Analysis of the application and construction points of container data center
Time of issue:2022-09-30
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1► Overview
In recent years, in the tide of data center construction, the application of container data centers has increased, which has gradually increased the attention of industry practitioners to containers. As an important development direction of industrial prefabrication, container data center also reflects its advantages.
2► Application of containerized data center
The practical application of containerized data center will involve various aspects such as its classification, construction mode, specific specifications, basic indicators, and layout methods. Let's discuss them one by one.
2.1 Classification of containerized data centers
According to the different functions and types of data center infrastructure equipment integrated in the container, the containerized data center can be divided into: integrated box, IT box (also called equipment box), support box (also called auxiliary box, such as UPS power supply box, diesel engine container, cold source container, control box, maintenance box, monitoring box) and other types. The integrated box integrates all the infrastructure required by the data center in one container, such as racks, power distribution cabinets, UPS, batteries, air conditioning, fire protection, security and dynamic environment monitoring systems, and even includes backup diesel generators. The integrated box is a complete data center. Using the integrated box, users only need to connect it to the mains and connect to the operator's broadband network before it can be put into use.
2.2 Application of Containers in Large Data Centers
The data center built by Microsoft in Chicago in 2008 covers an area of 65,000 square meters, equivalent to the size of 16 American football fields, and can accommodate 150,000 servers with a total power consumption of about 60 megawatts. It is one of the few data centers in the world that are built in containers. These containers are placed at a 45-degree angle, and each container contains 2,000 to 2,500 servers. With the vigorous development of the domestic data center industry, containerized data centers, as one of the mainstream directions of prefabrication, have also gained more application opportunities. At present, domestic manufacturers have built several data centers in the form of stacking large containers, and the number of cabinets can reach about 1,000. The final architectural form of such a data center stacked with large containers is not much different from the data center we usually see. However, its modular design and building block construction are greatly different from traditional data centers in the past. Of course, since this type of data center is a new thing after all, it may not be fully mature compared with traditional building-type data centers in some technical details, such as fire protection and rain protection. With the continuous increase of applications, the technical level of the industry will continue to improve, and it is believed that the related problems encountered at present will be better solved. At present, many old factories in the domestic data center industry have been transformed into data centers. One of the transformation ideas is to use the container form, which can be in the form of a one-story container. When the height of the old factory building is sufficient, the stacking form of two-story containers can also be used, so that the number of cabinets that the data center can carry will be greatly increased, thereby increasing the overall benefit of customers.
3► Conclusion
As a physical space for centralized processing, exchange and storage of information, data centers are the core infrastructure of many emerging industries. Since 2020, the government has frequently spoken out and paid great attention to the "new infrastructure". On April 20, 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission held a regular press conference for April online, clarifying that the data center is included in the scope of "new infrastructure". As an important information infrastructure, data centers have received strong support from national policies, and the entire industry will also benefit deeply and develop continuously and stably. The container data center has significant advantages such as factory prefabricated installation, short construction period, fast deployment, and modular expansion. It will surely become one of the mainstream construction methods in the data center industry and usher in greater development.