BLIXT solid state circuit breakers for self-monitoring of data centers
BLIXT, the company behind BLIXT Zero, the world’s first IEC certified miniature solid state circuit breaker, today announces a collaboration project with RISE ICE, Europe’s leading research data center. The project objective is to pilot BLIXT Zero for predictive maintenance in data centers and quantify cost and energy savings through optimized operations.
Data centers across the globe host over 100 million servers and the $288 Bn market continues to grow rapidly. Any interruptions in a data center’s operation can have enormous chain effects and the risks associated with any fault is high, in terms of money, reputation and safety. As an example, an average outage cost $500k per event and leads to significant financial losses for data center providers. Maintenance is therefore of essence and constitutes a significant percentage of expenses in most facilities, consuming nearly as much of a typical facility’s operating budget as energy costs.
“Power line monitoring could significantly contribute to better performance and lower operational costs, but is yet an unexplored area in the data center space", says Tor Björn Minde, Director ICE Data center at RISE. "By partnering with BLIXT we can accelerate this development and create intelligent self-monitored data centers”.
During the pilot project, Blixt Zero solid state circuit breakers will be used for monitoring servers directly on the power lines, which in combination with advanced data analysis based on AI, will lead to quicker and more accurate trouble shooting and even be able to predict faults before they happen. Examples of such errors include software caused server halts, active server tampering, short-circuits, electronic component degradation, power over-loading, intermittent power dips etc.
“In addition, the faster tripping speed and no-arc breaking results in increased electrical safety. We also see clear environmental benefits with less need for backup servers, and energy savings through identification of power hungry equipment”, says Jens Peter Schroer CTO at Blixt. The deployed global power footprint of the edge IT and data center facilities is forecast to reach 102 GW by 2028, hence the potential climate impact is substantial.
While ICE Data center at RISE supports BLIXT in this project with access to datasets, a full scale test environment and industry expertise, BLIXT brings in leading knowhow in the field of solid-state circuit breakers and the system level aspect.
This experiment has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951771.
About BLIXT
Blixt Tech AB was founded in Sweden in 2018 with the mission to offer solutions for solid state circuit breakers, voltage converters and battery systems. The company currently holds 36 patent applications and has recieved multiple industry awards for its innovations.
Contact: Jens Peter Schroer, CTO
Email: jens@blixt.tech
Phone: +46 72 700 01 72
BLIXT: https://blixt.tech/
About RISE ICE
RISE is Sweden’s research institute and innovation partner. Through our international collaboration programmes with industry, academia and the public sector, we ensure the competitiveness of the Swedish business community on an international level and contribute to a sustainable society. Our 2,800 employees engage in and support all types of innovation processes. RISE is an independent, State-owned research institute, which offers unique expertise and over 100 testbeds and demonstration environments for future-proof technologies, products and services.
Contact: Tor Björn Minde, Director ICE Data center at RISE
Email: tor.bjorn.minde@ri.se
Phone: +46 706 24 2959
RISE ICE: https://www.ri.se/ice
