Aleksandar Grbic ABB Smart Power Bergamo, Italy, aleksandar.grbic@it.abb.com
Around one-third of data centers with N+1 architecture (ie, where there is a backup module in case one fails) experience at least one outage per year, with an average estimated cost of $900,000 per event. The most usual cause of outages – up to one-third of the total number of occurrences – is a power supply failure inside the data center premises. In the event of a power outage, reliable automatic transfer switches (ATSs) are needed to transfer the power source for both IT loads and cooling systems to the backup power supply.
ABB’s TruONE ATS is the world’s first true ATS to package all the necessary sensors, controllers, switches and operator interfaces into a single, easy-to-install device that not only simplifies the installation and significantly reduces the installation time but also maximizes the ATS reliability →01.
The TruONE ATS has the same user interface and software environment as the ABB Emax 2 smart air circuit breaker, which allows it to take advantage of the high short-circuit performance of the Emax 2 to deliver a compact and reliable solution. For the first time, Emax 2 and its intelligent protection units integrate protection features and automatic transfer switching programmable logics into one single device.
Typically, Emax 2 circuit breakers would be placed in the main power distribution board as incoming protection devices. The Emax 2vs are equipped with embedded ATS functions – eg, delayed transition (known as “open transition” in the IEC market), Main-Gen, etc. – to manage automatic switching in case of main power supply failure.
The fully integrated and flexible nature of the Emax 2 and TruONE combination provides a highly reliable ATS for even the most demanding data center applications →02–04.
