Data centers have come a long way since the creation of the huge computer rooms developed in the 1940’s. They have now become a crucial necessity for modern businesses by allowing their IT systems to operate smoothly and without any unnecessary delays. The centers are a vital asset to the modern economy and having the installations located close to the businesses themselves ensures that companies can maintain efficiency and security.
The data center itself is a dedicated centralized building or buildings used for the housing of computer systems, data storage, and telecommunications systems and they can be found in cities all over the world. The centers themselves often vary in size and scope with some of the largest centers being constructed on an industrial scale, consuming as much power as a small town. They require significant infrastructure to keep the systems up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week ensuring that the critical systems remain operational in the event of any damage, power outage, or cyber-attack. Two key areas in the continual operation of the centers are the maintenance of the power supply and the cooling systems. Datacentres produce considerable amounts of heat and require cooling systems to control the temperature, and this includes the use of cooling pumps to prevent overheating and any potential fire.
Why are Diesel Generators used in Datacentres?
It is essential that a data centers’ critical applications never go offline and that sufficient backup is in place should there be a power outage, natural or man-made disaster. One way to ensure this does not occur is the use of diesel generators to supply emergency power. We were approached by one the world’s largest retail and commercial banks to supply diesel fuel transfer pumps to their various data centers throughout the UK. The data they handle is some of the most sensitive and must be fully compliant with the data protection act, so it is essential that their data centers have every failsafe in place to maintain their security and operations. Having had previous experience supplying 24-volt emergency backup diesel fuel transfer pumps on a similar project, the customer came us to us based on our experience and proven track record.
Why use a wobble pump?
The bulk diesel tanks are located below the pumps inlet and therefore we selected our self-priming positive displacement wobble pumps to feed the day tanks which are located on the roof. The flexibility of these units facilitates the ability to install the unit above ground, combined with the compact dimensions provides significant space-saving and maneuverability. This application is ideal for wobble pumps as they can prime up to 4 meters vertically with no issues. We carefully selected a model directly coupled to an electric motor that can deliver up to 186 liters per minute at 2 bars to ensure the diesel is delivered to the rooftop as and when required.
Wobble pumps are a type of progressive cavity pump and are a positive displacement by nature. This means that the flow rate is proportional to the speed at the motor is operated whilst still maintaining pressure. Unlike some other positive displacement pump types, the flow produced is non-pulsating and they are excellent at handling shear-sensitive fluids. They are directly coupled to the motor at full speed and do not require the addition of a gearbox, this makes them compact by design and perfectly suited for installations with limited available space. We did provide the option to supply these with onboard variable frequency drives, however, our client chose to fit their own external inverter drives to vary the flow on demand. In addition to this the customer also installed their own motorized valves, flow meters, and drop weight fire valves to isolate the fuel in the event of a fire.
The Benefits of our Solution.
These pumps were supplied to multiple sites across the UK standardizing our customers’ supply of diesel to the generators. They are an efficient and robust solution that are also simple to overhaul and maintain due to their pin joint design. The pin joint couples the drive and rotor allowing for disassembly and simple rotor and seal changes with minimal downtime. We utilize wobble pumps for a wide range of applications including effluent transfer, bilge transfer, and fuel/oil transfer. The variety in materials options means they can handle anything from seawater to oils, sludges, or fluids containing small solid particles.
Being positive displacement by design they can handle both thin and high viscosity liquids with little effect to flow and pressure output. Certain models can handle liquids up to a paste in consistency which contains solids, deliver up to 14,400 liters an hour and reach up to 6 bar pressure. We have 2 versions of our wobble pumps, our R and RL, each having a different rotor and stator lengths to produce different flows and pressures. Being modular in design allows versions to be configured for different scenarios including a bearing housing for maximum reliability, a relief valve for pump and system protection or a plain shaft end to suit a belt drive.
