Data Center Testing: For organizations that specialize in the design, engineering, construction and operation of data centers and other mission-critical facilities, meeting uptime requirements is key to success. Increasingly strict SLAs in data centers necessitate comprehensive testing of their infrastructure before they go live, including heat load testing in the server hall. To meet this need, Crestchic USA’s Texas branch was approached by a leading provider in the planning, design, development, and operation of data centers.
The importance of heat load testing
Data Center servers exude enormous amounts of heat; making it vital that air conditioning systems can cope with the heat output of the servers. Data center heat load testing is a process of assessing the performance and capacity of a data center’s cooling infrastructure by using a load bank to simulate the heat generated by IT equipment.
End-to-end load bank rental
Steven Bacon, Business Development Manager at Crestchic USA, explains, “Data center heat load testing is a critical step in the design and commissioning of any data center. Failing to heat load test the server hall can result in inadequate cooling, which can impact the performance and reliability of the IT equipment. Higher temperatures can lead to thermal throttling, reduced processing speeds, increased error rates, and overall degradation in system performance. By using a load bank to simulate the heat output of the servers, we are able to subject the cooling systems to different heat loads to ensure they can effectively dissipate the generated heat and maintain optimal operating temperatures.”
Load-testing solutions for maximum uptime
To fulfill this need, the Crestchic team conducted a survey of the data center site and specified a 255KW load bank. The agreed rental package included a full Risk Assessment and Method Statement, dedicated transport for delivery, as well as fully trained installers and engineers to set up the load banks, perform final electrical connections in line with local regulations, and offer customer training and support.
Using the load banks, the customer was able to validate the capacity of the cooling infrastructure, helping to prevent overheating issues that could lead to equipment failures and service disruptions. To find out more about Crestchic’s load testing solutions for the data center sector, including heat load testing, bus bar testing, generator testing and more, please check out our data center applications page.