Fire detection for data center

Summary

Project

Data Center
Nxtra Data Center, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Benefits

Redundancy for uninterrupted protection
Faster and reliable fire detection through highly sensitive multi-criteria detectors
Unparalleled emergency response with seamless integration of Bosch Digital Public Address and Evacuation System (PAVA)
Tailored and fully programmable Fire Alarm Panel for the specific data center “Cause and Effect Matrix” requirements
Cost efficiency through optimized cable usage

Product solutions

Fire Alarm System and Public Address Voice Alarm System
AVENAR 8000 panels, AVENAR 4000 Series detectors, manual call stations, sounders and strobes, field modules, BMS integration and Smart Safety Link for PAVA integration

The company Nxtra by Airtel is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited which offers an extensive network of data centers across more than 100 locations. Their customers comprise leading enterprises, hyper-scalers, startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and public sector organizations. The data centers are secure and scalable spaces to help their customers accelerate their digital operations. This includes a 4-Megawatt center in Pune, Maharashtra, which serves a major global software company.

Data is the most valuable asset for many companies. Keeping data secure but also accessible for whenever it is needed is crucial, hence there is dependency on service providers like Nxtra to store their data efficiently. Any downtime is a critical situation as it can result in massive business losses. Such occurrences must be kept to a minimum and backups of all systems are essential. A fire at a data center has the potential to destroy a space full of valuable digital or electronic assets and disrupt service provision. However, false fire alarms would trigger a response of evacuations and power shutdowns with unnecessary panic situations and avoidable expensive downtime. Thus, reliable and trustworthy fire detection is vital on such sites.

In 2022, the in-house MEP team at Nxtra wanted to implement a reliable and effective fire detection system for their upcoming Pune-based data center. They appointed a leading US consulting firm to help them with the technical evaluation and to suggest a suitable fire detection solution. The consultant outlined the stringent standards applicable to the data center and VdS, UL and FM-approved systems were all considered suitable for this specific scenario.

The team at Bosch demonstrated their reliable fire detection solutions and the consultant and customers at Nxtra were impressed – and satisfied they had found the right solution. The Bosch products fully comply with the technical requirements of the project: The fire detection systems are approved by the renowned European certification body, VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH, as well as global NFPA72 standards.

Bosch fire detection system's redundancy feature made me curious about evaluating their offerings. I believe that consideration of this will certainly be a game changer in our DC operations to ensure minimal downtime.
Mr. Jimesh Chauhan, SME Electrical Nxtra

In any typical data center application, fewer fire detectors are needed in proportion to the monitoring modules and notification appliances. Therefore, the operation or disabling of other systems in a premises, such as heating and air conditioning or emergency exit facilities, could be directly impacted by a fire alarm system. The integration of a redundant fire alarm panel controller was therefore vital as a backup option as not all manufacturers offer this solution. As the flexible design of AVENAR 8000 enables the redundancy feature at all the levels – including the panel controller, loop card, power supply and networking – the Nxtra team and their consultant were fully convinced to consider it for their Pune data center project.

The multi-story data center premises houses different data halls on each floor, and each floor comprises a Bosch AVENAR fire alarm panel equipped with a controller and power-supply redundancy. The respective FAPs on each floor are all connected over a peer-to-peer network. The challenge was to seamlessly integrate all fire alarm panels and make it work as one integral system. Thanks to AVENAR’s easy-to-program fire panel, the customer’s specific requirements, as identified by a complex “Cause and Effect Matrix” which analyzes all combinations of separate fire event scenarios, could be met with the right solutions. For instance, if a fire were to break out on the fourth floor, the system would be required to trigger sounders and strobes not only on that floor, but also on the ones above and below it, as well as activating the damper fan, PA system announcements and so on, whereas, for another floor, the matrix would reveal a different set of requirements to be addressed.

The state-of-the-art, fast and reliable AVENAR 4000 Series detectors were installed for smoke and fire detection. The detectors house an in-built ISP based on over 4,000 fire patterns for reliable and faster detection. Furthermore, two integrated fault isolators allow continual operation and quick and easy maintenance: The detectors alert safety personnel to any maintenance issues, such as the need to clear dust or tend to an increase in electromagnetic interference values – factors which would otherwise trigger nuisance alarms.

A further key benefit of the system is the Notification Appliance Circuit which includes sounders and strobes directly within the same loop which is monitored. The Nxtra team was aware that Bosch’s loop-powered NAC is much more advanced, cost-effective and reliable than conventional fire safety solutions (where only the NAC circuits are monitored, not the NAC devices themselves, thus making a system less reliable and more expensive). The compatibility between all modules of the Bosch solution also includes seamless integration of the Public Address System via the Smart Safety Link.

The installation project was completed in August 2023. Team Nxtra was satisfied with the performance of the Bosch fire detection system which supports the entire site in avoiding critical downtime situations. The Bosch solution was also subjected to the Integrated Systems Test (IST), which it passed with flying colors. In fact, Nxtra is so happy with the results that they are already considering Bosch fire detection solutions for another data center site.