Maintaining Data Center Uptime with Optimized Cooling System Assessments

Source: www.eddyfi.com

Data centers can be found everywhere and have become modern day fortresses. In these strongholds, information is a treasure that is well guarded yet accessible all the time by users, often worldwide. Data centers need rigorous procedures and infrastructures to guarantee maximum uptime and security of data. The Uptime Institute provides certification to data centers by judging and auditing their processes. According to a recent Uptime Institute survey1, 34% of surveyed centers are being operated beyond their expected lifecycles. From the same surveyed group, 75% believed that this practice increased the odds of an outage and resulted in an increase in operating costs. This means that proper maintenance is critical. When it comes to infrastructure, one of the critical systems is the cooling technology. If a serious fault to the air conditioning system were to occur, consequences range from potential downtime to a serious loss of data.

The cornerstone of proper data center cooling technology is typically a shell and tube heat exchanger, often called a “chiller”, and this critical asset needs to be inspected properly.

The Challenge

Establish bill of health for one of the data center’s primary assets and offer a comprehensive report in a timely manner with optimal precision

Chiller tubes are subject to various damage mechanisms that can create losses including premature localized pitting, extended thickness erosion, and/or cracks near the areas of expansion caused by the various fluids involved; therefore, these flaws need to be detected and properly monitored.

Eddy current based inspection techniques are the norm for assessing the integrity of the tubes. When performed onsite, the procedure can be somewhat archaic. To accelerate the inspection process and keep costs to a minimum, the tube bundle is generally only partially inspected, and reports are often unstructured, provided on-the-spot, with no recording of the data.

Partial inspection means a partial overview of the asset which could lead to false conclusions. Furthermore, eddy currents are often perceived as a complex and highly operator dependent inspection technique.

There is a need from operational management for a better understanding of the damage mechanisms and the state of their cooling systems in order to prolong longevity.

1Andy Lawrence, Uptime Institute data shows outages are common, costly and preventable (Focus, June 2018).

The Solution

A complete inspection solution for air conditioner tubing including the most modern instrumentation, software and probes to detect all relevant flaws in chiller tubes

Eddyfi Technologies offers a complete tubing inspection solution for water-cooled chillers. It represents the state-of-the-art in terms of eddy current testing for chiller tubes.

By using the Eddyfi Reddy? AC system designed for Air Conditioner (AC) integrity assessment, a technician can quickly scan through a whole exchanger and generate an informative report that gives valuable insight on the state of the asset.

The complete solution is comprised of three key elements:

• Eddyfi Reddy AC & Tubing ECT system for acquisition and analysis,
• Air Conditioner (AC) probes specifically designed for this application,
• TubePro? software for comprehensive reporting.

Eddyfi Technologies has solutions for all asset integrity needs. Feel free to contact us with your challenge! Request More Information