Patent Application
20070019391
A computer system frequently needs data and/or services from another computer system. For example, a bank customer may request to see his current bank account information on his home computer system, which obtains the requested information from a computer system maintained by and located at the bank. In such arrangements, the computer system requesting the data and/or service is referred to and known as the “client” system, and the computer system servicing the request is referred to and known as the “server” system.
Many entities, for various reasons, situate groups of servers and related electronic equipment in “server rooms” or “data centers.” Within a server room, several servers may be positioned vertically atop one another (with spacing) using a “rack.” Racks of servers (hereinafter generally referred to as “electronic equipment”) are often housed or enclosed in “cabinets” that provide protection from environmental variables such as, for example, light and dust. Cabinets may have front and back doors so as to allow for the servicing and changing of cabinet components. Moreover, cabinets reduce or prevent electromagnetic interference that might otherwise exist between, for example, different servers.
An important issue regarding server rooms involves temperature. As those skilled in the art will note, computer operation results in heat dissipation. In a server room, thousands of processors may be operating at the same time, and thus, without an adequate cooling technique, the servers and related electronic equipment in the server room may be damaged or operate incorrectly as a result of high temperatures.
One cooling technique cools servers and related electronic equipment using air supplied from within the server room.
As servers and related electronic equipment become more powerful, heat dissipation increases. In other words, as servers and related electronic equipment continue to improve in terms of density, computing speed, and performance, more energy is released, thereby resulting in increased heat dissipation. Using only an air cooling technique to cool a server room having such increased heat dissipation requires the consideration of some potentially problematic issues. For example, air cooling such a server room might require an air plenum below the floor of the server room that is significantly wider than one used for a server room not having increased heat dissipation. Further, the mixing of cold air and hot air in the server room might be of more significant concern than in a server room not having increased heat dissipation. Further, the increased volume of air flow that would be required to cool the server room might render the server room uncomfortable for operators and technicians in the server room.
A technique that may be used to somewhat address the concerns associated with using only air cooling to cool high heat dissipation server rooms involves the use of a liquid coolant. Liquid cooling may be used in combination with a front-to-back air cooling technique, such as that described above with reference to
Further, those skilled in the art will note that servicing a component in such front-to-back air cooled electronic equipment may result in a disruption to the air flow within the cabinet, thereby requiring an adequate air cooling technique within the server room so as to keep the other components of the electronic equipment cool while the front and/or back doors of the cabinet are opened for servicing.
According to one aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, a system comprises: electronic equipment; a device arranged to cool air using at least one of water and a refrigerant, where the device is secured to one of a right side and a left side of the electronic equipment; and a housing arranged to enclose the electronic equipment and the device, where the cooled air is propagated from one of the right side and the left side of the electronic equipment to the other one of the right side and the left side of the electronic equipment.
According to another aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, a method of cooling electronic equipment comprises: directing air heated by the electronic equipment to one of a right side and a left side of the electronic equipment; supplying one of water and a refrigerant to a device secured to the electronic equipment; generating cold air by using the device to cool the heated air; and directing the cold air into the other of the right side and the left side of the electronic equipment.
According to another aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, an apparatus comprises: electronic equipment; a heat exchanger secured to one of a right side and a left side of the electronic equipment, where the heat exchanger is arranged to cool air entering the heat exchanger; and a cabinet arranged to house the electronic equipment and the heat exchanger, where cold air generated by the heat exchanger is arranged to flow within the cabinet from one of the right side and the left side of the electronic equipment to the other one of the right side and the left side of the electronic equipment.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a technique for cooling electronic equipment. In one or more embodiments of the present invention, electronic equipment is cooled by air that flows from/to a right side of the electronic equipment to/from a left side of the electronic equipment, where the air is cooled by an air-liquid heat exchanger secured to one of a right side and a left side of the electronic equipment.
A refrigerant used in one or more embodiments of the present invention may be a liquid, a gas, or a gas-liquid (e.g., steam-water) two-phase fluid. For example, a refrigerant may be any one of air, ammonia, water, water vapor, carbon dioxide, or R134a.
As shown in
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, an air plenum may be implemented along an inside of the right and left sides and/or the top or bottom sides of a cabinet. For example,
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, instead of air flow from a left side of electronic equipment to a right side of the electronic equipment as shown in
Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, an air-liquid heat exchanger may be secured to a side of electronic equipment at which cold air enters the electronic equipment (instead of a side of the electronic equipment at which hot air exits as shown in
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a second air-liquid heat exchanger may be used. For example, with reference to
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, lines for water or a refrigerant may be directly connected to a component of electronic equipment housed in a cabinet. For example, a processor of a server component of electronic equipment housed in a cabinet may be connected water/refrigerant in/out lines so as to enable liquid cooling of the processor within the cabinet. Such an arrangement may be used for high heat dissipating elements, e.g., processors.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, air flow through some components in electronic equipment may be from right-to-left, where air flow through other components in the electronic equipment may be from left-to-right. This may be achieved by, for example, creating particular air plenums to force the direction of air in the cabinet.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, air may be re-circulated within a cabinet and through electronic equipment housed in the cabinet without passing air in front or behind the electronic equipment. For example,
Air heated via heat dissipation by electronic equipment 100 housed in the bottom portion of the cabinet 104 is directed by fans 112 (or other blowing devices) to an air plenum at a right side of the cabinet 104. The air in the air plenum at the right side of the cabinet 104 is directed by fans 108 (or other blowing devices) to electronic equipment 100 housed in the top portion of the cabinet 104. Those skilled in the art will note that in such a manner, liquid-cooled air re-circulates from side to side of electronic equipment housed in the cabinet without passing in front of or behind the electronic equipment.
Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, electronic equipment housed in a cabinet may be segmented such that individual particular components of the electronic equipment have dedicated air plenums for the re-circulation of air.
Those skilled in the art will note that in one or more embodiments of the present invention, a component in electronic equipment housed in a cabinet may be accessed without disrupting the cooling air flow of other components in the electronic equipment. As described above, in conventional front-to-back air flow cooling, a server room has to be equipped with adequate air conditioning so as to maintain cooling of even those components that are not being accessed when a front or back door of the cabinet is opened to access a particular component. Accordingly, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, separate air conditioning may not be required as components not being accessed remain air cooled by the same process occurring when the cabinet doors are closed.
Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, if water or a refrigerant is not available in a particular server room, the electronic equipment may still be situated in the server room by removing the cabinet and any air-liquid heat exchangers. In such embodiments, air in the server room may flow from a right/left side of the electronic equipment to a left/right side of the electronic equipment using, for example, fans implemented with the electronic equipment and/or fans implemented within the server room. Alternatively, or perhaps in combination with side-to-side air flow, cooling air may flow, for example, in a front-to-back manner.
Advantages of the present invention may include one or more of the following. In one or more embodiments of the present invention, electronic equipment is air cooled using air that is cooled using a liquid-cooled cabinet.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the ability to air cool electronic equipment using liquid-cooled air may be used to cool electronic equipment having increased heat dissipation.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, because electronic equipment is cooled from side-to-side instead of front-to-back, space on the front and rear of the electronic equipment that would otherwise be used to facilitate front-to-back air cooling (e.g., space need for air holes) may be instead used for connectors (e.g., power connections, input/output connections).
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, because air holes are not needed in a cabinet in which air contained within the cabinet flows from a right/left side to a left/right side of electronic equipment housed in the cabinet, electromagnetic interference may be better contained.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, because electronic equipment is cooled from side-to-side instead of front-to-back, one or more components of the electronic equipment may be serviced/accessed without disrupting air flow in other components, thereby obviating the need for a separate air cooling mechanism to cool those other components were air flow directed from a front of the electronic equipment to a rear of the electronic equipment.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, because electronic equipment is housed in a cabinet that uses air to cool the electronic equipment, where the air is contained within the cabinet, noise suppression of the electronic cabinet may be improved.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a cabinet is less dependent on an air flow rate or an air flow space of a server room than a cabinet which requires air flow in the server room to cool the electronic equipment in the cabinet either during normal operation or servicing.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, because electronic equipment in a cabinet is cooled by cold air, there may be less of a risk of water or refrigerant leakage.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, electronic equipment in a cabinet may be operated in a server room having only a power supply and a chiller unit (for communicating water/refrigerant with the cabinet).
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
