Overview - Facility-level Demonstration
This demonstration project focused on DC conversion at the Data Center (or Facility) level. This approach converts the facility's high-voltage AC into high-voltage DC and delivering it to the equipment racks via high-voltage DC buss (the possible DC voltages under consideration range from 350V up to 500V — the current consensus is at 380 VDC). Further voltage conversion/step down can be handled at the rack or equipment level as needed. This approach concentrates the DC conversion into one unit/location for the whole facility, removing the AC to DC conversion function from the equipment.
Concurrently underway is a demonstration of a rack-level DC distribution — please contact one of the project contacts below to get additional information on these efforts.
Some major advantages of this Facility-Level option include:
- Only one rectifier stage is needed for DC conversion
- Possible efficiency gains from the reduction of multiple conversion steps
- Allows for better cooling management
Considerations regarding this approach:
- Suitable only for new server rack configurations
- Requires data center infrastructure changes