Power quality disturbances within DC data centers

As data center energy consumption continues to increase, various options are being considered that could improve the efficiency of existing and future data centers. One way is to operate the facility on a DC distribution system. This can eliminate intermediate DC/AC and AC/DC power stages, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire data center power delivery system. While the benefits of a DC data center have been clearly proven through demonstrations and analysis, it is of paramount importance to analyze issues that will impact its practical implementation. Power quality is one such issue whose importance cannot be dismissed due to its direct connection to datacenter reliability and uptime. This paper discusses the various power quality disturbances that can occur in DC data centers, their impact on system performance, and design considerations that must be taken into account for mitigating such disturbances.