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Particulate contamination

Attention: Airborne particulates (including metal flakes or particles) and reactive gases acting alone or in combination with other environmental factors such as humidity or temperature might pose a risk to the device that is described in this document.

Risks that are posed by the presence of excessive particulate levels or concentrations of harmful gases include damage that might cause the device to malfunction or cease functioning altogether. This specification sets forth limits for particulates and gases that are intended to avoid such damage. The limits must not be viewed or used as definitive limits, because numerous factors, such as temperature or moisture in the air, can influence the effect of particulates or environmental corrosives and gaseous contaminant transfer. In the absence of specific limits that are set forth in this document, you must implement practices that maintain particulate and gas levels that are consistent with the protection of human health and safety. If Lenovo determines that the levels of particulates or gases in your environment have caused damage to the device, Lenovo may condition provision of repair or replacement of devices or parts on implementation of appropriate remedial measures to mitigate such environmental contamination. Implementation of such remedial measures is a customer responsibility.

Table 1. Limits for particulates and gases.

Limits for particulates and gases

ContaminantLimits
Reactive gases
Severity level G1 as per ANSI/ISA 71.04-19851:

  • The copper reactivity level shall be less than 200 Angstroms per month (Å/month ≈ 0.0035 μg/cm2-hour weight gain).2

  • The silver reactivity level shall be less than 200 Angstroms per month (Å/month ≈ 0.0035 μg/cm2-hour weight gain).3

  • The reactive monitoring of gaseous corrosivity must be conducted approximately 5 cm (2 in.) in front of the rack on the air inlet side at one-quarter and three-quarter frame height off the floor or where the air velocity is much higher.

Airborne particulates

Data centers must meet the cleanliness level of ISO 14644-1 class 8.

For data centers without airside economizer, the ISO 14644-1 class 8 cleanliness might be met by choosing one of the following filtration methods:

  • The room air might be continuously filtered with MERV 8 filters.

  • Air entering a data center might be filtered with MERV 11 or preferably MERV 13 filters.

For data centers with airside economizers, the choice of filters to achieve ISO class 8 cleanliness depends on the specific conditions present at that data center.

  • The deliquescent relative humidity of the particulate contamination should be more than 60% RH.4

  • Data centers must be free of zinc whiskers.5

  • 1 ANSI/ISA-71.04-1985. Environmental conditions for process measurement and control systems: Airborne contaminants. Instrument Society of America, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, U.S.A.
  • 2 The derivation of the equivalence between the rate of copper corrosion growth in the thickness of the corrosion product in Å/month and the rate of weight gain assumes that Cu2S and Cu2O grow in equal proportions.
  • 3 The derivation of the equivalence between the rate of silver corrosion growth in the thickness of the corrosion product in Å/month and the rate of weight gain assumes that Ag2S is the only corrosion product.
  • 4 The deliquescent relative humidity of particulate contamination is the relative humidity at which the dust absorbs enough water to become wet and promote ionic conduction.
  • 5 Surface debris is randomly collected from 10 areas of the data center on a 1.5 cm diameter disk of sticky electrically conductive tape on a metal stub. If examination of the sticky tape in a scanning electron microscope reveals no zinc whiskers, the data center is considered free of zinc whiskers.