Non-Raised Floor Plinth, seismic plinth for racks

Description

The Silentflex® Non-Raised Floor Plinth is a seismic control plinth for server racks and IT equipment that stand directly on the floor slab, with no raised floor. It reduces the accelerations that reach the equipment during an earthquake and filters the everyday vibration of a data centre. It suits both legacy data centres and new builds.

It is a patented solution against external vibration and earthquakes:

• Seismic hazard, designed for earthquakes up to magnitude 6.2 as standard, with a stronger design on request;
• Civil works or data centre extensions;
• Nearby emergency generators;
• In-row and CRAC cooling units;
• Railways or heavy traffic.

Our trained team can install it in live data centres on request.

Properties

• Two linked frames absorb energy in both the vertical and the horizontal direction;
• Adapts easily to racks W 600–800 mm and D 1,000–1,200 mm (W 24–30” and D 42–48” in the US version);
• 8 vertical compression suspensions for stability during an earthquake: heavy-duty springs combined with 100% stainless steel energy absorbers;
• 4 vertical tension suspensions that reduce the risk of the rack lifting;
• Triple vibration isolation:
  • very low natural frequency, 4.5 Hz at nominal load;
  • high frequencies removed by class M1 elastomer soles (on request), which are non-slip and protect the floor;
  • safety stops for overloads up to 10 times the nominal load;
• 8 lateral displacement energy absorbers;
• All-metal design, in line with data centre fire protection standards;
• 99% vibration absorption from 50 Hz, for loads between 100 and 1,500 kg;
• Non-slip base for the inner frame where it cannot be bolted to the floor;
• The rack is fully levelled once installed;
• Non-corrosive;
• Dielectric (non-conductive), to avoid current leakage.

Tested for a nuclear power plant

In March 2021 the VIRLAB laboratory (accredited by ENAC, no. 54/LE131) put a plinth carrying a 42U Schneider Electric rack full of equipment through seismic tests to IEEE 344 (seismic qualification of equipment for nuclear power plants). The system was bound for the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia.

• Biaxial table: horizontal and vertical at the same time, in both horizontal directions;
• In each direction, five OBE (operating basis earthquake) events and one SSE (safe shutdown earthquake);
• Tested weight: about 335 kg (rack of ~235 kg and plinth of 100 kg);
• Result: neither the rack nor the plinth showed any anomaly or structural damage at the final inspection.

Seismic test for telecoms (GR-63-CORE)

In March 2018 the VIRLAB laboratory tested two Silentflex® plinths, a custom version with vertical stops, carrying two racks (about 1700 kg in total) to Telcordia GR-63-CORE, seismic zone 4, the most demanding. After a resonance search and a 30-second earthquake on each axis (X, Y and Z) with a zero period acceleration of 1.6 g, the assembly kept its structural integrity, with no anomalies or damage.

VIRLAB certificate no. 182728C (PDF)

Custom fit

The plinth is sized to the rack of each vendor and model, and fixes to any rack on the market. Its natural frequency stays very low across a wide range of loads.

Dimensions

* W 24–30” and D 42–48” in the US version.