Ten challenges to address in the annual power-down testing programme of the Data Centre
The operations and maintenance of mission-critical facilities present challenges unique to site conditions, the operating team, and client business requirements. Addressing these challenges requires a detailed evaluation of existing systems, exploration of improvement opportunities, and fulfilment of client needs for reliability, availability, and maintainability of property assets. An annual testing programme and a comprehensive assessment of support systems are essential for enhancing dependability, including workforce up-skilling and a capital investment programme focused on improving technology and performance efficiency.
The techniques utilised in the annual testing programme include ‘Pull the Plug’, ‘End-to-End’, ‘Variable Load Bank’, and non-destructive condition tests of standalone building systems and equipment. A combination of these testing methods is utilised as part of the annual test programme to achieve the best evaluation and improvement of the reliability and availability of building systems.
Challenges commonly addressed in the annual test program –
- Safety concerns regarding fire protection and life safety hazards due to the failure of single or multiple critical systems.
o The fire protection and life safety systems test programme, in compliance with regulatory codes, establishes the integrity of the systems to function as intended and to repair or replace faulty elements.
o Concerns regarding the operational integrity of interconnected systems with the fire alarm and suppression systems, such as ventilation fans, lifts, emergency power sources, emergency lighting, access controls, and call-out protocols, can be addressed in the annual testing program.
2. Skill-gap of personnel managing the property support utility systems.
o Implementing a comprehensive competency assessment programme, followed by an up-skilling initiative, can address knowledge and skill gap issues.
3. Reliability and availability of the building utility system
o The Annual Integrated System, which combines the ‘standalone equipment performance evaluation’, ‘Pull the Plug’, and ‘Variable On-load Integrated System Test’, can establish the resilience of the existing systems.
o The on-load test helps to analyse the stability and integrity of power and water systems, ensuring restoration during grid and pump failures, respectively.
o The on-load Test programme can address various concerns, including:
4. Checking the functional integrity of interconnected system controls and measurements.
- The Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) procedure adopted in the on-load test program encourages knowledge transfer by allowing the operations team to witness and participate in the on-load tests.
- The on-load testing methodology can facilitate condition assessment through thermography, power quality assessment, load flow and stability study, smoke extraction and cooling performance evaluation.
o The test outcomes lay the groundwork for enhancing the capital investment program to improve technology, capacity, and performance efficiency.
5. Inadequate capacity management of building utility system
o A load bank test regime can explore means of efficient capacity management under various loading scenarios.
o Forecasting demand load and spare capacity available to meet near-future needs.
6. Missing construction details of the property.
o The annual test program is created to establish the command logic of system interoperability through command and controls.
o As-built drawings of electrical and water management systems can be developed based on observations of end-to-end integrated system tests.
7. Inadequate metering and sensing systems to gauge the key performance indicators of the property are a familiar challenge property managers face.
o Annual power down test with variable load bank allows one to measure key operational indicators and evaluate performance integrity and efficiency. Baselining performance indicators helps in optimising operations.
8. The resiliency of the electrical power distribution system under fault scenarios is a significant concern for the property manager.
o Annual testing and coordination of the protection system alleviates worries about the integrity and resilience of the power distribution system following modifications or expansions of connected systems.
9. The aging building’s equipment and systems raise concerns about the construction’s physical condition, the equipment’s safety, and the expected useful life of these components.
o Non-destructive condition tests for civil structures, electrical power equipment, and rotating machinery can indicate the state of these systems and components. A thorough obsolescence management programme can be established through the annual testing program.
An ageing battery bank with an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) or Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) raises concerns about its capacity to support current and future demand loads. A replacement programme is a high-capital-investment preventive maintenance initiative that requires carefully assessing its health condition and autonomy reliability.
o Partial discharge testing of battery banks with a load bank can reveal their health condition and potential risks of failure. Based on the test results, a decision can be made regarding replacing degraded cells in the circuit.
10. Wet stacking of backup diesel engine generators due to partial loading is a common issue faced by facility engineers.
o On-load performance testing can tackle the wet stacking problem and help establish a health check for the diesel generator sets.
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