Country: New Zealand
Key Area: Other Infrastructure
Services: Mechanical & Electrical Engineering

Telecom’s New Generation Network (NGN) required the installation of a new telephone system at their exchanges. This severely stretched the existing power and cooling infrastructure capacity at these facilities. However, providing increased DC power capacity precluded a conventional telecommunications solution based on a 50 Volt DC system, as it would have been too difficult and expensive to install into existing exchanges. In addition the system’s weight could have been problematic on the upper floors of the multi-storey buildings due to structural load constraints and seismic limitations. Also the long distance between the core power infrastructure and the new NGN equipment that it supplies represented technical and financial challenges to accommodate the substantial 50 Volt copper busbars within the congested exchange.

Opus addressed these constraints with an innovative system that operates at 220 Volt DC, with modular 220 Volt rectifiers and battery allowing power distribution through the building with conventional mains power rated cables and distribution hardware, with connection as needed via 50 Volt rectifi ers.

The new system offers substantial cost advantages over the conventional 50 Volt solution and provides superior performance during power outages. The solution addresses problems of power distribution in multi-storey buildings and was received with acclaim when presented to the international engineering community.