Integrated reliability modeling for data center infrastructures: A case study

Optimization of energy efficiency is a major challenge that influences current technical design processes. A data center electrical infrastructure, as a major energy consumer, can be viewed as a microgrid. However, any optimization effort targeted at that local grid has to be governed by consideration of the resulting reliability. Since the required cooling of the IT-components is an on-demand service, it is not only the microgrid itself what determines the resulting infrastructure reliability. In addition, the cooling system components themselves have to be included in the reliability analysis calculations. This article presents a method of calculating the reliability of integrated data center infrastructure models (including power grid and cooling systems) using Boolean algebra. Furthermore, failure analysis statistics of two different complex infrastructure designs based on reliability models will be discussed.