Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally altered power dynamics within data centers. Unlike traditional workloads with slow and predictable power variations, modern Ai creates “pulsed loads”, where processors switch rapidly between idle and full capacity. Power demand can swing from 0% to 100% and back in milliseconds, creating erratic “on-off” cycles that place power infrastructure under severe stress.
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| Pic: Veritiv |
Luigi Balma of the Vertiv R&D team explained, “The Yokogawa ecosystem is the best solution for us because it allows us to see so many different variables - voltage, currents, DC and AC - at the same time on a single display, and coherent in time.”
Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems now also function as a dynamic power conditioner capable of reacting to these variable load swings in real time. If it cannot manage these pulses effectively, they can be reflected back to the grid or backup generators, threatening overall system stability or even breakdown.
Vertiv provides critical infrastructure technologies, including large power converters. Its Power Center in Bologna (I) needed to validate new Input Power Smoothing algorithms for its Vertiv™ Trinergy™ UPS systems. These intelligently draw energy from the UPS batteries during peak pulses, shielding the upstream generator from the erratic behavior of an Ai load.
The units have a sophisticated topology, featuring two AC three-phase mains and one DC battery input, and one three-phase output. Each required monitoring simultaneously. Teams needed to capture long-duration thermal data and high-speed resolutions to analyse waveform deformation, noise, and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) during rapid switching events. Active, reactive, and apparent power also had to be characterised to fully understand power quality under stress.
With high channel counts, currents of up to 5000 A demanding strict safety controls, and a need for 24/7 reliability, intermittent anomaly capture, and long-term thermal stability logging, the instrumentation challenge was considerable.
The WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer provides primary power analysis. With a power accuracy class of 0.03% and support for up to 7 input modules, it allows Vertiv engineers to measure AC and DC power simultaneously. The instrument provides harmonic analysis up to the 500th order, essential for evaluating power quality and validating efficiency even under dynamic load conditions.
The DL950 ScopeCorder captures the transient behavior of the “pulsed loads”. Configured with 16 channels, it combines the benefits of a high-speed oscilloscope with a long-term data recorder. It captures the specific shape of voltage and current waveforms during rapid switching events, allowing engineers to identify high-frequency noise and verify the system’s dynamic response time without missing critical details.
Connecting these domains is Yokogawa’s IS8000 software, which synchronises the instruments using the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP). This platform integrates data from the WT5000, the DL950, and the GM10, which monitors thermal points across the system. This setup creates a single, time-aligned dataset where thermal stress, power efficiency, and waveform distortion can be viewed side-by-side.
As well as directly enabling the validation of their patented Input Power Smoothing technology, the integrated solution has transformed the Bologna laboratory’s workflow. Being able to view thermal, electrical, and waveform data on a single IS8000 interface has significantly reduced testing complexity and debugging time. Using Yokogawa’s precision validation, Vertiv continues to develop next-generation data center technology.
* The full case study may be read here.
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