Understanding Medium Voltage Vacuum Circuit Breakers for Data Centers

Data centers and server rooms are both a critical and complex part of every business around the world. Regardless of the type of business today, when a server or system goes down, it can both disrupt day-to-day work by employees, as well as cost the business large amounts of money. As a result, medium voltage vacuum circuit breakers for data centers are becoming increasingly important in server room operations.

Medium Voltage Vacuum Circuit Breakers for Data Centers

Medium voltage circuit breakers are becoming a very important part of many data center’s architecture. That latest technology available for medium voltage circuit breakers for data centers, when used in concert with other protection and monitoring devices, can help IT professionals better manage power usage and protect important and expensive equipment.

Historically, breakers for data centers were a mix of low voltage and medium voltage breakers. Medium voltage breakers for data centers were only used an in “overall” system setup. They were then transformed to low voltage breakers. This meant that ultimately low voltage breakers were charged with actually protecting the equipment housed within the data center. More recently, many businesses have changed over to medium voltage in an effort to better protect data center equipment, as well as increase the efficiency of their systems overall.

Breakers for Data Centers

As IT professionals work to make their data centers more efficient and stable, they are always looking for ways to keep their centers stable and protect the important data housed inside. As a result, data center architects have placed more of a focus on how the electrical system functions, including equipment like UPS (uninterrupted power supply) systems and circuit breakers for data centers. These two systems can work together to make sure server rooms have an appropriate level of protection against unexpected power failures and the damage they can cause to hardware and software.

When using medium voltage vacuum circuit breakers for data centers instead of both medium and low voltage breakers, less equipment is required, this again saves data center space and avoids wasting money in the budget.

Generally, there are four levels of data centers and three sizes that vary from the small (under 19,000 square feet) to the very large (more than 250,000 square feet). Most commonly, large data centers are for web/IT services or banking institutions. It is in these larger data center applications that medium voltage circuit breakers for data centers make the most sense. Each medium voltage breaker can provide a high level of electrical security where downtime for a banking institution, for example, could cost millions in dollars and create a potential security breach.

Deciding on the type and size of the circuit breakers for data centers relies on a number of different factors. Those factors can include physical size of the location, generator and distribution needs, ongoing maintenance, and ongoing operation, to name a few. These needs will need to be well documented by IT staff, electrical engineers, and security experts to see what type and power level breaks for data centers are required. Once all the data center needs are reviewed and all potential issues identified, only then can the group proceed and decide if it makes the most sense to utilize a medium voltage or low voltage circuit breaker for that specific data center.