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In recognition of Women’s History Month, Rittal recognizes their women in manufacturing. The following is their first installment of Rittal’s “We are Rittal!” mini-series, based off their We are #RittalStrong, #RittalResilient, #RittalWomen campaign. Diane Rudolph joined Rittal 22 years ago as a Safety & Environmental Engineer. In her time she has held various roles within the organization; her current role is Director of Material Services.

Data centers are some of the most energy-intensive of all building types, gobbling up 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of the typical commercial office building, according to energy.gov. Combined, data centers represent approximately 2% of total U.S. electricity use. Much of that 2% is dedicated to keeping servers from overheating.

Rittal is one of the first industrial players to receive a 5G frequency allocation. Before the end of the year, a private 5G mobile communications network will be installed in the new Haiger plant. The first pilot projects, for example in production monitoring and analysis, have already been defined.

There are relatively simple server enclosure cooling needs…and then there’s the challenge posed by Arizona State University’s (ASU) Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser (CXFEL). For the best cooling solution to control the climate around the world’s first CXFEL’s high-density servers, ASU chose to partner with Rittal.

Tri Tech Automation, an automation partner with nearly 75 years of experience serving the engineering needs of American manufacturers, utilized a Rittal modular solution to overcome challenges with a motor control center application for a customer in the biofuels industry.

According to Forbes, U.S. data centers use more than 90 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, requiring roughly 34 giant (500-megawatt) coal-powered plants. Global data centers use about 40% more than the entire United Kingdom. That’s a lot of electricity, and a lot of heat being generated in the process. Cooling is a critical component of the data center ecosystem – and a major line item in a data center’s budget. In fact, as much as 40% of all energy used in some data centers goes directly to cooling.

As your engineering team researches enclosure options, a primary consideration should be labor costs for performing basic tasks, including mounting panel installation, door reversal, lock replacement or in-cabinet maintenance. Safety is another consideration. Due to the weight of the enclosure, many maintenance crews require heavy equipment like forklifts or cranes to move and install enclosures. It’s important to note that choosing between unibody or modular enclosure designs greatly impacts the resources needed to perform and support these tasks.

When designing a compact enclosure, material selection matters. The materials you chose will impact the lifespan, functionality, and performance of the sensitive electronic and automation components housed within the enclosure. You can’t afford to put any of that at risk. Enclosure materials include a range of metal and non-metal options, including carbon and stainless steel, fiberglass and polycarbonate.