Communication Room Maintenance

📅Oct 10, 2012

Brief：With the development of communication technology in China, communication equipment has become relatively affordable. Many enterprises utilize optical communication equipment to improve their work efficiency, while some large enterprises have established their own communication rooms with dedicated personnel for maintenance and management. The status and role of communication rooms are becoming increasingly important. Reasonable and effective utilization of communication rooms is of great significance for equipment operation and maintenance, rapid handling of equipment faults, cost reduction, and improving the core competitiveness of enterprises. Based on relevant communication room standards and experience, rational layout of equipment, cabling, lighting, and other positions and routes can achieve energy conservation and consumption reduction, ensure the safety and reliability of the room and equipment, and facilitate later maintenance for environmental protection purposes. Below, "Guangzhou Yinxun," a professional communication equipment manufacturer, briefly describes the maintenance and management of communication rooms. Requirements for the Communication Room Environment 1. Air Environment Management and Maintenance of the Room The management and maintenance of the room mainly include electrical environment, temperature and humidity, dust prevention, fire prevention, and rodent prevention. (1) Electrical Environment Requirements The requirements for the electrical environment mainly refer to anti-static requirements and electromagnetic interference protection. Anti-static requirements arise because the internal circuits of communication equipment use a large number of semiconductor devices such as MOS and CMOS. Since these devices are sensitive to static electricity in the range of 25 to 1000V, and static voltage generated can often reach thousands or even tens of thousands of volts, sufficient to break down various types of semiconductor devices, the room should be equipped with anti-static raised floors, the floor supports should be grounded, the walls should also be treated with anti-static measures, and chemical fiber carpets should not be laid in the room. Staff entering the room should wear anti-static clothing and anti-static shoes, and avoid wearing chemical fiber clothing. Cabinet doors should normally be kept closed. Staff should move equipment and handle spare parts gently and minimize unnecessary movement within the room to avoid static electricity generated by friction between objects. For equipment that operates for long periods without frequent cleaning, it is necessary to perform a dedicated cleaning. In long-term maintenance work, circuit board alarms are sometimes encountered. If the circuit board is re-inserted and dust around the board's connector pins is cleaned, the circuit board often returns to normal. Electromagnetic interference can damage both the hardware and software of communication equipment, and the electromagnetic radiation generated by the communication equipment itself can also affect nearby electronic devices. Therefore, when installing equipment, a certain distance should be maintained from adjacent electrical equipment. When necessary, shielding measures should be adopted in the room to prevent mutual interference between nearby electronic devices. External cabling of communication equipment should preferably cross power lines at right angles and avoid long-distance parallel routing. (2) Temperature and Humidity Requirements Telecommunication equipment, especially switches and similar devices, has high requirements for room temperature. If the temperature is too high, heat dissipation may be hindered, causing drift in transistor operating parameters, affecting circuit stability and reliability, and in severe cases, causing component breakdown and damage. During long-term operation, the machine temperature should preferably be controlled between 18°C and 25°C. Heating should not be installed in the communication room, and heating pipes should be avoided passing through the room as much as possible. Humidity also significantly affects communication equipment. Excessive air humidity can cause corrosion of metal components and connector parts, reduce insulation of circuit boards, connectors, and wiring, and in severe cases, cause short circuits. Air that is too dry can easily cause static effects, threatening the safety of communication equipment. To maintain the relative humidity of the communication room within standard levels, humidifiers or dehumidifiers can be configured based on the specific conditions of the room. Humidifiers should not be placed too close to communication equipment, and the spray nozzle should not face the equipment directly to prevent the mist from affecting the equipment. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers can be adjusted at any time based on the readings of the room's hygrometer. Generally, the relative humidity in the room should preferably be maintained within the range of 40% to 60%. (3) Dust Prevention Requirements If dust accumulates on electronic components, metal connectors, and other parts, it can cause reduced insulation and poor contact, and in severe cases, short circuits. A large number of suspended particles exist in the air, among which countless pollutants can harm communication equipment. Once pollutants enter the room, they adsorb onto circuit boards, forming charged dust that may or may not be visible to the naked eye. Over time, as more dust accumulates on circuit boards, it will affect the normal operation of the equipment in various ways and to varying degrees. The main fault phenomena caused by pollutants to communication equipment include: changes in component design function values; changes in signal transmission frequency; unstable input/output values; unstable system operation; system alarms that may or may not recover upon restart; and circuit board faults that cannot be repaired after testing and require board replacement. The above fault phenomena occur from time to time. If maintenance personnel do not resolve them promptly, equipment maintenance effectively becomes reactive maintenance. 2. Security Assurance The communication room should have professional security personnel on duty 24/7. Users entering the room must register or hold a pass card. To ensure the safety of users' colocated equipment, the communication room should be equipped with CCTV surveillance and an access control system, ensuring no surveillance blind spots on the entire floor; the video wall surveillance system should be monitored by dedicated personnel 24/7, with all recordings retained for more than 3 months; the access control system at the room entrance should adopt advanced database management, with user ID cards storing cardholder numbers, restricted access areas, and time restrictions. Only specially authorized personnel can enter critical areas. 3. Fire Protection Assurance The communication room should adopt fire-resistant structures and materials, with fire protection capabilities meeting carrier-grade standards and multiple emergency exits; temperature and smoke sensors and fire alarm detectors should be installed in the room and corridors, automatically triggering alarms in case of fire and activating the inert gas fire suppression system. Additionally, portable and wheeled fire extinguishers can be provided in the room. 4. Supporting Power Supply Assurance With the intelligence and high integration of power equipment, in integrated solution designs, various power devices should have good electromagnetic compatibility and electrical isolation performance, without affecting the normal operation of other equipment. The integrated power supply solution should ensure uninterrupted power supply to main equipment through coordinated design, while also ensuring good compatibility and universality in data communication between power devices. Various data protocols should be well compatible to form a complete power monitoring network system, effectively implementing interactive and correlated control. This undoubtedly poses a challenge to manufacturers capable of providing multi-product services.

Requirements for the Communication Room Environment

Air Environment Management and Maintenance of the Room
The management and maintenance of the room mainly include electrical environment, temperature and humidity, dust prevention, fire prevention, and rodent prevention.
(1) Electrical Environment Requirements
The requirements for the electrical environment mainly refer to anti-static requirements and electromagnetic interference protection. Anti-static requirements arise because the internal circuits of communication equipment use a large number of semiconductor devices such as MOS and CMOS. Since these devices are sensitive to static electricity in the range of 25 to 1000V, and static voltage generated can often reach thousands or even tens of thousands of volts, sufficient to break down various types of semiconductor devices, the room should be equipped with anti-static raised floors, the floor supports should be grounded, the walls should also be treated with anti-static measures, and chemical fiber carpets should not be laid in the room. Staff entering the room should wear anti-static clothing and anti-static shoes, and avoid wearing chemical fiber clothing. Cabinet doors should normally be kept closed. Staff should move equipment and handle spare parts gently and minimize unnecessary movement within the room to avoid static electricity generated by friction between objects.
For equipment that operates for long periods without frequent cleaning, it is necessary to perform a dedicated cleaning. In long-term maintenance work, circuit board alarms are sometimes encountered. If the circuit board is re-inserted and dust around the board's connector pins is cleaned, the circuit board often returns to normal.
Electromagnetic interference can damage both the hardware and software of communication equipment, and the electromagnetic radiation generated by the communication equipment itself can also affect nearby electronic devices. Therefore, when installing equipment, a certain distance should be maintained from adjacent electrical equipment. When necessary, shielding measures should be adopted in the room to prevent mutual interference between nearby electronic devices. External cabling of communication equipment should preferably cross power lines at right angles and avoid long-distance parallel routing.
(2) Temperature and Humidity Requirements
Telecommunication equipment, especially switches and similar devices, has high requirements for room temperature. If the temperature is too high, heat dissipation may be hindered, causing drift in transistor operating parameters, affecting circuit stability and reliability, and in severe cases, causing component breakdown and damage. During long-term operation, the machine temperature should preferably be controlled between 18°C and 25°C. Heating should not be installed in the communication room, and heating pipes should be avoided passing through the room as much as possible.
Humidity also significantly affects communication equipment. Excessive air humidity can cause corrosion of metal components and connector parts, reduce insulation of circuit boards, connectors, and wiring, and in severe cases, cause short circuits. Air that is too dry can easily cause static effects, threatening the safety of communication equipment. To maintain the relative humidity of the communication room within standard levels, humidifiers or dehumidifiers can be configured based on the specific conditions of the room. Humidifiers should not be placed too close to communication equipment, and the spray nozzle should not face the equipment directly to prevent the mist from affecting the equipment. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers can be adjusted at any time based on the readings of the room's hygrometer. Generally, the relative humidity in the room should preferably be maintained within the range of 40% to 60%.
(3) Dust Prevention Requirements
If dust accumulates on electronic components, metal connectors, and other parts, it can cause reduced insulation and poor contact, and in severe cases, short circuits. A large number of suspended particles exist in the air, among which countless pollutants can harm communication equipment. Once pollutants enter the room, they adsorb onto circuit boards, forming charged dust that may or may not be visible to the naked eye. Over time, as more dust accumulates on circuit boards, it will affect the normal operation of the equipment in various ways and to varying degrees.
The main fault phenomena caused by pollutants to communication equipment include: changes in component design function values; changes in signal transmission frequency; unstable input/output values; unstable system operation; system alarms that may or may not recover upon restart; and circuit board faults that cannot be repaired after testing and require board replacement.
The above fault phenomena occur from time to time. If maintenance personnel do not resolve them promptly, equipment maintenance effectively becomes reactive maintenance.
Security Assurance
The communication room should have professional security personnel on duty 24/7. Users entering the room must register or hold a pass card. To ensure the safety of users' colocated equipment, the communication room should be equipped with CCTV surveillance and an access control system, ensuring no surveillance blind spots on the entire floor; the video wall surveillance system should be monitored by dedicated personnel 24/7, with all recordings retained for more than 3 months; the access control system at the room entrance should adopt advanced database management, with user ID cards storing cardholder numbers, restricted access areas, and time restrictions. Only specially authorized personnel can enter critical areas.
Fire Protection Assurance
The communication room should adopt fire-resistant structures and materials, with fire protection capabilities meeting carrier-grade standards and multiple emergency exits; temperature and smoke sensors and fire alarm detectors should be installed in the room and corridors, automatically triggering alarms in case of fire and activating the inert gas fire suppression system. Additionally, portable and wheeled fire extinguishers can be provided in the room.
Supporting Power Supply Assurance
With the intelligence and high integration of power equipment, in integrated solution designs, various power devices should have good electromagnetic compatibility and electrical isolation performance, without affecting the normal operation of other equipment. The integrated power supply solution should ensure uninterrupted power supply to main equipment through coordinated design, while also ensuring good compatibility and universality in data communication between power devices. Various data protocols should be well compatible to form a complete power monitoring network system, effectively implementing interactive and correlated control. This undoubtedly poses a challenge to manufacturers capable of providing multi-product services.

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