The brisk rate at which the world is undergoing digital transformation is resulting in the proliferation of data centres. Companies across industries are embracing Big Data and Data Analytics to ensure the efficiency and productivity of various processes. As a well-known fact, India is actively participating in this digital transformation, for which data centres are crucial to lead the tech-driven growth of the country. It is fuelling the ever-increasing data consumption and is spurring the demand for data centres to facilitate the storage and processing of data.
Data centres are crucial for storing critical and sensitive information and are invariably sought for the assemblage, processing, and distribution of data. Due to its extensive applicability across diverse industries such as banking, telecom, large corporations, and consulting sectors; large data centres have been classified under the mission-critical initiative. But while focusing on the growth of data centres, it is crucial to be vigilant of the threat looming around the facilities. Airborne molecular contamination and atmospheric particulates in the form of smoke or dust suspended in the air cause a damaging effect on the data centres. Chemical contamination triggered by vapour gases such as sulphur, oxides of nitrogen, chlorine, ammonia, etc., are majorly responsible for airborne molecular contamination.
It has the potential to cause corrosion to the system and have far-reaching repercussions on the miniaturised electronics as they are highly vulnerable to micro-corrosion/ e-corrosion when exposed to harmful gases. Furthermore, high relative humidity adds to the existing problem, as it forms a corrosive element on the electronic circuits in combination with the gases. The chance of corrosion increases further, for instance – the facility is situated near landfill sites, sewerage/drains, high density traffic, process industries, etc. These sites are major sources of releasing highly corrosive gases such as SO2, H2S, NO2, etc. which increases the possibility of infiltration of outdoor particles and gaseous contaminants into the data centres with the ability to make the environment harmful.
The corrosion is responsible for equipment malfunctioning, leading to faulty operations and reliability issues, and can even interfere with the longevity of sensitive electronic process control equipment in Data centres are playing a crucial role in steering India’s tech-driven growth. While we are focusing on growing these data centres, it is imperative to be vigilant about the potential hazards looming around these facilities. The article delves into the imminent dangers that could affect these data centres and also highlights the ways and means to safeguard them.
All the factors together result in substandard processes, additional maintenance, costly repairs, and unplanned downtime, incurring heavy losses to the business. Additionally, the OEM’s decision to discontinue the annual maintenance contracts for expensive cards has further contributed to the complexity of the situation. As India is undergoing stellar growth in the data centre capacity, with projections to reach 1,318 MW by 2024, any fault in the facilities can impede the tech-driven growth of the country. Prioritising the protection of data centres can help in the operational efficiency of the centres.
Therefore, to curb the menace of corrosion, installing a DataCentre Air Purifier (DAP) and advanced Gas Phase Filtration systems can help in providing quality air solutions. They are well equipped to inhibit contamination in the data centres by filtering out the corrosive gases to protect the microcircuitry of PCBs. Employing dehumidifiers can further aid in checking the corrosive gases as they maintain the humidity at optimum levels to remove the excess moisture from the air and simultaneously prevent condensation on the equipment. In a bid to establish resilient data centres, media testing plays a crucial role in controlling corrosion.
The testing comes with corrosion coupons for identifying corrosion in the system and likewise even detects the influx of gases. Besides, the Atmospheric Corrosivity Monitor (ACM) comes with the advantage of identifying corrosive gases and is a step ahead, as it also gives information about the percentage in which the gases are available. It provides an insight into the corrosivity level by categorising it into G1, G2, G3, G4, etc., which depends on the criticality of the gases. As India is undergoing a robust data centre evolution, the country is well-equipped with strong testing and lab services that aid in predictive maintenance for controlling corrosion in data centres.
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