Sun Microsystems MPK 12 ETC Lab Expansion

Menlo Park, California

Since 1982 Sun Microsystems has been an innovative industry leader in servers, storage, software and services with a focus on network computing. PM Greene Engineers has remodeled approximately 25 Server Labs and Computer Rooms for Sun Microsystems.

PM Greene Engineers designed the mechanical and electrical systems for Sun Microsystems 11,000 sq.ft. customer demonstration lab and the adjacent 7,000 sq.ft. mission critical server testing lab, both of which were converted from office space. The lab was designed with a raised floor and to accommodate approximately 300 Sun server units.

Designed the primary electrical service from the utility company to serve the entire building for increased electrical service reliability at a lower energy cost. The design also included a 4000 amp double-ended outdoor substation with 2500 kVA dry type transformer at each end for redundancy.

The electrical load for the server lab is designed for 200 watts/sq.ft. Special wireways were designed under the raised floor providing flexibility, and to serve a variety of servers.

The HVAC system was designed with N+1 redundancy on all equipment including the new floor mounted air conditioning units, chillers and chilled water pumps. Thirty 30-ton capacity floor mounted computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units were designed and located to minimize usage of data center floor space and optimize the distribution of air for proper control of temperature and relative humidity.

Humidification was designed in certain CRAC units to optimize the design for operation and cost effectiveness. Additional computerized controls were installed to monitor and alarm the data center environmental conditions, equipment performance, energy consumption, equipment failure alarm and optimize equipment energy use.

Designed re-routing of the main water supply and converted the conventional wet fire protection system to approved pre-action system to minimize potential water damage to the new lab space below.