Open Compute Project (OCP) - Power connectors for ORV3 rack systems

The global demand for digitalisation infrastructure is growing rapidly. Businesses and consumers have increased their reliance on remote computing, apps, and the Internet of Things (IoT) at a remarkable speed. As a result, society has become much more dependent on tasks that require data centres, which form the backbone of everyday operations in all industries. It’s therefore essential that IT infrastructure for data centres is readily available, and any system failures are repaired quickly.

The Open Compute Project (OCP) focuses on the redesign of hardware technologies for IT infrastructure. The goal of the working group is to make data centres more efficient, more flexible and more quickly scalable.

The base is an open exchange of ideas, specifications and other intellectual property to maximise innovation and reduce the complexity of technical components.

OCP provides their recommended data center designs free of charge, called the Open Rack. The third version of the Open Rack (ORV3) began worldwide installation at the beginning of 2023.

In a data centre, power shelves provide power to IT equipment. The Rack & Power Project Group within the OCP initiative is focused on standardizing racks and making them easier to integrate into the data centre infrastructure. One critical step is a common specification for “power shelf″ input connectors. As a lead author and initial connector partner in the standardisation process, HARTING has put a lot of time and expertise into the specification of the "ORV3 OCP Input Power Connector".

With the Han® ORV3, HARTING for the first time offers an OCP-compliant AC connector, which is also available as complete power shelf v3 rack assemblies. Shallower rack systems enable a more compact design for the entire infrastructure.

As a result, data centres can significantly increase their productivity within a given footprint. HARTING’s solution thus supports the Open Compute Project’s goal of optimising efficiency in the construction and scaling of data centres.

The Han^® ORV3 for rack systems strikes a balance between standardisation requirements and the goal of achieving as much flexibility as possible in the configuration of cable assemblies for different current and voltage levels.

The Han^® ORV3 component avoids complexity, as it consists of only a few part numbers. This enables high availability and, in cases of rack unit failures, low average repair times, thanks to the open ORV3 standard. Total cost of ownership is sustainably reduced.