Patent Application
20240230194
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310019899.0, titled “DATA COMPUTER ROOM AIR CONDITIONER AND CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF” and filed to the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Jan. 6, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of air conditioning in a data center, and more particularly, to a data computer room air conditioner and a control apparatus and method thereof.
With the development of scale and integration of data centers, power density and heat density of server devices are increasing day by day, which brings two problems as below. In one aspect, consumption of electricity in computer rooms has increased significantly. In another aspect, cooling issues of servers have become increasingly severe because a large amount of energy is consumed. Furthermore, due to unreasonable cooling regulation, device shutdown may occur due to overheating.
Traditional computer rooms adopt mechanical refrigeration, which accounts for over 35% of energy consumption of the computer rooms. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption of air conditioners in the computer rooms and improving refrigeration effects of the air conditioners in the computer rooms have been a key direction of technological pursuit for a long time.
Existing air conditioning units may directly send cold gas into the computer rooms after refrigeration, which may easily lead to uneven temperature of cold air entering the computer rooms, causing larger local temperature differences.
Objectives of the present disclosure are to provide a data computer room air conditioner and a control apparatus and method thereof, which can achieve uniform and consistent temperature of cold air in a computer room, and reduce energy consumption of the data computer room air conditioner.
To achieve the above objectives, in one aspect the present disclosure provides a data computer room air conditioner and a control apparatus thereof, at least including an indoor unit, an outdoor unit, and a control apparatus. The indoor unit includes an evaporator and a gas mixer, and the outdoor unit includes a compressor and an air-cooled condenser. The control apparatus can switch an operating mode of the data computer room air conditioner. The operating mode at least includes a compression refrigeration mode. When the data computer room air conditioner is in the compression refrigeration mode, the compressor, the air-cooled condenser, the evaporator, and the gas mixer are sequentially connected to form a refrigeration cycle.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, a water-cooled condenser, a reservoir and a refrigerant pump are also included. An inlet of the water-cooled condenser is connected to an outlet of the air-cooled condenser and an outlet of the evaporator, respectively, and an outlet of the refrigerant pump is connected to an inlet of the evaporator. Cooling water inlet and outlet of the water-cooled condenser are both connected to a cooling tower. Pipelines connecting the evaporator to the compressor and the water-cooled condenser and a pipeline connecting the water-cooled condenser to the air-cooled condenser are provided with a valve, respectively.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the operating mode also includes a fluorine pump refrigeration mode. When the data computer room air conditioner is in the fluorine pump refrigeration mode, the water-cooled condenser, the reservoir, the refrigerant pump, the evaporator, and the gas mixer are sequentially connected to form a refrigeration cycle.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the operating mode also includes a composite refrigeration mode. When the data computer room air conditioner is in the composite refrigeration mode, the compressor, the air-cooled condenser, the water-cooled condenser, the reservoir, the refrigerant pump, the evaporator, and the gas mixer are sequentially connected to form a refrigeration cycle.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, an electronic expansion valve is provided on a pipeline connecting the air-cooled condenser to the evaporator to regulate a flow rate of a liquid flowing into the evaporator.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the gas mixer includes a shell and a gas inlet and a gas outlet arranged at two ends of the shell, where the shell has a cavity interconnected to both the gas inlet and the gas outlet. The gas inlet includes an air inlet pipe and a cold gas inlet pipe, where the cold gas inlet pipe is interconnected to one of outlets of the evaporator. An outlet end of the air inlet pipe is provided with a nozzle, which can concentrate air and spray the air into the cavity.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the gas mixer also includes a valve body connected to the air inlet pipe.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the control apparatus at least includes a temperature sensor electrically connected to the controller. Number of the temperature sensors is at least two, and the at least two temperature sensors are arranged inside and outside a computer room, respectively.
As a further improvement of the above technical solutions, the control apparatus also includes an electric energy collector arranged on a device of the data computer room to monitor total heat generation of the device.
To achieve the above objectives, in another aspect the present disclosure also provides a control method for the data computer room air conditioner, including following steps:
Step S1: obtaining indoor and outdoor temperature of the computer room by means of the temperature sensor, and setting an indoor temperature demand threshold T1; Step S2: obtaining heat generation of the device in the computer room by means of the electric energy collector, and setting a device heat generation threshold T2; and Step S3: comparing the obtained indoor and outdoor temperature data with the indoor temperature demand threshold T1, comparing the heat generation of the device in the computer room with the set heat generation threshold T2, and switching the operating mode of the air conditioner according to a comparison result.
As can be seen, by providing the gas mixer to mix the cold air with the air in the computer room, mixed air with a uniform target temperature can be obtained and sent to a cooling server device in the computer room, which can achieve precise control of temperature of the air in the data computer room. Energy consumption of air conditioning units can be minimized because demands for uniform cooling of servers in the computer room are satisfied by precise investment of less compressor refrigeration.
Furthermore, in the present disclosure, the operating mode of the data computer room air conditioner is switched by means of the control apparatus, and an appropriate refrigeration mode can be selected according to different needs, such that utilization of the fluorine pump refrigeration mode is maximized for different situations, thereby reducing operating time of the compression refrigeration mode and output power of the compressor. In this way, the energy consumption of the data computer room air conditioner is reduced, service life of the device is extended, and a goal of energy conservation is achieved.
To describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the accompanying drawings required in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure. To those of ordinary skills in the art, other accompanying drawings may also be derived from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
Reference numerals in the figures: compressor 1; air-cooled condenser 2; evaporator 3; gas mixer 4; refrigerant pump 5; reservoir 6; water-cooled condenser 7; electric energy collector 8; temperature sensor 9; and controller 10.
To make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The terms such as “upper”, “above”, “lower” , “below”, “first end”, “second end”, “one end”, “other end” as used herein, which denote spatial relative positions, describe the relationship of one unit or feature relative to another unit or feature in the accompanying drawings for the purpose of illustration. The terms of the spatial relative positions may be intended to include different orientations of a device in use or operation other than the orientations shown in the accompanying drawings. For example, a unit that is described as “below” or “under” other units or features will be “above” the other units or features when the device in the accompanying drawings is turned upside down. Thus, the exemplary term “below” may encompass both the orientations of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated by 90 degrees or facing other directions) and the space-related descriptors used herein are interpreted accordingly.
In addition, terms “installed”, “arranged”, “provided”, “connection”, “sliding connection”, “fixed”, and “sleeved” should be understood in a broad sense. For example, the “connection” may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection or integrated connection, a mechanical connection or an electrical connection, a direct connection or indirect connection by means of an intermediary, or internal communication between two apparatuses, elements, or components. The specific significations of the above terms in the present disclosure may be understood in the light of specific conditions by persons of ordinary skill in the art.
In this embodiment, with reference to
Specifically, when a compression refrigeration mode is in operation, after the indoor evaporator 3 absorbs indoor heat, a refrigerant evaporates into superheated refrigerant vapor. After being compressed by the compressor 1, the refrigerant vapor enters the air-cooled condenser 2 for cooling and condensation, and is condensed into a subcooled refrigerant liquid, which flows back to the evaporator 3. The evaporator 3 evaporates the liquid into a gas and then conveys the gas to the gas mixer 4. Next, the gas flowing out of the gas mixer 4 may directly enter a computer room. In this way, a refrigeration cycle is completed. Cold air conveyed into the computer room is mixed by means of the gas mixer 4 to obtain a mixed air with a uniform target temperature, and then the mixed air is conveyed to a cooling server device in the computer room. In this way, precise control of temperature of the air in the data computer room is achieved.
In practical applications, an electronic expansion valve is arranged on a pipeline connecting the air-cooled condenser 2 to the evaporator 3 to regulate a flow rate and reduce pressure of the liquid entering the evaporator 3.
In an implementable embodiment, the operating mode of the computer room air conditioner also includes a fluorine pump refrigeration system and a composite refrigeration system. With reference to
To ensure switching of the operation mode of the computer room air conditioner, pipelines connecting the evaporator 3 to the compressor 1 and the water-cooled condenser 7 and a pipeline connecting the water-cooled condenser 7 to the air-cooled condenser 2 are provided with a valve, respectively, to regulate a flow direction of the gas and the liquid.
The gas mixer 4 is mainly configured to mix two different gases. The gas mixer 4 includes a shell and a gas inlet and a gas outlet arranged at two ends of the shell, where the shell has a cavity. After entering the cavity through the gas inlet, the two gases are mixed inside the cavity. Specifically, there are provided two gas inlets, i.e. an air inlet pipe and a cold gas inlet pipe, and the cold gas inlet pipe is interconnected to one of outlets of the evaporator 3.
In practical applications, an outlet end of the air inlet pipe is provided with a nozzle, through which air is sprayed out after it is concentrated, to impact areas where there is higher concentration of cold gas in mixed gas. In this way, under the action of airflow movement of the nozzle, the uneven mixed gas in the cavity can generate a relative motion in a direction of a movement section, which improves mixing uniformity of the mixed gas.
Further, the gas mixer 4 also includes a valve body for controlling a flow rate and a flow of the gas inside the air inlet pipe to achieve better mixing uniformity. To more accurately control the flow rate and the flow of the gas at an outlet of the nozzle, the valve body is arranged at an end of the air inlet pipe near the outlet. Of course, a bypass valve may also be arranged at a middle or an inlet of a bypass pipeline.
Still further, the valve body is an electric butterfly valve, which is automatically controlled by a controller. The electric butterfly valve is easy to turn on or off quickly, labor-saving, has lower fluid resistance, and can be operated frequently. The valve body may also be a gate valve, a ball valve, or the like, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
In an implementable embodiment, an electric energy collector 8 is installed on various devices in the data computer room to monitor total heat generated by the devices at every moment in real time. A plurality of temperature sensors 9 and a plurality of humidity sensors are arranged inside and outside the data computer room, respectively, to ensure real-time monitoring of temperature and humidity inside and outside the data computer room. The valve, the electronic expansion valve, the electric energy collector 8, the temperature sensor 9, and the humidity sensor are all connected to the controller 10 and together form the control apparatus. Therefore, based on monitoring data, the operating mode of the computer room air conditioner can be switched to reduce the energy consumption and extend the service life of the computer room air conditioner.
The present disclosure also provides a control method for a data computer room air conditioner, where the data computer room air conditioner includes a compression refrigeration operation mode, a fluorine pump refrigeration operation mode, and a composite refrigeration operation mode. Specifically, the control method includes following steps:
Step S1: obtaining indoor and outdoor temperature of a computer room by means of a temperature sensor, and setting an indoor temperature demand threshold T1;
Step S2: obtaining heat generation of a device in the computer room by means of an electric energy collector, and setting a device heat generation threshold T2; and
Step S3: comparing the obtained indoor and outdoor temperature data with the indoor temperature demand threshold T1, comparing the heat generation of the device in the computer room with the set heat generation threshold T2, and switching the operating mode of the air conditioner according to a comparison result.
When the outdoor temperature does not satisfy the indoor temperature demand threshold T1, that is, when the outdoor temperature is higher than the indoor temperature and the heat generation of the devices (number of the devices ≥70%) in the computer room exceeds the set threshold T2, the data computer room air conditioner is controlled to operate in the compression refrigeration mode according to a control command issued by the controller 10.
Specifically, with reference to
When the outdoor temperature is slightly higher than the indoor temperature demand threshold T1, that is, when the outdoor temperature is lower than the indoor temperature and the heat generation of some devices (40%≤number of the devices≤70%) in the computer room exceeds the set threshold T2, the data computer room air conditioner is controlled to operate in the composite refrigeration mode according to the control command issued by the controller 10.
Specifically, with reference to
When the outdoor temperature satisfies the indoor temperature demand threshold T1, that is, when the outdoor temperature is lower and the heat generation of some devices (number of the devices is ≤40%) in the computer room exceeds the set threshold T2, the data computer room air conditioner is controlled to operate in the fluorine pump refrigeration operation mode according to the control command issued by the controller 10.
Specifically, with reference to
Those skilled in the art easily understand that the above advantageous embodiments may be freely combined and superimposed on a non-conflict basis.
From the comparison of the above three different energy conservation measures, it can be clearly concluded that the present disclosure implements active control of air conditioning according to the principle of thermal energy temperature balance, which accurately ensures the temperature required for the internal environment of the computer room. The active control increases efficient energy conservation by 45% to 55% than the existing passive control, thus effectively achieving the goal of efficient energy conservation.
In this embodiment, a temperature threshold T3 of the refrigerant may also be set according to actual operating environment of the data computer room air conditioner, to control the temperature of the refrigerant. When the refrigerant circulates within the temperature threshold T3, heat transfer of the evaporator 3 can be more sufficient, thereby improving heat transfer efficiency of the evaporator 3.
Further, deviation of the temperature threshold T3 may be set, including: actual temperature falling within the temperature threshold range, the actual temperature being greater than an upper limit of the temperature threshold range, and the actual temperature being less than a lower limit of the temperature threshold range.
The embodiments set forth above are only illustrated as preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. All modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202310019899.0 | Jan 2023 | CN | national |
