Replacing the UPS Systems of a Data Centre That Could Not Be Switched Off
Design for replacing the uninterruptible power supply systems and battery banks of a data centre in continuous operation: replacement strategy, removal sequencing, and updated electrical calculations, protection settings, and as-built documentation.
- HOAI design stages
- LP1–LP4
- Facility in operation throughout
- Live
- Documentation reconciled
- As-built
The uninterruptible power supply is the part of a data centre that exists for the seconds between a mains failure and the generators taking over. It is the safety net. This project replaced the safety net while the facility underneath it stayed in operation.
TEBIN developed the design for replacing the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and battery banks of a data centre in continuous operation, delivered through German HOAI work stages LP1–LP4 as design partner to the lead engineering firm.
What makes a replacement harder than an installation?
A new-build UPS installation is commissioned before anything depends on it. A replacement is different in kind: the equipment being removed is currently protecting live critical loads, and the equipment replacing it is not yet proven. Between those two states is a window in which the facility’s protection is degraded, and the entire design problem is to make that window as small, controlled, and reversible as possible.
That is why the scope begins with a replacement strategy rather than a layout. The sequence is the design.
Why is removal sequencing an engineering deliverable?
Sequencing decides which parts of the system are unavailable at any moment, and therefore what the facility’s protection actually is at each step. It has to account for the redundancy configuration, what remains available if something fails mid-sequence, and how far each step can be reversed if it does.
TEBIN’s scope covered developing that sequence together with the arrangements for installing the new UPS equipment and commissioning the battery systems without impact on the live critical loads.
Why do the calculations and protection settings have to change?
New UPS equipment changes the electrical behaviour around it: fault levels, protection coordination, and the assumptions every downstream device was set against. Protection settings that were correct for the old configuration are not automatically correct for the new one, and a mis-coordinated protection scheme fails in exactly the circumstances it exists for.
The design therefore included updating the electrical calculations and protection settings to match the new UPS configuration, rather than treating the replacement as a like-for-like swap.
Why does the documentation matter as much as the equipment?
An operational data centre is maintained, audited, and modified for decades by people who were not present for this work. If the model and drawings still show the superseded configuration, every future intervention starts from a false picture, and in a facility carrying live load a false picture is a hazard rather than an inconvenience.
The Building Information Modelling (BIM) model and the drawings were updated to reflect the new UPS configuration, providing as-built documentation for operation, maintenance, and future audits.
Project outcome
TEBIN delivered the design through LP1–LP4 for replacing the UPS systems and battery banks of an operational data centre: the replacement strategy, the removal sequencing, the arrangements for installation and battery commissioning without impact on live critical loads, and updated electrical calculations, protection settings, model and drawings as as-built documentation. Execution of the works, commissioning, and operational continuity remained with the parties holding those scopes.
Project FAQ
Can UPS systems be replaced without shutting a data centre down?
It is a design problem before it is a site problem. The work has to be sequenced so that the facility’s protection is understood and maintained at every step, including what remains available if something fails mid-sequence. On this project that strategy and sequencing were the core of TEBIN’s scope.
What did TEBIN deliver here?
Design through HOAI stages LP1–LP4: the replacement strategy, removal sequencing, arrangements for new UPS installation and battery commissioning without impact on live critical loads, and updated electrical calculations, protection settings, BIM model and drawings as as-built documentation. The works themselves were executed by others.
Why update protection settings during a UPS replacement?
New equipment changes fault levels and protection coordination. Settings that suited the previous configuration are not automatically correct afterwards, and a mis-coordinated protection scheme fails precisely when it is needed.
