Controlled cooling of a data center

Abstract: A device for sensing at least one environmental condition in a data center. The device includes a chassis, a propelling mechanism, a power supply, a steering mechanism, and a controller supported on the chassis. The chassis also supports at least one environmental condition sensor and is operable to travel through the data center and sense at least one environmental condition at various locations throughout the data center. (end of abstract)

Agent: Hewlett-packard Company Intellectual Property Administration - Fort Collins, CO, US
Inventors: Chandrakant D. Patel, Ratnesh K. Sharma, Cullen E. Bash, Abdlmonem H. Beitelmal
USPTO Applicaton #: #20070062685 - Class: 165247000 (USPTO)
Related Patent Categories: Heat Exchange, With Timer, Programmer, Time Delay, Or Condition Responsive Control, Having Heating And Cooling Capability, Means To Control Fan Or Pump To Regulate Supply Air Flow Or Supply Water Flow, Responsive To Temperature

Controlled cooling of a data center description/claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070062685, Controlled cooling of a data center.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims

CROSS-REFERENCE

[0001] The present invention is related to pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/970,707, filed Oct. 5, 2001, and entitled "SMART COOLING OF DATA CENTERS", by Patel et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates generally to cooling systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to a system for delivering controlled cooling in a data center.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] A data center may be defined as a location, e.g., room, that houses computer systems arranged in a number of racks. A standard rack may be defined as an Electronics Industry Association (EIA) enclosure, 78 in. (2 meters) wide, 24 in. (0.61 meter) wide and 30 in. (0.76 meter) deep. Standard racks may be configured to house a number of computer systems, e.g., about forty (40) systems, with future configurations of racks being designed to accommodate up to eighty (80) systems. The computer systems typically include a number of components, e.g., one or more of a PCB, mass storage devices, power supplies, processors, micro-controllers, semi-conductor devices, and the like, that may dissipate relatively significant amounts of heat during the operation of the respective components. For example, a typical computer system comprising multiple microprocessors may dissipate approximately 250 W of power. Thus, a rack containing forty (40) computer systems of this type may dissipate approximately 10 KW of power.

[0004] The power required to transfer the heat dissipated by the components in the racks to the cool air contained in the data center is generally equal to about 10 percent of the power needed to operate the components. However, the power required to remove the heat dissipated by a plurality of racks in a data center is generally equal to about 50 percent of the power needed to operate the components in the racks. The disparity in the amount of power required to dissipate the various heat loads between racks and data centers stems from, for example, the additional thermodynamic work needed in the data center to cool the air. In one respect, racks are typically cooled with fans that operate to move cooling fluid, e.g., air, refrigerant, etc., across the heat dissipating components; whereas, data centers often implement reverse power cycles to cool heated return air. The additional work required to achieve the temperature reduction, in addition to the work associated with moving the cooling fluid in the data center and the condenser, often add up to the 50 percent power requirement. As such, the cooling of data centers presents problems in addition to those faced with the cooling of the racks.

[0005] Conventional data centers are typically cooled by operation of one or more air conditioning units. The compressors of the air conditioning units typically require a minimum of about thirty (30) percent of the required operating energy to sufficiently cool the data centers. The other components, e.g., condensers, air movers (fans), etc., typically require an additional twenty (20) percent of the required cooling capacity. As an example, a high density data center with 100 racks, each rack having a maximum power dissipation of 10 KW, generally requires 1 MW of cooling capacity. Air conditioning units with a capacity of 1 MW of heat removal generally requires a minimum of 300 KW input compressor power in addition to the power needed to drive the air moving devices, e.g., fans, blowers, etc. Conventional data center air conditioning units do not vary their cooling fluid output based on the distributed needs of the data center. Instead, these air conditioning units generally operate at or near a maximum compressor power even when the heat load is reduced inside the data center.

[0006] The substantially continuous operation of the air conditioning units is generally designed to operate according to a worst-case scenario. That is, cooling fluid is supplied to the components at around 100 percent of the estimated cooling requirement. In this respect, conventional cooling systems often attempt to cool components that may not be operating at a level which may cause its temperature to exceed a predetermined temperature range. Consequently, conventional cooling systems often incur greater amounts of operating expenses than may be necessary to sufficiently cool the heat generating components contained in the racks of data centers.

[0007] Another problem associated with the cooling of data centers involves the expense and difficulty in measuring the environmental conditions, e.g., temperature, humidity, air flow, etc., within and around the racks. Although it has been found that the use of temperature sensors, e.g., thermocouples, located at various locations throughout the data center has been a relatively accurate manner of detecting temperatures, this practice has also been found to be relatively restrictive due to the difficulty and costs associated with this implementation. By way of example, the number of sensors required to detect the environmental conditions throughout the data center may require that a substantially inordinate number of sensors be implemented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] According to one embodiment, the present invention pertains to a device having means for propelling, means for navigating, means for controlling the propelling means and the navigating means to move said device to sense at least one environmental condition, and means for transmitting the at least one environmental condition sensed by the sensing means.

[0009] According to another embodiment, the invention relates to a device for sensing at least one environmental condition in a data center. The device includes a chassis, a propelling mechanism, a power supply, a steering mechanism, and a controller supported on the chassis. The chassis also supports at least one environmental condition sensor and is operable to travel through the data center and sense at least one environmental condition at various locations throughout the data center.

[0010] According to yet another embodiment, the present invention pertains to a system for cooling components in a data center. The system includes an environmental condition sensing device configured to travel through the data center. The system also includes a cooling device for supplying cooling fluid to the components. The cooling device includes a variable output fan, a plenum having an inlet and a plurality of outlets. The inlet of the plenum is in fluid communication with the fan and the plurality of outlets are in fluid communication with a plurality of vents for delivering the cooling fluid to the components. The vents are operable to vary a characteristic of the cooling fluid delivered through each of the vents in response to environmental data transmitted from the environmental condition sensing device.

[0011] According to yet another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for operating a device to detect at least one environmental condition in a data center. In the method, a route is plotted for the device and the device is maneuvered along the route. In addition, at least one environmental condition is detected in the data center by the device.

[0012] According to a further embodiment, the invention pertains to a method of cooling a plurality of components in a data center. In the method, a cooling system is activated and a plurality of vents are opened. Each of the plurality of vents is configured to supply cooling fluid to at least one of the plurality of components. The temperatures in areas around the plurality of components are sensed and temperatures from a movable device configured to detect at least one environmental condition at various locations of the data center are received. In addition, it is determined whether at least one of the sensed temperatures and the received temperatures are within a predetermined temperature range. Moreover, at least one of the supply of the cooling fluid to the components and the temperature of the cooling fluid is controlled in response to at least one of the sensed and received temperatures being outside of the predetermined temperature range.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description with reference to the figures, in which:

[0014] FIG. 1A shows a simplified schematic side plan view of a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0015] FIG. 1B is a simplified schematic side plan view of an exemplary device and a sectional view of a data center according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0016] FIG. 1C is a simplified top plan view of a data center having a plurality of racks in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

[0017] FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram for a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a simplified schematic illustration of a data center containing a cooling system according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0019] FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary block diagram for a cooling system according to an embodiment of the invention;

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
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