Maximum availability hybrid AC and DC energy systems for mission critical information and communication technology (ICT) service providers

Customers that operate or depend on ICT service provision, like internet data centres or high bandwidth switching centres, often require mission critical availability. Various aspects of power protection system design and implementation must be carefully considered to ensure that this requirement is met. The type of power supply required by the various appliances is changing: in the past the AC-supplied ICT devices were the majority, but the trend will lead to a predominance of the DC-supplied devices in the near future, especially in the TLC applications. In the present day ICT high-technology major sites, different devices requiring either DC or AC power supply coexist. The use of DC and AC hybrid emergency power system designed with the latest technology is key. Redundancy of rectifiers, separated battery banks are among the major standpoints. For the AC supply utilization of vector control techniques, modular redundancy and advanced design of static switching architectures have to be considered. A significant portion of system failures is caused by problems in the distribution rather than by the failure of the power sources themselves. It is shown that using a hybrid system is the most effective way of protecting the whole no-break power distribution. The monitoring of each power supply device in the no-break distribution is centralized. Guidelines are proposed and their application is shown through real life case studies.