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 other factors, such as temperature or
moisture content of the air, can influence the impact 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 2. Limits for particulates and gases
Contaminant Limits
Gaseous Severity level G1 as per ANSI/ISA 71.04-1985
1
, which states that the reactivity rate of copper
coupons shall be less than 300 Angstroms per month (Å/month, ≈ 0.0039 μg/cm
2
-hour weight
gain).
2
In addition, the reactivity rate of silver coupons shall be less than 200Å/month (≈ 0.0035
μg/cm
2
-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.
Particulate
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.
Chapter 1. Introduction 7
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