Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/457819
Data Center savings w ith continued rise of operating costs of mis- sion critical facilities, data center operators can control opera- tional and power expenses by utilizing power infrastructure changes. One of the ways data centers worldwide are benefiting from infrastructure changes is through the deployment of low voltage UL891 listed Form 4b Type 7 design switchgear. No doubt every square foot in a data center consumed by gear in the power chain takes away from revenue-generating IT equipment. e Form 4b Type 7 compact design and fully compartmental- ized and robust switchgear option offers operators not only superior power systems investment but system fault resilience and enhanced operator safety – and more importantly an increase in revenue genera- tion by using available space. To understand why Form 4b Type 7 design is just entering the U.S. market we need to understand the two predominant electrical standards used worldwide. nema vs. iec - u.s. vs. europe Worldwide, the two predominant electrical standards have been: • e International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) used throughout Europe • e National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) used primarily in the United States. Both standards, developed from dif- ferent design philosophies, emerged as a result of the post-World War II Europe and U.S. experiences. While post-World War II saw the U.S. emerge as an industrial giant with very few challengers, Europe was le depleted of both natural and human resources. With its limited resources Europe adopted an application-oriented design philosophy focused on personal safety, and such de- sign innovations as: finger safe protection, compartmentalization, insulated Busbars, among others. Each European country then developed its own unique standards. e British Standard (BS) in England, and its former colonies, VDE in Germany, and other individual country standards. IEC became the preferred process and method- ology of combining these standards under one umbrella. Contrary to Europe, the U.S. had far less human casualty in the war and vast natural and human resources when nearly eight million U.S. service men and women returned home as able workforce. With the emergence of robust electrical and mechanical designs the U.S. post war production surpassed anything the world had seen before. e U.S. focused on personnel train- ing with a robust design philosophy that generated products to perform under the with Infrastructure Changes By John Day is vp of saLes anD marketing for anorD criticaL poWer THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL | 13 www.datacenterjournal.com Data Center savings