an increase incosts, the need for a higher voltage of power poses additional challenges.
为了满足此类需求，数据中心内在机柜顶部安装配电系统，在过去10-20年开始出现并日渐成熟，以应对提供更高电流的挑战。
To accommodate this need, overheadpower distribution systems emerged within the data center arena within the pastdecade or two, and quickly began rising to the challenge of providingincreasing amperages of power.
在建造数据中心时，电力和制冷是两个核心要素。在过去，架空地板、水泥砖安装在地板上2-4英尺高的钢支架上，以架空方式实现下送风制冷效果。铺在机房内预制地板下的冷空气通过静压箱传送，下送风方式为服务器机柜提供制冷的冷空气。
When building adata center, power and cooling are two of the top priorities. Historically,raised floors, or concrete tiles installed onto a steel grid resting onstanchions 2 to 4 feet above a slab floor, have been deployed for coolingpurposes. The perforated tiles that make up the floor allow for cool air toflow out of the below passage and onto the server racks.
不过，地板下同时也常安装了为机柜供电的电缆和管槽。随着机房内机柜安装越来越多，需要更多相应的电力供应，地板下要敷设越来越多的电缆；这限制了冷气的流动从而影响安装更多机柜的目的。
However, this underfloor area alsohouses whips and cables that supply power to the racks. As a data center spacegrows, more server racks are installed which require more power, in turncreating more and more cables under the raised floor; ultimately restricting theflow of cool air and completely contradicting the purpose of the excess spaceto begin with.
现在，人们已经认识到等传统地板下送风方式的不足，况且架空地板安装费用不低；日常维护需要拆除已废弃不用的电缆，对不确定负载上联空开和电缆的人工误操作也存在一定风险。
Over time many have realized this drawbackof the traditional underfloor method, as well as various others, including thefact that raised floors are costly; maintenance is required to remove unusedcables, which tend to be abandoned; and risk of human error while working withcircuit breakers and cables that are not clearly associated with a given load.
机柜顶部配电方式也就是母线系统，与传统架空地板下走线供电方式完全不同。母线系统已证明在供电方面是可扩展和可持续性的解决方案。
Overhead powerdistribution—otherwise known as busway systems—directly combat the traditionalpower solution of whips and cables beneath a raised floor. These systems havebeen proven to be both scalable and sustainable solutions to providing power.
母线系统提供了可连续取电的途径，这意味着数据中心空间将可充分应对未来的配置和扩展要求。可在用电处通过各种插接单元取电，省去了控制面板、电线电缆和安装引出插座和专用电源插座的费用。
Select busway systems also provide acontinuous access slot to power- meaning that a data center space will alwaysbe prepared for future reconfigurations or expansion. Power can be tapped atany location with a variety of plug-in units, eliminating panel boards, longruns of conduit and wire and expensive installation costs for dedicated poweroutlets.
图1：传统架空地板下走线方式
Figure1: Traditional methods of whips and cables housed under a raised floor
利用母线系统，无需在带电配电屏或计划断电后才能增加、移动或变更引电插座。母线系统避免了先拆除和丢弃短电缆，再更换全新更长更粗电缆的必要。从而避免了电力中断的风险，机柜的安装或拆除也不影响其他机柜的运行。
With an overheadbus system, there is no need to work on live panels or schedule outages to add,move or change outlets. Busway systems eliminate the need to remove and scrapshort or undersized cable whips and run new longer or larger ones. Therefore,the risk of unintended potential power outages is avoided and racks can beinstalled or moved without disrupting operations.
图2：母线配电（上图）与传统架空地板下走线（下图）的对比
Figure 2: Busway power distribution (above)compared to traditional whips and cables under a raised floor (below)
母线是高度可持续的系统：可以使用多年，相对传统线缆方式减少了材料方面的浪费。此外，为满足今天日益增长的服务器电力密度需要，在以kW为电力增长粒度的同时还要求一并实现相应制冷需求的增长。此前，在地板下敷设新增电缆会增加风阻影响制冷效果。机柜上方安装的母线省去了这些风险点，是格外高效安全的配电方式。
Busways are highly sustainable systems:they can be used for years and years and create much less material waste thanthe traditional whips and cables method does. Also, in order to cope withtoday’s ever-increasing server densities, an increase in kW power density isneeded, which equates to a related increase in cooling requirements. Before,this would mean additional power cables under the floor that obstruct air flowand thus make cooling more difficult. With an overhead busway system thisthreat is eliminated- making it an extremely energy efficient and safe methodfor distributing power.
在项目的初期就了解准确的电力设计需要并非易事。要重新配置电力插座和具体用电位置，造成了成本和计划延迟。
It is oftendifficult to know the exact electrical design needed at the beginning of aproject. This can result in the need to reconfigure electrical outlets andtheir locations, which increases costs and causes schedule delays.
利用机柜顶部的可扩展母线系统，配件和电源开关可以按需增加，避免额外资金支出和资源浪费-在设施建设初期无需一步到位。这对托管方式和分期建设非常有好处。也意味着因无需重新配置电源开关、用电位置和类型重新调整，长期运维费用会自然降低。
With a scalable overhead busway system,components and power circuits can be added as needed—without tying up capitaland wasting resources—rather than building out the entire facility in thebeginning. This is very beneficial for colocation and other facilities that arebuilt out over time. It also means that the cost of maintenance isautomatically dropped for the long run, as there is no need to reconfigureelectrical outlet locations and types.
数据中心地板空间寸土寸金，每平方英尺都关键。在机柜顶部安装的母线系统省去了列头柜，在机房内为IT设备和服务器机柜腾出了更多可用空间。此外，插接箱和引接电缆可准确到位，无需敷设数不清的电缆。
With data centerfloor space at a premium, every square foot is critical. Overhead buswaysystems eliminate RPPs, which result in more usable space in the data centerfor IT equipment and server racks. In addition, miles of power cables areeliminated when power outlets or drops can be located exactly where they areneeded.
图3：机柜顶部安装的母线提供连续的引接取电点
Figure 3: Busway with continuous access slot runabove server racks
在数据中心内，精确监控在用的电力特别重要。在保障关键任务的环境中保持正常运行是重中之重，计划外的中断必须不惜代价避免。机柜顶部安装的卓越配电系统可与直线段和空开级计量配件组合使用。电力和能源测量同时进行，为实现三相平衡提供决策用的颗粒度数据。
In a data centerit is especially important to accurately monitor the amount of power beingused. Uptime is everything for mission critical environments, and thusunplanned outages must be avoided at all costs. Premium overhead powerdistribution systems are capable of incorporating metering units at both thefeed and circuit breaker level. Power and energy measurements are capturedinstantaneously, providing the granular data necessary to make informeddecisions such as enabling phase balancing as needed.
还有些潜在功能如可选的显示屏，通过以太网菊花链方式保存到网络交换端口，基于网页集成可实现告警和远程通信。在母线系统中拥有这些强大功能可帮助数据中心中管理人员方便，轻松把控智能电力用量和规划未来。
Further potential metering functionalityincludes optional display, daisy-chain Ethernet to save on network switchports, alarm functions and remote communication via an integrated webpage.Having all of these capabilities included within your power distribution systemmakes it simple for data center managers to intelligently track usage and planfor the future.
母线厂商提供的品质和优势外，母线系统也在现场安装和日后成本侧有明显长处。传统的地板下走线配电方式属人力密集型开支不菲。与架空地板下走线方式需敷设万千条电缆线相对照的母线安装方式则简单又省时省力。
Aside from thefeatures and benefits offered by busway manufacturers, this type of systemprovides immediate monetary advantages in terms of installation and futurecosts. The installation of traditional methods is labor intensive in nature,and very costly. Compared to installing a raised floor and hundreds orthousands of whips and cables, busway installation is very simple and not timeor labor intensive.
在数据中心设计中如果沿用传统电力系统，工程师和设计人员必须预设每个插座开关。因为一旦数据中心投产后，几乎无法预测每个机柜所需电力，更不用说满足未来的需要，这在日后必须变更调整时，无法避免高昂的费用开支和大量时间消耗。然而，利用灵活适配的母线系统，日后完全可避免高企的人力成本和各种潜在中断。
When designing adata center with traditional electric systems, engineers or designers mustpre-plan every outlet. Because it is nearly impossible to predetermine thepower requirements for each rack in each location when a data center goeslive—let alone plan for future requirements— this will result in expensive andtime consuming changes that will have to occur in the future. However, with aflexible, adaptable busway system, future changes that require expensive labor chargesand potential outages are completely avoided.
我们身边的世界越来越依赖Internet,对更高带宽日益增长的需求非常明晰。更多带宽意味着需要更多执行关键任务的基础设施，需要消耗更多电力。为更可能有效地迎接这一挑战，必须采用目前最新的适用科技，不能再用过去的方案解决未来面对的需求。
With the world around us becoming more andmore dependent on the Internet, it is clear that the need for additionalbandwidth is only going to increase. This additional bandwidth results in moreand larger mission critical facilities and infrastructure, which require morepower. To address this challenge in the most efficient way possible, it’sessential to take advantage of the most up-todate technology available; asopposed to facing the needs of the future with the solution of the past.
关于Starline
About Starline
Starline总部位于宾夕法尼亚洲Pittsburgh市，1924年成立以来一直是电力配电系统的先锋，公司是全球可定制电力配电系统的行业领导者。成立85年来一直坚持创新，生产满足各行业各种电力需求的灵活产品。Starline作为专攻灵活配电产品的公司之一，屡获大奖的产品为世界各地的数据中心、工业生产设施、零售连锁、高校和医疗等行业提供革命化的配电方案。
Headquartered inPittsburgh, PA, Starline, a pioneer in electrical power distribution since1924, is a world leader in the development of customizable power distributionsystems. Industry innovators for more than 85 years, the company’s premium,flexible products are designed to fit the electrical power needs of anybusiness in any industry. As one of the only companies dedicated exclusively toflexible power distribution products, Starline’s award-winning products haverevolutionized electrical power distribution in data centers, industrialmanufacturing facilities, retail chains, higher education and healthcarefacilities worldwide.