DATA CENTER FLOORING

What is the best antistatic flooring option for data centers and computer rooms?

The choice of antistatic flooring for a data center involves a number of considerations but, the single most  important factor is the type of footwear you anticipate people will be wearing while they work in the data center. In most situations, footwear can not be controlled in data centers. For this reason it is always recommended that you select your floor with the premise that the floor must prevent static regardless of the composition of the shoe soles your people choose to wear in the work place. Approaching the selection process from this perspective enables you to inhibit static generation on anyone at anytime regardless of humidity, the sensitivity of your servers or the application and critical nature the servers represent to your mission or operation.

Generally speaking, the effectiveness of static control flooring properties is based on:

1. A floor’s ability to prevent static in the first place regardless of traffic, humidity or the type of footwear worn by people occupying the space. This ability is called preventing body voltage generation or BVG. This property is measured using test method ANSI/ESD S97.2. The test results should include measurements with and without static control footwear.

2. The intrinsic ability of the floor to be grounded. This is also called finding a traceable “Ground path.” This property is measured using test method ANSI/ESD S7.1-2005. Test results should be obtained on samples that have been preconditioned at humidity levels below 20%. A “highly recommended floor” will usually measure below 1.0 X 10E7 ohms using this test. In the case of anti-static carpet, the test should be performed on new and used carpet to determine if traffic and abuse will degrade the Groundable path.

The following materials have been evaluated for effectiveness in data centers. They appear in descending order of suitability:

Best: Conductive 2 layer ESD grade rubber tile and sheet flooring: Material cost approximately 5-6 dollars per square foot: Disadvantage: Initial cost

Highly Recommended: Conductive carpet tile: Material cost approximately $3.75-$4.00 per square foot; Major disadvantages: Allergy considerations, airborne contaminants become trapped in carpet – excess yarn fibers could become lodged in cooling fans.

Recommended but less effective than options 1 and 2: Conductive vinyl: Material cost approximately $3.25-$4.00 per square foot: Disadvantage: Best when used in conjunction with antistatic footwear.

Marginally effective: Static Dissipative vinyl: Cost: same as conductive vinyl:  Disadvantage: offers negligible static control performance versus traditional/standard vinyl flooring

Not Recommended: Computer grade floors such as low KV carpet, Dataguard carpet, SDT and High Pressure Laminates (HPL). The anti-static properties of these options quickly degrade after installation and it has been documented in numerous studies that all of these materials become less effective without the regular applications of special anti static waxes, dissipative polishes and Statguard sprays. These materials are often specified as meeting the outdated IBM Burroughs test.

Although static control vinyl is a significant upgrade over traditional types of flooring, most studies have show that vinyl is less effective than rubber for static mitigation in environments where street shoes are typically worn.

Here is a link to an article published by an Emergency 9-1-1 journal about flooring for 911 call centers. This may prove helpful since 911 application criteria for flooring are almost identical to those for data centers.

http://www.Staticworx™.com/assets/pdf/curing_static_article.pdf