Data Center Cable Tray Support Rack Solution

Using modular materials and a strategic delivery schedule, Unistrut Midwest helped two electrical contractors meet their demanding data center cable tray support rack timeline. 

• Our team leveraged both Sikla siFramo and strut to optimize the budget 
• Our industry and prefabrication knowledge helped determine a strategy that accommodated the accelerated schedule

Overview

Electrical contractors working on a West Texas data center project reached out to a NEFCO representative with a problem: they knew that the proposed timeline for their cable tray support racks was too aggressive for a stick-built solution. The NEFCO representative recognized this as an opportunity to use Sikla siFramo and put the contractors in touch with the Unistrut Midwest team. 

Approach

The Unistrut Midwest team designed, engineered, supplied, and prefabricated the modular cable tray support racks while NEFCO assisted with hardware such as beam clamps. While the racks themselves were fairly straightforward, the proposed schedule for installation was the true challenge of this project. Our team's prefabrication expertise allowed us to strategize with the contractors to make the most of every team's time. 

The Unistrut Midwest team fully prefabricated the most urgent racks and delivered them to the worksite, ready to install. We sent cut-to-size and kitted materials directly to the site for installation while also sending raw materials to the contractors’ fabrication shops so they could assemble the remaining racks offsite. This schedule required coordination between Unistrut Midwest and the two contractor teams, but resulted in an installation timeline that would have otherwise been impossible.

Solution

This data center solution required three different cable tray support rack designs:  

• A 38-foot-long rack supporting ten cable trays per rack  
• A rack that was cantilevered off of an I-beam on one side and supported by strut stanchions on the other  
• A collection of smaller racks supporting cable over the electrical houses 

Each of these racks was designed with a combination of Sikla and Unistrut. While even a large amount of cable and conduit is light work for Sikla, the frames were designed with Sikla to provide zero-deflection lift points for the prefabricated solutions. Unistrut, a lower-weight and lower-cost material, was then added to support the actual utilities.   

The electrical contractors relied on our team to provide not only a dependable solution but also the expertise to strategize the delivery and installation process in order to adapt to the demanding timeline.   

Do you have an accelerated timeline that could benefit from a modular solution and prefabrication? Get in touch with our team to see how we can help. 

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