“Improving your Data Centre Anti-Contamination Strategy”

A Presentation ByAlan Fisher

(Contamination Control Specialist)2011

The Facts• Dust and dirt are two of the biggest enemies in a data centre• Dust clogs fans in IT Equipment, causing it to run hotter,

increasing energy use, and reducing its lifespan• Dust gets into computers and causes data read/write errors.• Dust collects and is a major fire hazard• Equipment running creates dust particles• People carry dust on their clothes especially their shoes

where people walk in from the outside environment carrying in dirt and dust from the pavements and roads• “1 hour of downtime can cost from £50,000 to £500,000”

(IBM Today)

Contamination is a RealityAccording to the major IT equipment

manufacturers, the number of data centres with contamination-related

failures is on the rise

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Inc. (Ashrae) “2011 Gaseous and Particulate

Contamination Guidelines for Data Centers”

Green can be Green

“Dust and Dirt are enemies of the Data Center. Dust has a way to clogging

equipment, air inlets, and clinging to the inside of active equipment. All of this dust requires more airflow and more “cooling dollars” in the Data Center”

“Creating the Green Data Center – Simple measures to reduce energy consumption” ADC

How Important is Your Data Centre?

“Your data centres host some of the most important and sensitive equipment within your business, which means that you need to take extra special care of these rooms

if you want to avoid the costly implications that contamination can

cause”Seth Ranjikt – All Clean – “The importance of undertaking Data

Centre Cleaning”

Keeping Your Data Centre Clean“When dirt and particle matter settles on vents and

drives, the effectiveness of a cooling system can be reduced, resulting in increased energy consumption to keep IT equipment at the optimum temperature. Furthermore these contaminants can severely affect technology performance, causing costly corruption,

corrosion and damage to hard disks, servers and other sensitive IT equipment”

Natalie Coleman Hi-Tech Cleaning – “Greater Efficiency and performance through data centre cleaning”

Guidelines for Contamination Control

• Establish Data Centre Protocols• Limit access and establish strict rules of entry• Use all best practice in the design and

construction of the Data Centre• Maintain positive air pressures in the room• Maintain a disciplined cleaning regime• Place contamination control mats at all

entrances to the Data Centre

Particular Matter• Particles are defined as bodies with definite physical

boundaries in all directions; diameters ranging from 0.001 micron to 100 microns; & liquid or solid phase material characteristics

• One micron equals one-millionth of a metre• 25 mm = 25,400 microns• Eye of a needle = 749 microns• The dot of an (i) = 397 microns• Depending upon light intensity/quality, most eyes cannot see

below 10 microns

Particle Visibility

• The ability to see individual particles depends on the eye itself, the intensity, the quality of light, the background and the type of particle

• Particles seen on furniture or floating in rays of sunshine are 50 microns or larger

• The majority of invisible particles are 3 microns in diameter and smaller

• In ambient air, 99% of airborne particles by count are less than 1 micron

‘Brownian Motion’

• Particles less than 1 micron have settling velocities so low that they are affected by air movement from hot machinery/plant

• This makes them subject to erratic movement in a fluid (in this case air)

• ‘Brownian’ effects become dominant on particles less than 0.3 micron in size, where their random motion keeps them almost indefinitely suspended in the air

Who Generates these Particles?

• In short, everything generates particles• 97% of these particles are not visible to us• All particles represent a threat/danger to the integrity and

quality of products• 80% generated by personnel• 15% generated by equipment• 5% generated by environment• Particles can negatively influence yields of products• Fact that 40% to 60% of damage to yields is caused by

particles

The Problem• Dust contamination is known as the “Undetected Disaster”• IT industry research has concluded that up to 70% of computer-related

breakdowns are caused by dust and other debris. • This often takes the form of “construction dust” or “Organic Particulate”• It can build up over time, often unnoticed, until it causes a catastrophic

failure in the Data Centre, e.g. Fan burn out leading to a discharge of expensive fire suppressing gas.

• It creates the slowing down of mission critical systems• It can cause unexplained disk errors• It can be responsible for the overheating of servers or other boxes• It can explain the reason why servers and/or other IT Equipment shuts

down unexpectedly

Effective Contamination Control in Data Centres

Sources ofContamination

People Processes Objects

Product selection Spec of material Cleaning

procedure

EffectiveContamination

Control

CriticalManufacturingEnvironments

Classic cleanroom

Controlledareas

Sources of Contamination

Surface

Removing existing environmental contaminants without adding new ones

Nonvolatile Residue

Absorbed Molecules Visible

ParticlesIons

Volatile Organic Contaminants Airborne Molecular

Contaminants

Fibers

Microorganisms

ESD

SubmicronParticles

What is Contamination and Where does it come from?

• Particles can be viable or non-viable• They come in different shapes and sizes• The most common are less than 10 microns and invisible to

the naked eye• People are the major source of contamination through body

regenerative processes, behaviour and work habits• Particles which fall to floors with gravity or air pressure will

break down into ones that will move with air turbulence

Contamination Control• 70% to 80% of all contamination entering a room is carried in

on wheels or feet (Department of the Environment)• Contamination on unprotected floors will rise to shoulder

level and above on air particle movement created by vortices• Installation of a contamination control system at floor level is

the most cost effective solution to the removal of the majority of contamination

• By removing 80% for small cost compared with the expense of trying to cope with the 20% (air handling systems, gowns, hats, gloves, Clean Room costs!!)

How and Where does Contamination Enter?

The Damage: Hardware• Dust can cause irreversible

harm to computer systems by clogging heat-sinks and cooling systems

• This could lead to overheating and induce a fire hazard.

• As well as reducing the lifespan of any of your systems

• Higher cost for replacing filters, or using more expensive filters

The Damage: Energy• Dust clogging filters and heat

sinks• Leads to excess heat and more

energy used not only by the severs themselves but by all the cooling units

• Added cost for all the excess energy usage

• Lowered efficiency of data centre

• More emphasis on running Green technology in data centres

The Damage: Loss of Data• Malfunctions in hardware• Leads to problems with

operation of servers, and software used on systems

• Loss of data • Possible large cost

replicating lost data• Customers not satisfied with

service if data is lost• Damage to company

reputation

Benefits of contamination prevention

• Reduced downtime and costs.• The equipment may last longer and cost less to run• Staff and other stakeholders see you are serious about the

importance of the equipment• Reduced Life Cycle cost• Increased confidence• People fault finding and repairing breakdowns

Solutions: Dust Mats• Made from various materials like

coconut, jute and synthetic substances

• They can trap and hold dirt and dust but can themselves be a source of contamination

• They are not designed to hold particles for any significant length of time

• It is possible to transfer off the dirt and dust

• They are usually cleaned by washing them

Solutions: Tacky Mats• Multiple Layers of Polyethylene film

coated with an acrylic adhesive• Adhesive strength alone collects

contamination• Performance deteriorates after several

footsteps/overstrikes• Appropriate for confined spaces, with

low personnel traffic volumes• Low efficiency in particulate removal

for smaller particle sizes of less than 10µmicrons

• When peeled, tens of thousands of viable and non-viable particulates are released into the environment

• Cannot be recycled• High costs when analysed on an annual

basis

Solutions: Polymeric flooring Polymeric Composition Optically smooth, flexible surface enabling

maximum contact between shoe and wheels High surface energy (Van de Vaals forces)

allows maximum collection and retention of all particulate sizes

Ability to collect/retain contamination over a wide range of particle sizes, with effective removal in the 2 to 10 µmicron range

Simple and regular cleaning regime guarantees effective contamination control over several years

Picks up contamination over a full floor coverage

Particulates removed are contained within the controlled medium thereby preventing their release into the environment

Flooring can be recycled at the end of its life

CUSTOMERIFL - Internet Facilitators Ltd (UK)

CHALLENGEAs a major provider of state of the art collocation facilities and data centre services, IFL were looking for ways to help prevent Dust from entering the data centre.

SOLUTIONPolymeric flooring was installed on top of access tiles to effectively control foot borne contamination.

Case Study Polymeric tiles

Cleaning your Polymeric Flooring

Use a Mop and Bucket with a Suitable Solution

Use a “trigger spray” with a mop or cloth

Clean in only one direction

From above to below

From far to near

From more cleaner to less clean

So how do we prevent...

• This sort of contamination from dust and dirt…?

Summary• Contamination can cause any number of equipment

problems, including intermittent or permanent failures, overheating and loss of energy efficiency

• This damage is caused by the chemical, electrical and mechanical properties of the contamination

• The amount of contamination will depend upon a number of factors particularly the amount of traffic (feet and wheels), the location and the design and construction of the Data Centre

Conclusion• IT Industry research has concluded that up to 70% of

computer-related breakdowns are caused by particles of dust and dirt

• The Environment is the source of this contamination• 80% of all dirt and dust is brought into areas on the soles of

feet and/or wheels at floor level• Unless controlled and trap this dust can cause untold damage

and affect performance/energy consumption/hardware• For a relatively small investment this dust/dirt can be

controlled, trapped and removed preventing it from continuing to be

• “The Unseen Killer –An Undetected Disaster”

The End

Any Questions?