Cooling hundreds of servers and other pieces of equipment can make your data center very loud and unbearable. This interior noise has a significant impact on your industrial workers. Spending long hours in a data center can cause hearing impairment, create stress, increase workplace accident rates and stimulate aggression and other anti-social behaviors among employees – certainly not the work environment one desires.
Responsible enterprises keep a tab on high noise levels and its impact on industrial workers. As more and more servers are added to the data center, the number of fans to keep them cool also increases, which means more noise. Most data center managers are struggling to figure a solution for noise management at data centers.
Importance of noise reduction at data center
Noise levels at data centers require strict monitoring. On an average, most data centers register a noise level ranging between 70DB to 85DB. . If your noise level approaches 85 dBA, it has reached a significant threshold. Workers exposed to such a noise level must be provided with hearing protection. Leading enterprises maintain a strict regulation by which employees exposed to more than 85 decibels should not work for more than a double shift of 16 hours. If you’re looking for a larger solution that beats noise management issues, here are some tips.
Best practices for reducing the noise levels in a data center—
Sound-Proof Your Data Center
The unwanted noise pollution generated from server racks, LAN racks and computer fans can be lowered with the help of sound proofing. It is one of the best approaches to manage noise at data centers. The solution, when deployed within the room, can lower the decibel level of noise. To see a significant impact, data center managers should incorporate sound absorption panels at the back walls of the server racks. You can also suspend panels from the ceiling and walls, which will further prevent the sound waves from reflecting off ceilings and walls back into data center. Besides, deploying walls and insulation in racks will prevent noise from escaping out.
Noise-Control Cabinet
Noise-control cabinets are easily available in the market and are often a no-fuss solution to manage noise levels. Choosing the right cabinet will help to reduce negative effects of noise pollution. Cabinets can reduce noise at the office while maintaining desired temperatures to prevent machine burnout. With this, workers can enhance the companies’ productivity and ensure reduced noise in the work environment. The cabinets will succeed in achieving unprecedented levels of noise reduction, covering the entire audible spectrum.
Using Silent Fans
Deploying cooling solutions is one of the main culprits that turn the entire work environment noisy. To encounter this situation, data centers can replace noisy fans with quite ones. In addition, they can minimize the number of fans used within the environment.
Readily available solutions
Some solutions come with embedded chips in their racks, mainly to reduce noise levels of their products. Once the noise reduction solution is embedded in the rack mount cabinet, they can drastically reduce noise levels up to 30 dB(A). In addition, noise-cancelling technology is highly effective in reducing low-frequency noises and can achieve unprecedented spatial noise reduction over the entire frequency bandwidth of the audible spectrum. As a result, employees can work better in a quieter, less stressful environment. Apart from reducing your energy bills, the solution can also help you maintain constant temperature to prevent machine burnout, thereby extends the life of your equipment.
As always, one size doesn’t fit all. You must carefully consider your organization’s requirement, data center size and budget before investing in a noise management solution.
Authored By: Mr Ravi Raj, Brand Head, Director Sales & Support, NETRACK