One of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks, Westpac is a multinational financial services company, with over 36,000 employees. Its market capitalisation currently stands at over $90Bn, with a clientele of over 13 million people worldwide.
In the age of online banking, data demands for companies like Westpac are at a distinctive all-time high. Westpac’s customer security, reliability of online and cloud services, and greater network independence are all connected to and reliant on this facility.
Data centres are the backbone of a bank’s IT infrastructure and must operate with ideal temperature ranges to avoid downtime, premature damage to computers and costly repairs. Westpac’s mechanical contractor reached out to Masterflow for this provision of pumps and buffer tanks on this high-security computing space.
- Location:North Ryde (NSW)
- Industry:Commercial
Our Process:
Upon analysing the client’s brief, Masterflow’s engineers designed a custom solution that took every aspect of our customer’s needs and use case – from operating efficiency, to maintenance, to delivery date – into account.
We supplied 6x 35,000L buffer tanks to this plantroom, as well as 5x pumps. Masterflow took care of the drafting, engineering, manufacturing, supplying and delivery process, saving our client valuable time and minimising margin of error through the application of our expertise.
Each 35kl storage tank is fitted with Masterflow’s H-Sparge pipe design. As these centres host critical data in temperature-sensitive computers, it is vital for measures to be taken that create backup power amongst malfunctions. In the event of a system-wide failure, the chillers require a reset, and are temporarily unable to provide any cooling.
The H-Sparge allows the buffer tanks to send chilled water to the pumps until the chillers are recharged in this scenario, with the buffer tanks slowly having their chilled water supply recharged with storage water after the chillers resume operation.
Outcomes:
As the job was completed in 2010, 2020 saw Masterflow conducting a 10-year inspection of the tank’s internals. The inspection included material thickness testing, review of all weld joints, surface finishes, and general condition of all fasteners. This equipment has evidently been a reliable success, with no faults or deterioration identified.
Additionally, the pumps were operating very strongly a decade after their supply and installation, despite operating 24/7 as is normal in data centre applications.
Thanks to the H-Sparge design feature, there was minimum mixing in these tanks to ensure stratification and a supply of even temperature water so that even a site-wide failure that necessitates chiller downtime, does not have to result in system downtime.
If your data centre needs quality equipment and optimal performance that offers a long life, share the specs of your data centre with Masterflow and our engineering team will identify the products that are right for your plantroom.
