Data Center Facility Construction Standards and Classification Guidelines

The data‑center facility construction specification defines the requirements for building data‑center rooms, covering classification and performance criteria, site selection, equipment arrangement, environmental conditions, building structure, air conditioning, electrical systems, electromagnetic shielding, cabling, monitoring, safety, water supply, drainage, and fire protection.

1. Terminology and Definitions

Data center: a building or part of a building that houses the data‑center room and its support areas. Headquarters‑level data center room: a centrally planned room for enterprise‑wide information systems and disaster‑recovery systems. Regional data center room: a room serving a regional network and distributed information systems. Local (enterprise) data center room: a room built by an individual unit for its internal systems. Class A/B/C data center rooms: classifications based on fault‑tolerance and redundancy requirements, ranging from full fault‑tolerance (Class A) to basic operational continuity (Class C).

2. Data Center Classification

Rooms are divided into three grades (A, B, C) according to the impact of system downtime on economic loss and public order. Grade A is required for critical systems where interruption would cause major loss to China Petroleum; Grade B for less critical but still important systems; Grade C for all other rooms.

3. Site Selection and Equipment Layout

Site selection must avoid flood, fire, strong vibration, noise, dust, corrosive or explosive materials, and strong electromagnetic interference; prefer stable power, sufficient water, convenient transport, and clean environment; avoid underground floors in high‑rise buildings.

The room layout must satisfy temperature (23±2 °C summer, 20±2 °C winter), humidity (50 %), air cleanliness, power quality, grounding, electromagnetic field, and vibration requirements, as well as lighting, air freshness, and noise standards for personnel.

4. Subsystems

Lighting: Main hall 400 lx, power rooms ≥300 lx, emergency signage >1 lx, emergency backup lighting ≥30 lx.

Grounding: Dedicated DC logic ground with resistance <1 Ω; AC work and safety ground using building’s comprehensive grounding <4 Ω.

Lightning Protection: Equip lightning arresters with multi‑stage protection, ensure equipotential bonding, and protect power and signal lines (Ethernet, DDN, fiber, telephone) from direct and induced surges.

Air‑Conditioning: Modular precision AC with under‑floor supply and overhead return to maintain constant temperature and humidity.

Monitoring: 24/7 video surveillance in public areas, entry points, rack aisles, core rooms, and control centers, with continuous on‑site patrols.

Cabling: Structured cabling system supporting voice, data, and multiple network protocols, designed for scalability, fault tolerance, and future technology upgrades.

Source: Data Center Operations Management.