Comparative study of three high voltage DC datacenter architecture designs

Driven by the exponential growth of artificial intelligence, highly efficient, reliable, and scalable datacenters are needed for potentials in energy savings and emission reductions. High voltage DC (HVDC) datacenters offer much improved efficiency, reliability, and power density, compared to other solutions, including AC and low voltage DC (LVDC) datacenters. This paper presents a comparative study on three different HVDC datacenter designs. A 1kV HVDC datacenter infrastructure is proposed with multiple DC voltage levels for high power transfer capacity, high efficiency, scalability, and smooth transition from available low voltage DC datacenter technologies. Based on existing LVDC datacenter technologies, three different HVDC architecture designs are proposed based on DCUPS (Direct Current Uninterruptible Power Supply), Panama Power Supply, and centralized Solid State Transformer (SST), respectively. From time-domain simulation results under dynamic loading conditions, the power quality and energy efficiency of the three proposed designs are evaluated and assessed. The performance of the proposed designs is compared and potential technical improvements are indicated.