Minutes of the B513 Planning Meeting, 18^th April

 

Present: Tony Cass, Anne Funken, Jukka Lindroos, Denis Raffourt, Dave Underhill

 

1)  Replacing the Saleve Side Goods Doors

a)      A sort of “vertically folding” door exists which could be used to replace both of the existing “goods” doors on the Saleve side of B513. These doors can include panels for “people” sized doors and so no major work would be needed—although some lighting would have to be moved. The doors could be installed within 6 weeks of issuing the command.

b)      There is no money in the 2000 budget for this work, but a quote should be obtained as this is the sort of work that could be funded towards the end of the year if other IT groups cannot send money as planned.

c)      It was noted that there is a goods door at the lift end of the archive store. This is rather inaccessible, however.

2)  MG and Vault Cleanout

a)      Quotes are still needed for removing the false floor in the MG room and old pipework in the vault. The sprinkler pipes in the vault should be removed (see below).

3)  Air Conditioning in B513

a)      Jukka Lindroos distributed a document describing the B513 air-conditioning equipment.

b)      The overall cooling capacity is limited by the chilled water supply, but 2.4MW capacity is available here and so this is not a limiting factor.

c)      The maximum cooling capacity for the machine room is 1800kW, but pipe sizes and chiller capacity limit this to 1300kW of which 250kW is used to cool barracks and offices. (Which? The barn and corridors in B513?) Only 50% of the remaining 1050kW is needed today.

d)      Air-conditioning in the tape vault is rather limited. The originally installed capacity was only 40kW (as the room was just an archive). An additional 70kW of capacity was added 10 years ago at the time equipment started to be installed. The total capacity is thus 110kW. This represents a much lower cooling capacity per square meter than in the machine room.

e)      The cooling capacity in the vault could be increased either by providing a generalised circulation or by routing the circulation directly to racks. The direct routing system (using under floor ducting) would be cheaper to install but requires a priori knowledge of how the equipment is to be arranged.

f)      It was agreed that non-ducted under floor airflow is to be avoided as this can cause dust problems.

g)      In contrast, the MG room is over-provided with air-conditioning capacity for general machine room purposes. The current cooling power of 286kW should be reduced to 140kW to reduce the air velocity and improve conditions in the room.

h)      As a mezzanine floor in the machine room has been suggested as a way to increase floor space, Jukka Lindroos will investigate the feasibility of providing air-conditioning in such a design.

4)  Fire Detection

a)      At the moment there is only one VESDA system installed for the machine room although tubing exists to add a second laser. Unless we move to rack based detection, a second laser unit should be added for redundancy.

b)      The fire detection system in the false floor should also be reviewed.

c)      The existing fire detectors in the vault are old and, in common with all the detectors in B513, need replacing. A VESDA system akin to that in the machine room should be installed.

d)      Even if any water based fire extinction systems is installed in the vault, the existing pipework is unlikely to be reusable as fog based systems use a much higher water pressure. We should therefore go ahead with plans to remove the sprinkler pipework.

e)      It was agreed that fire detection arrangements for the technical areas of the building (e.g. for the transformers and the UPS room) should be decided by ST directly.

f)      Fire detection equipment should normally be replaced every 15-20 years.

5)  Actions

Anne	Obtain quotes for replacing the “goods doors”
Anne	Obtain quotes for removing MG false floor and vault pipework
Jukka	Clarify the areas which are cooled by the 250kW taken from the machine room capacity
Jukka	Investigate the feasibility of providing cooling for a mezzanine floor in the machine room