This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-205327 filed on Sep. 4, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The embodiments discussed herein are directed to a data center, a cooling system, and a method of cooling an information technology device.
In a data center where a rack device which mounts information technology (IT) devices such as a computer, a server, and a router is arranged, an air conditioning machine which takes in warm air and supplies cooling air is traditionally used to perform a cooling of IT devices.
For example as illustrated in
Here, an example of a data center in which the rack device 50 and the air conditioning machine 52 are arranged will be represented.
In recent years, higher functionality and performance of IT devices have caused a significant increase in a product electricity and a CPU electricity per unit area, thereby causing an increase in an amount of heat generation per unit area. Therefore, hazardous circumstances such as a system operation of exceeding a standard temperature of IT devices, an extreme temperature distribution in a data center, and a heat accumulated area are sometimes caused. In response, as a method for avoiding such hazardous circumstances, a method of arranging a local cooling unit on top of the rack device 50 of which heat generation amount is large and locally supplying cooling air and the like are adopted, for example. More detailed information about the conventional method can be obtained in technical documentations: John Niemann, “Hot-aisle. vs. cold-aisle containment”, White Paper #135 of American Power Conversion Corp., 2008; and White Paper LjTC040202TB of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., 2004/02.
However, there have been a problem of having a danger of a water leakage and a problem of a bad cooling efficiency in a data center in the conventional technique described above.
In a case of using a local cooling unit, for example, since a pipe for water and the like is supposed to be arranged near the ceiling at the rack device 50, there is a chance of causing a break with an IT device wet when a water leakage occurs. Besides, for example in a case of additionally providing an IT device of which heat generation amount is large in the rack device 50 housing an IT device of which heat generation amount is not large, the air conditioning machine 52 sometimes operates in conjunction with a temperature of air discharged from the IT device of which heat generation amount is large. In this case, the IT device of which heat generation amount is not large is cooled more than necessary, causing a failure of the IT device contrary to the intention.
Moreover, not cooling air but warm discharged air is taken in an area denoted by a reference character “Z” in
According to an aspect of an embodiment of the invention, a data center includes a housing room that houses an information technology device; an air conditioning machine that cools air in the housing room and supplies the air under a floor of the housing room; a grille that allows the air supplied under the floor to circulate in the housing room; and a rack device that houses the information technology device. In the data center, the rack device is arranged in such a way as to surround the grille, the information technology device is housed in the rack device in such a way as to take in the air from a space surrounded by the rack device via the grille and discharge air to the housing room, and the air conditioning machine is arranged at a side from which the information technology device discharges air.
According to another aspect of an embodiment of the invention, a data center includes a housing room that houses an information technology device; an air conditioning machine that cools air in the housing room and supplies the air under a floor of the housing room; a grille that allows the air supplied under the floor to circulate in the housing room; and a rack device that houses the information technology device. The rack device is arranged in such a way as to surround the air conditioning machine, the information technology device is housed in the rack device in such a way as to take in the air supplied under the floor via the grille and discharge air to an area surrounded by the rack device, and the air conditioning machine is arranged in the area surrounded by the rack device at a side from which the information technology device discharges air.
According to still another aspect of an embodiment of the invention, a data center includes a housing room that houses an information technology device; an air conditioning machine that cools air in the housing room and supplies the air under a floor of the housing room; a grille that allows the air supplied under the floor to circulate in the housing room; and a rack device that houses the information technology device. The rack device is arranged in such a way as to divide the housing room into a first area and a second area, the grille is arranged in the first area, the information technology device is housed in the rack device in such a way as to take in the air via the grille arranged in the first area and discharge air to the second area, and the air conditioning machine is arranged in the second area.
The object and advantages of the embodiment will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the embodiment, as claimed.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
First, a data center to be disclosed as an embodiment will be explained with reference to
As illustrated in
The grille 7 is arranged on a floor of the housing room 2 and has ventilation openings which allow air to circulate from a space under the floor to an inside of the housing room. The rack device 10 is a device which houses therein a plurality of information technology (IT) devices 10a and is arranged in such a way as to surround the grille 7 arranged under the floor of the housing room 2. Air under the floor flows into the housing room 2 via the grille 7, i.e., from a site of the grille 7.
The IT device 10a takes in, by a fan and the like, cooling air which is cool air supplied from the air conditioning machine 11 and cools electronic devices such as a central processing unit (CPU) and a large scale integration (LSI) which are provided inside the IT device 10a. The IT device 10a then discharges air which is warmed due to the cooling of the interior electronic devices from its back surface.
In addition, the IT device 10a has a light emitting diode (LED) which indicates a state of an electronic device housed therein and a state of a system provided by the IT device 10a, and gives an alarm by turning on, for example, a red color LED in case of an abnormality. The IT device 10a is housed in the rack device 10 to take in air from a space surrounded by the rack device 10 via the grille 7 and discharge air into the housing room 2.
The air conditioning machine 11 performs cooling by taking in air including the air discharged from the IT device 10a in the housing room 2 and supplies, after the cooling, cooling air under the floor of the housing room 2. The air conditioning machine 11 is arranged at a side from which the IT device 10a discharges air in the housing room 2.
The entrance door 12 is a door used by a maintenance person who performs maintenance in the data center, such as a maintenance of the IT device 10a housed in the rack device 10, an expansion of the IT device 10a, and an expansion of the rack device 10 itself. The entrance door 12 is arranged alongside the rack device 10.
As described above, the rack device 10 surrounds the grille 7, the housed IT device 10a is arranged in such a way that its air intake side faces the side of the grille 7, and the air conditioning machine 11 is arranged in an area where discharged air of the IT device 10a concentrates. This configuration allows the rack device 10 to insulate a cool air zone 20 where cooling air flowing into the housing room 2 from the space under the floor via the grille 7 concentrates and a discharged air zone 30 where discharged air, which is warmed air after being used for cooling the IT device 10a concentrates.
Consequently, the IT device 10a can cool interior electronic devices by taking in cooling air from the cool air zone 20 in which discharged air cannot be contained easily and the air conditioning machine 11 can take in discharged air from the IT device 10a quickly. As a result, an IT device can be safely cooled without a necessity of using a local cooling unit and a cooling efficiency in the data center can be enhanced. In addition, since the air intake side, i.e., a front surface having the LED of the IT device 10a is located at a side of the cool air zone 20, a maintenance person can look over LEDs of all IT devices by entering the cool air zone 20 from the entrance door 12, which leads to a prompt detection of an alarm.
Next, an air flow in the housing room 2 illustrated in
An IT device can be cooled safely in a housing room in a data center to be disclosed in an embodiment of the invention even with an arrangement different from the first embodiment. Then, another example of the data center disclosed in the embodiment of the invention will be explained in a second embodiment with reference to
As illustrated in
This arrangement allows the rack device 10 to insulate a cool air zone 20 where cooling air flowing into the housing room 2 from the space under the floor via the grille 7 concentrates and a discharged air zone 30 where discharged air, which is warmed air after being used for cooling the IT device 10a concentrates. As a result, an IT device can be safely cooled without a necessity of using a local cooling unit and a cooling efficiency in the data center can be enhanced. In addition, since the discharged air zone according to the second embodiment, compared to the first embodiment, is an area surrounded by the rack device 10 and the air conditioning machine 11 is arranged in the discharged air zone, discharged air is more quickly taken in by the air conditioning machine 11. Therefore, an increase in temperature in the entirety of the data center can be suppressed and a cooling efficiency can be enhanced, compared to the first embodiment.
Next, an air flow in the housing room 2 illustrated in
The rack device can be arranged in the housing room in the data center disclosed in the embodiment of the invention so that an IT device can be cooled more efficiently than the first embodiment. Then, still another example of the data center disclosed in the embodiment of the invention will be explained in a third embodiment with reference to
As illustrated in
However, the rack device 10 includes a high-heat-generating rack device 10b which has a plurality of high-performance IT devices 10a and of which heat generation amount is large, and a low-heat-generating rack device 10c which has a plurality of comparatively-low-performance IT devices 10a and of which heat generation amount is small, which is different from the first embodiment. The high-heat-generating rack device 10b discharges air of higher temperature than the low-heat-generating rack device 10c.
In this case, the high-heat-generating rack device 10b is arranged at a place closer to the air conditioning machine 11 as illustrated in
While the example of arranging the rack device 10 to form a rectangular shape in the first embodiment, the embodiment is not limited thereto. For example, the grille 7 can arranged to form a rhombus shape and the rack device 10 can also be arranged to form a rhombus shape in such a way as to surround the grille 7, as illustrated in
In the housing room in the data center disclosed in the embodiment of the invention, the rack device 10 is not necessarily arranged in such a way as to surround the grille 7. For example, the grille 7 and the rack device 10 can be arranged in such a way as to be parallel to either direction of the wall 5, as illustrated in
Even in this case, the IT device 10a is housed in the rack device 10 so that its air intake side faces the side of the grille 7 and takes in cooling air from the grille 7. Besides, the air conditioning machine 11 is arranged at a side of the air discharge from the IT device 10a, i.e., in the discharged air zone 30, which is an area opposite to the grille 7 with respect to the rack device 10.
This arrangement allows dividing the area into one cool air zone 20 and two discharged air zones 30. Therefore, an IT device can be safely cooled and a cooling efficiency in a data center can be enhanced similarly to the first to fourth embodiments.
Various methods can be adopted for allowing cooling air under the floor to pass easily through the grille 7 in the housing room in the data center disclosed in the embodiments of the invention.
For example, a plate 7a is arranged under the floor where the grille 7 is arranged in such a way as to be perpendicular to a surface of the grille 7 at a side opposite to the rack device 10, as illustrated in
For example, a plate 7b is arranged on the floor where the grille 7 is arranged in such a way as to be perpendicular to a surface of the grille 7 at a side opposite to the rack device 10, as illustrated in
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009-205327 | Sep 2009 | JP | national |