Data Center and emergency Power Upgrade
Commercial Property

Project Description: Upgrade the cooling & UPS systems for the existing Queens Library Central Data Center in addition to upgrading emergency power to the space. A new emergency generator will be provided as part of a future project which will power all new systems.

Challenges: The existing systems serving the data center were all undersized. The budget only allowed for an upgrade of the air conditioning and UPS systems with a plan for a future emergency generator upgrade. This project had two major design challenges. The first was to install the new system upgrades without shutting down the existing services. The second challenge was to plan for a seamless integration of a future emergency generator upgrade after installing the current air conditioning & UPS system upgrades on the existing emergency generator. Finding space for the new equipment was another challenge. There was no room available in the data center to accommodate the new systems.

Achievements: The project was designed within budget meeting all the needs of the client. The data center will now have all equipment on UPS power with the replacement of the existing UPS and installation of new UPS to serve unconditioned loads. A new 30-ton air-cooled computer room unit will be installed with new changeover controls to work in unison with (2) existing CRAC units. A new transfer switch & distribution panel will be provided to connect to the future emergency generator. Non-critical loads will be moved off of the existing generator so it can service the minimum needs of the data center during the period before the new generator is installed.

To avoid a shut down, a temporary power plan was developed to allow the existing generator to power the entire data center while new electrical distribution is installed.

An office adjacent to the data center was converted to an equipment room to house new electrical distribution equipment, new UPS units and new air conditioning units. The air conditioning unit was provided with customized plenum to deliver air to adjacent under floor space.