Automatic Transfer Switches

Automatic transfer switches (ATS) increase the resilience of your electrical power installation. An ATS has dual power inputs (one primary and one secondary) from which it supplies power to the connected loads. If the primary ‘A’ supply fails, the secondary ‘B’ automatically takes over without interruption to the load. ATS use fast acting (within milliseconds) relays to transfer power between the ‘A’ and ‘B’ supplies. The two power supplies can be two separately derived mains power sources or two UPS system outputs or a combination of the two. The ATS have built-in network connectivity for remote management via Web, SNMP, or Telnet interfaces. ATS are typically rack mounted in a server cabinet. Static Transfer Switches (STS) are floor standing designed for larger loads and incorporate a solid state static switch with a zero transfer time.

Static Transfer Switches

There are two types of switch. Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS) are generally relay-based whilst Static Transfer Switches (STS) make use of static electronics to provide a break-free transfer. In terms of form factor, ATS devices are designed for server racks and will be rack mounted or wall mounted. STS products are designed for larger room-sized loads including three-phase applications and can be sized up to several hundred Amps in power rating.

For more information on our automatic transfer switches or static transfer switches please contact our projects team.

The number of options available when specifying server rack power distribution units is immense. One of our server rack PDU manufacturing partners has over 5,000 drawings covering permutations that have either been manufactured and delivered or at least quoted over the last decade. Such a number is possible due to the number of PDU options available which can range from outlet socket types, to cable connections, form factors, voltage, communications and even paint colours. Our rack PDU guide details a step-by-step process to help demistify their specification and help you to select the righ server rack PDUs for your comms room, server room or data centre projects.

As soon as you start to add multiple devices to your server rack, power management can become an issue. The use of Power Distribution Units (PDUs) with some form of metering or intelligent IP connection can help to overcome this and provide a pathway for the future scale-up of your IT deployment.

For many organisations, there is no right time to refurbish their server room or datacentre environments. In use 24/7 means that any refresh whether of a critical system or the entire facility is going to result in a period of downtime. However, most facilities are designed with a set working lifetime of 10-15 years and this links directly back to the critical systems in operation. Whilst they may be well maintained and regularly tested, the fact is that around years 8-10 critical power and cooling systems are ready for an upgrade or replacement.

Some of the metered PDUs, smart and intelligent PDUs we supply can be installed with additional plug-in sensors for temperature and humidity. The PDUs are connected to the local IP network and can report monitoring readings taken by the sensors.

With intelligent PDUs each individual socket is remotely monitored for power and energy usage and can be remotely controlled i.e. powered down or rebooted to provide total control of the connected load(s).

As well as power distribution units we have specific in-line energy meters that can be installed between power sources and their connected loads. The in-line meters come with flying leads, plugs and sockets and provide a range of power related information including kVA, kW, power factor, voltage, frequency and kWh of energy usage.

We have over 30 years of experience working within data centre and server room environments. Our knowledge and experience means that we know how to design, install and maintain the right cooling, energy management, power and monitoring solutions for any critical IT environment.

Field based engineering locations: Chester, Warrington, London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Dublin and Glasgow for nationwide service coverage, site surveys, maintenance visits and emergency call outs.
Call us for a free survey.

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