Master of Engineering — Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment · CDU-ENG-EEE-900 · MEng · v1.0.2

Master of Engineering — Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Power budgets, distribution and protection for GPU-dense compute facilities: from the chip TDP to the utility feed, the transformer, the cable, the UPS ride-through, and the solar field that would produce the same energy.

Lineage

University of Natal, 1994 — BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering — supposed to be

Final research project

Power systems for hyperscale datacentres and the GPUs they host

Syllabus

Datacentre power budgeting: IT load, PUE, facility load, annual energy
Transformer sizing: kVA, power factor, growth margin
LV cable sizing: voltage drop and conductor area
UPS autonomy and ride-through
Solar production: STC irradiance, panel efficiency, field area — the SunMinute index

Reference

PUE: Power Usage Effectiveness = facility power ÷ IT power (The Green Grid)
STC: 1000 W/m² irradiance, AM1.5 spectrum, 25 °C cell temperature
SunTime (ST): 1 ST = 1 minute of agentic capacity = 1 Wh = 3.6 kJ. A 6 × 6 cm cell at STC (1000 W/m²) receives 3.6 W and, at 28%, makes one ST an hour; sixty of them (0.214 m²) make one a minute. Priced $1 = R1; a currency is a time zone, the unit never carries one
Copper ρ: 0.0175 Ω·mm²/m at 20 °C
Aluminium ρ: 0.0282 Ω·mm²/m at 20 °C

Units

Datacentre power budget · Transformer sizing · Cable sizing by voltage drop · UPS autonomy · SunMinute index

Role when narrated: You are a chartered power systems engineer explaining a datacentre power calculation to a facility owner. State the assumptions, then the numbers, then what they mean for the decision.

Datacentre power budget · datacentre_power_budget

Example filled in — consult below

How much power and energy does a GPU fleet need at the facility feed, and what solar field would produce it?

Reference: The Green Grid PUE; STC 1000 W/m²

Returns

itLoadKw: IT load at peak (kW)
facilityLoadKw: Facility load at peak (IT × PUE) (kW)
facilityLoadMw: Facility load at peak (MW)
annualEnergyMwh: Annual energy at the stated utilisation (MWh)
solarFieldM2: Solar field area to produce the annual energy (m²)
solarFieldHectares: The same area (ha)
sunMinutesPerYear: Annual energy expressed in SunMinutes (Wh) (Wh)

The example

{
  "gpus": 1024
}

Agents: POST /faculty/meng-eee/datacentre_power_budget with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Transformer sizing · transformer_sizing

Try with the example

What transformer rating feeds a given load with a power factor and growth margin?

Reference: S = P ÷ pf; standard IEC ratings

Returns

requiredKva: Apparent power with margin (kVA)
standardKva: Next standard rating (kVA)
loadingAtStandard: Loading of the standard unit at today’s load, 0–1

The example

{
  "loadKw": 1200
}

Agents: POST /faculty/meng-eee/transformer_sizing with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Cable sizing by voltage drop · cable_voltage_drop

Try with the example

What conductor area keeps the voltage drop within limit over a run, and what is the drop for a given cable?

Reference: ΔV = √3 · I · L · ρ / A (3-phase) or 2 · I · L · ρ / A (single-phase), resistive approximation

Returns

minAreaMm2: Minimum conductor area for the limit (mm²)
standardAreaMm2: Next standard conductor size (mm²)
dropAtStandardV: Voltage drop with the standard size (V)
dropAtStandardPercent: The same drop (%)

The example

{
  "currentA": 250,
  "lengthM": 80
}

Agents: POST /faculty/meng-eee/cable_voltage_drop with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

UPS autonomy · ups_autonomy

Try with the example

How long will a battery string carry a load, and what string gives a required ride-through?

Reference: Autonomy = usable energy ÷ load power, with inverter efficiency and depth of discharge

Returns

autonomyMinutes: Autonomy at the load (min)
meetsRequirement: Autonomy ≥ required ride-through
requiredBatteryKwh: Battery needed for the required ride-through (kWh)

The example

{
  "loadKw": 500,
  "batteryKwh": 400
}

Agents: POST /faculty/meng-eee/ups_autonomy with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

SunMinute index · sunminute_index

Try with the example

How many SunMinutes (Wh) is a quantity of energy, money, or runtime — and what panel area produces it in one minute?

Reference: 1 ST = 1 Wh = 3.6 kJ; a 6 × 6 cm cell at STC receives 3.6 W and at 28% makes one ST an hour, sixty make one a minute; the defining panel A* = 0.06/η m² (1 m² at 6%, 0.286 m² at 21%, 0.214 m² at 28%); 1 ST priced $1 = R1

Returns

sunMinutes: SunMinutes (Wh) (Wh)
panelAreaM2ForOneMinute: Panel area that produces the energy in one minute at STC (m²)
usdAtParity: At the $1 = 1 SunMinute peg (USD)

The example

{
  "runtimeMinutes": 60
}

Agents: POST /faculty/meng-eee/sunminute_index with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

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