Engineering at the edge: switchgear for a 0.2MW modular data centre
How Capital designed and manufactured mission-critical switchgear to power a pioneering mobile data centre, while meeting global compliance standards.
I had worked with Capital before and have great trust in the team’s engineering expertise
Project Director, leading mechanical engineering firm, Ireland
From emergency medical care, to mining, to military, computing power is often needed in inhospitable places like deserts and mountainous regions. But standard data centres can’t always provide access, or the level of computing power needed for life at the edge.
To solve this, a pioneering edge computing firm, based in the US, aimed to develop a powerful modular data centre. Designed to fit in a single container, this mobile data centre could be placed anywhere, so any organisation in the world could benefit from cutting-edge processing power and data storage.
With privacy a growing concern, these self-contained units would give organisations across the world the power to hold sovereignty over their data, and be less reliant on shared data centre storage, which can be more vulnerable.
Why Capital for this data centre project?
The edge computing firm chose mechanical engineering specialists in Ireland to develop the unit, who chose Capital to design and supply the switchgear components. The project director at the company says, “I had worked with Capital before and have great trust in the team’s engineering expertise.”
Mike Sinkey, Managing Director and co-founder of Capital says of the relationship: “We had been working with them for a hyperscaler, making automatic transfer switches and other products.”
“They trust us for the electrical engineering part of projects. And we’ve had good collaborations. They’ve seen we can build large volumes of products while maintaining quality. They also know we’ll always be honest with them and deliver on time.”
Mike Sinkey, Managing Director and co-founder, Capital
Robust data centre power solution, designed together in 6 months
This was more of an engineering project than a simple manufacturing job. Capital electrical and mechanical engineers spent 6 months designing the switchgear panel for this unit.
Mike was the point of contact for this project and worked directly on the designs: “This was a risk, both for Capital and our customers. It’s the first time this has ever been done, and none of us knew if it would ultimately work. We had to trust in our expertise and established relationships with our partners.”
Capital and the data centre operator worked together to successfully create a cutting-edge mobile data centre. This container-sized, 0.2MW IT power module is truly stand alone. It can be dropped anywhere by helicopter, uses Starlink for communications and can be powered by generators.
Solving the global data centre component compliance challenge
Because this mobile data centre can travel, it needed equipment that would be compliant in multiple countries – so it could be positioned anywhere in the world with little or no modifications. This includes fans, IT racks, fire alarm system and of course, switchgear.
Mike and his engineers developed switchgear components that comply with UL, CSA and IEC standards. “This was quite a challenge considering the different requirements of both standards and even different numeric systems in the US and Europe. But our engineers took hold of the challenge and solved it elegantly, to the customer’s satisfaction.”
Designing equipment to be compliant to UL, CSA and IEC was a challenge initially, but it means this equipment can safely be positioned in the US, Canada, Europe and almost anywhere in the world – with minimal, low-cost modification
UL representatives travelled from the US to spend three days with Capital engineers, testing the panel. Thanks to intensive planning and pre-testing by the team, the components achieved UL, passing all testing, including IST, heat rise and load tests.
We’re used to complying to IEC. To make sure this project complied with UL and CSA too, we did thorough R&D work – which included carrying out our own tests repeatedly before the official tests.
The Capital switchgear solution
Capital designed and manufactured the switchgear panels containing automatic transfer switches, and main LV switchboards. The unit is 400A and uses two transformers.
The panels were built and delivered on time and are currently being shipped across the world. The customer was delighted with the experience of working with capital.
I couldn’t be any happier with the Capital team, from project management to engineering
Project Director, leading mechanical engineer firm, Ireland
A successful data centre switchgear project
This project, once an unknown quantity, was a huge success thanks to excellence in engineering and great relationships between partners. So much so that it has turned into a long-term collaboration.
Capital will now create switchgear panels for more of these mobile data centres. The next project is for a European government looking to expand its computing power fast while ensuring more control over its data.
“When you’re designing something for so long – working through issues and solving problems – seeing it work in the end is very rewarding.”
Mike Sinkey, Managing Director and co-founder, Capital