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How To Protect Data Centers From Harmful Gases?

Gifty Francis

29 Mar, 2022

Data centers assist an organization in doing business all through the day and night. Mainly there are two kinds of data centers, corporate data centers and internet data centers. While corporate data centers are for private corporations, internet data centers are for providing outsourced IT services using the internet. Corporate data centers help in data processing along with other web-dependent services. 

No matter which type of data center they are, they are always prone to corrosion caused by an unsafe environment generated from the infiltration of outside particulates and other gaseous pollutants. When data centers are located near landfill sites, drains, or any process industries, then the problems become even more detrimental.

For a data center manager, it is crucial to offer the best protection to electronic equipment. Even a very low level of contaminants in data centers can lead to

● Reduced productivity 

● Interference of electronic equipment 

● Enhanced downtime 

● Non-compliance with specifications of the electronic warranty 

● Electronic components letdown and circuit failure lead to loss of data along with data center downtime. 

Data center contamination is classified into two major categories 

● Particulate contamination 

● Gas-phase contamination 


Particulate contaminants whose size is up to 0.1 microns can be easily removed by making use of particulate filters but with gaseous contaminants, it is difficult as they are very small.

Some of the common gases that lead to corrosion of electronic equipment are Sulphur containing gases such as Sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. Individually these gases may not cause much harm to silver or copper but a combination of these gases are very corrosive.

Recently implemented lead-free regulations have led to enhanced sensitivity of the circuit boards and other storage devices to gas contaminants. Replacement of lead with another kind of substance has made it more susceptible to corrosion. 

Let us learn more about data center corrosions caused by harmful gases

In simple terms, it is a type of chemical contamination caused by some harmful and corrosive gases. They usually arise from the pollutants that enter the server room, switchgear room, signal switching rooms along control rooms and process control rooms in data centers. These gases hampers the service period of the essential equipments. They also cause micro-electronic corrosion and also increase the temperature of your facility thereby causing the cooling equipment to go overdrive. Ultimately it leads to failure of equipment and enhanced downtime of the whole facility. 

Some of the major electronic components that are affected by corrosion are:

● Film disks

● Edge connectors

● Disk drives

Protect your data center from these harmful gases using a corrosion control unit

Air filters or purifiers: It has been proved that air filters or purifiers are highly effective in decreasing the gaseous pollutants in a data center. They enhance the quality of the air and increase the life of your data center. Some of the industrial and commercial enterprises that need big data processing units make use of these relevant tools for their daily operations. Many air purifiers also use plasma cluster ion technology based on natural phenomena. This technology removes static electricity and maintains a good operating atmosphere in data centers and server rooms.

Common types of air purifiers are:

Basic and HEPA filters: These work by allowing the air to pass through an HVAC system or independently through a free-standing model. 

Ionizers and Ozone producers: This system gives out charged ions or ozone to which the ordinary particles present in the air adheres and stops them from floating around.

Electrostatic filters: These filters charge the particles present in the atmosphere. They make the particles adhere to the inside of the machine and collect them. 

Activated carbon filter: These are usually paired with another kind of air purifier. Carbon present in this filter catches odour and gas and removes them from the air. 

Ultraviolet lights: Ultraviolet lights are germicidal air purifiers that kills microbes as well as other viruses. Keep them above the coil where mold and particulates germinate. 

Air quality corrosion monitoring units 

Because of bad air quality caused by air pollution, many of the data centers present in the urban areas suffer mechanical failure. An efficient air quality monitoring system assists in detecting the levels of gases in the data center to take necessary actions.

Conclusion

Never allow harmful gases to affect your data center and decrease its efficiency. Enable effective measures by providing corrosion monitoring and corrosion control units. Being a specialist vendor in gas phase filtration and monitoring, AQOZA offers optimum performing corrosion control units to various industries. You can always reach our experts for any corrosion audit or corrosion control unit and data center air purifier requirements.

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