Patent Application
20140216683
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to passive cooling of computer servers in a data center. In particular, it relates to an improved telescopic louvered panel attachment and system for enhancing hot aisle and cold aisle passive stack effect cooling in a data center.
2. Description of the Related Art
Raised floors are used in data centers to create a space between a sub-floor of the building and the normal working environment of the computer room. The space between the sub-floor and the raised floor panels creates an under-floor cool-air circulating plenum for thermal management of the data processing servers installed in banks of rack systems installed on top of the raised floor. The floor panels, themselves, are either solid or perforated.
Overall, the cooling components, of a computer room, are charged with creating, and moving air on the data center floor. From there, the room itself must maintain separate climates in relation to the cool air, which is required by the servers, and the hot air which they exhaust. Without separate boundaries, the air paths mix, resulting in both economic and ecological consequences.
Air-grate floor panels are used to separate the computer room into a lower-plenum and upper-plenum air handling boundary configuration where the cooling air “originates” in the lower plenum, flows upwardly through the openings in the air-grate panels, and is made available to flow through the cold air intake apertures in the server doors, for cooling the server cabinets installed in the upper plenum on the raised floor, of the computer room. In operation, the data processors heat the air, as it flows through the server, and the heated air is returned to the computer room air conditioning units (“CRAC”) where the heated air is cooled and recycled back into the lower, or under-floor, plenum.
A further refinement came when the industry generally accepted the design concept of “hot aisle and cold aisle” containment, as an additional means for thermal separation in the computer room. This design uses a combination of the CRAC units, duct work, and perforated air-grate floor panels to achieve hot aisle/cold aisle air flow separation. The installation aligns data center cabinets into alternating rows, endures in critical facilities throughout the world, and is widely regarded as the first major step in improving airflow management. In use, part of the air flow enters the server racks, and part of the air flow bypasses the server cabinets and returns to the CRAC air handling units. That portion of the air which enters the servers, through the server door intake, is heated, the heated air is then exhausted through the server cabinet back panel, and the heated air is then returned to the CRAC air handling units for recycle into the lower plenum. Typically, some intermixing of the hot and cold air paths is experienced due to improper sealing in the rack, or recirculation above and around the sides of the rack rows, which lowers the operational thermal efficiency of the system.
Other conditions might occur which interfere with achieving optimum cooling efficiency in a “hot aisle/cold aisle” construction, as well. For example, “bypass air” is an interfering condition often observed when conditioned air escapes through cable cut-outs, holes under cabinets, misplaced perforated tiles, or through holes in the perimeter walls of the computer room. Bypass air limits the precise delivery of cold air at the server door intake.
“Hot air recirculation” is also an interfering condition found under conditions where waste heat enters the cold aisle. In order to combat this condition, operators ensure that the cooling infrastructure must throw colder air at the equipment to offset mixing. Hot air contamination is also a condition which prohibits the CRAC units from receiving the warmest possible exhaust air which renders their operation less efficient. Finally, hot spots may still persist as a result of any, or all, of the above conditions.
It is desirable to process even greater volumes of data at higher velocities. However, a problem exists because such advancements lead to proportional increases in the operational energy of thermal dissipation for any given system. Indeed, those observed increases, in the thermal dissipation energy, are now exceeding even the most advanced operational design limitations. Thus, certain operators are now working on different ways to lower the temperature set-point of the entire data center in order to enhance cooling of those computer servers which are positioned in the upper reaches of the server racks installed in the upper plenum.
One such solution to the problem is directed toward an effort in continuing to redesign the air flow characteristics of the air-grate panels themselves. For example, in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. D567,398, Meyer teaches the design of air-grate floor panels having air scoops projecting downwardly as part of the superstructure of the air-grate sub-frame. It is readily apparent that this scoop design would act to capture conditioned air, as it flows in a generally horizontal direction through the lower plenum of a raised floor, and redirect it upwardly into the upper plenum through the slotted perforations in the air-grate raised floor panel plate.
As above, the concept of “hot aisle/cold aisle” employs improvements in the design and location of the CRAC units, duct work, blowers, and the raised floor panels themselves, as a cooling infrastructure which focuses on a separation of the make-up cold air and the exhaust hot air throughout the system. However, some additional design improvements have yet to be fully realized. One such improvement, would take into consideration certain modifications to the server door air intake configuration.
Early versions of server enclosures, often with “smoked” or glass front doors became obsolete with the adoption of “hot aisle/cold aisle” technologies. As a result, the use of ventilated doors became necessary for use with the “hot aisle/cold aisle” passive cooling approach. For this reason, perforated doors have gained wide acceptance in the industry for most off-the-shelf server enclosures. One improvement in the overall design of the computer server doors and back panel enclosures has been published in U.S. Pat. Publ. No. US-2012-009862-A1, to Meyer. There, Meyer teaches the use of either one of a louvered server door and cabinet back panel which opens and closes to variably restrict or direct a cooling airflow and hot air exhaust through the server cabinet. The louvered doors and back panels enhance a new concept using a hot aisle and cold aisle passive “stack effect” cooling dynamic which is based on a thermal buoyancy differential between the cold air and hot air streams in a system.
While the foregoing louvered server doors and cabinet back panels illustrate useful improvements for enhancing hot aisle and cold aisle passive stack effect cooling technology, these assemblies often require custom fabrication and are thus often unsuitable for inventory, immediate shipment, and use. Thus, what is needed is an improved louvered panel attachment which is mountable for retrofit installation on an existing server door and cabinet panel, together with an improved system for hot aisle and cold aisle passive stack effect cooling efficiency in a data center. The present invention satisfies these needs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved louvered panel attachment which is mountable for retrofit installation on an existing server door and cabinet panel.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved system for hot aisle and cold aisle passive stack effect cooling efficiency in a data center.
To overcome the problems of the prior art, and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, briefly, a universal telescopic louvered panel attachment is provided for enhancing cold aisle and hot aisle passive stack effect cooling efficiency in a data center. The attachment has a panel frame. The frame has a pair of vertical side walls. Each of the side walls, have a front edge, a back edge, and a flange portion. The flange is positioned adjacent to the back edge. Each of the flanges have mounting apertures. The mounting apertures are adapted for receiving a fastener for mounting the panel frame to either one of a computer cabinet or server door. A series of horizontally telescoping blade members are constructed of first and second sheets. Each of the sheets have corresponding parallel laces that slide-by adjacent each other in a horizontal direction. The telescoping blade members have opposite ends which are pivotally connecting the side walls. The blade members are capable of slidably adjusting a width dimension of the frame, and pivoting on a horizontal plane. A vertical tilt bar is pivotally connected to each of the blades. The tilt bar links the blades together so that the blades push to open and close in unison.
Additional advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will be obvious from that description or can be learned from practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention can be realized and obtained by the invention particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and which constitute a part of the specification, illustrate at least one embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, explain the principles of the invention.
Unless specifically defined otherwise, all scientific and technical terms, used herein, have the same ordinary meaning as would be commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In practice, the present invention improves “cold aisle and hot aisle passive stack effect” by generally ensuring that the cold air stays at the server intake, while the computer room air conditioners, or air handlers, receive the warmer exhaust air, improving their stack effect efficiency. Moreover, the invention enhances the “capture of exhaust air” via in-row air conditioners which condition it and return it via the lower plenum and air-grate cold aisle formed with the present invention. The term “lower plenum” means that portion of the computer room below the air-grate floor panels when installed on a pedestal support system. The term “upper plenum” means that portion of the computer room existing above the air-grate floor panels, including the data processing server equipment and in-row air conditioners, or air handling units. Thus, the term “computer room” means the overall air handling environment including the upper and lower plenums from the subfloor to ceiling. Finally, “CRAC units” means those computer room air conditioning units typically located at the perimeter of the data center floor surrounding the (server) racks, or in-rows, to circulate air in the data center space to create a cooling loop. The phrase “stack effect” means the differential in the buoyant density of cooling air relative to the heated exhaust air which drives the passive cooling improvement efficiency in accordance with the present invention.
Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein, can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are now described. Reference will now be made in detail, to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, including the examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like numerals will be used in order to represent like features of the present invention.
The present invention provides an improved universal telescopic louvered panel attachment 10 for enhancing cold aisle 36 and hot aisle 38 passive stack effect cooling efficiency in a data center. In the presently preferred embodiment, the attachment 10 has a panel frame. The panel frame includes a pair of vertical side walls 4. Each of the side walls 4, have a front edge 5, a back edge, and a flange portion 6. The flange portion 6 is positioned adjacent to the back edges. Each of the 6 have mounting apertures 8. The mounting apertures 8 are adapted for receiving a fastener, such as a rivet, pin, screw or bolt, for mounting the panel frame sidewalk 4 to either one of a computer cabinet 24 or server door 20.
The panel attachment 10 retrofit solution is a result of the novel feature being the telescopic blade members 11 being the connecting members to the sidewalls 4. In this manner, the overall width installation dimension of the panel frame 10 is adjustable for mounting on either server doors or back panels, within a predetermined range. For example, it Would be desirable to inventory the telescoping panel 10 attachment in sizes having a contraction and expansion capability within ranges of: 20.3-30.5; 27.9-45.7; and 50.8-91.4 centimeters. These ranges are not merely elements of design, but are functionally related to those server door frames 22 sizes which have gained wide acceptance for use in the industry.
A vertical tilt bar 12 is pivotally connected to each of the blades. The tilt bar 12 links the blade member 11 together so that the blade members 11 push to open and close in unison. In this manner, and specifically contemplated herein, the blade members 11 may include manually, or electrically, driven drive linkages (not shown) connected to the tilt bar 12 for operating the blades in a range of positions, between open and closed, depending on the desired setting for the desired air flow rate through the servers, to be cooled. It is also desirably to include either manual or electronic control systems for the thermostatic control of the blade members 11 during operation.
Referring to
In use, the foregoing telescopic panel attachment is a component of the system, of the present invention, for improving cold aisle/hot aisle passive stack effect cooling efficiency in a data center. As such, the air-grate floor panels 30 are elements of the system. The air-grate panels 30 include a perforated top plate, having upper and lower surfaces. The top plate is attached to a load bearing sub-frame. The sub-frame typically includes four vertical girders, connected in a ninety-degree alignment, to one another, so that four corners of the frame are capable of supporting the air-grate 30 as an air handling separation barrier on a raised floor pedestal 34 support system. The air-grate 30 is preferably fabricated of a steel plate which is cut, welded, drilled, die-cast, and/or pressed in to subassemblies, or completed panels, in the shop for final finishing, such as powder coating, warehousing, order, and rapid shipment. The top plate includes a plurality of openings which may be circular, but are desirably slotted with a long axis installed to extend perpendicular to the frontal plane of the server cabinet doors when aligned facing the cold aisle.
The CRAC units 28 are used to remove and return heated air 32, separated in the upper plenum, cool that air, and pressurize the lower plenum with a predetermined volume of the cooling air 31. Heated return air (27° C.) 32, is generated during the operation of the data servers 24 when it is exhausted through the servers 24 and into the hot aisles 38 behind the servers 24. The heated air 32, or return air, flows into the CRAC units 28 which are located in the computer room on top of the raised floor. In this example, the return air 32 is conditioned to 18° C., by the CRAC units 28, and is ducted downwardly into the lower, or under-floor, plenum where it acts to pressurize the lower plenum, causing a positive pressure differential, in relation to the upper plenum portion of the computer room. This pressure differential causes the conditioned cooling air 31 to be forced through the lower plenum, upwards through the slots in the air-grates 30 forming the cold aisle 36 in a direction which impacts the panel attachment 10 blade members 11. The blade members 11 direct or restrict the conditioned cooling air relative to the cold air intake 21. Impact and stratification dynamics, inherent in the use of the novel system disclosed herein, act to cause the cooling air 31 to flow in a direction which continually passes the blade members 11 and frontal intake portions 21 of the server doors 20. As this cooling air 31 passes the front air intake 21 of the server cabinets, the server fans operate to evacuate the conditioned air through the server cabinet 24 where it is heated and exhausted (32° C.) out of the back 28 of the server cabinets 24, and into the hot aisle 38. The hot air 32 exhaust then becomes the make-up return air for recycle through the system.
A computer rack, contains the computer servers 24 within the upper plenum defined by the raised floor. The server cabinets 24 are generally aligned side-to-side in rows with the server doors 20 facing on opposite sides of the air-grate 30 panels which establish a component of the cold aisle 36. Each row may include any stack of servers 24, in racks, as are well known in the art. The computer server cabinets 24 are generally 0.9-3.0 meters tall being a box shaped cabinet. At least one server door 20 is attached to the server cabinet 24 with by hinged positioned along one edge. The server doors 20 include a door frame 22 and a cold air intake 21. The server cabinets 24 also include a ventilated back panel 26, or door. As shown in the drawing figures, the back panels 26, of the server cabinets 23, are oppositely aligned side-to-side in rows facing the solid surface panels 33 to establish hot aisle 38.
In use, the panel attachment 10 is spread to for press-fitment with an inside portion of an existing door 20 frame 22. The blade members 11 are adjusted with tilt bar 12 to a fully open position which reveals mounting apertures 8 in flanges 6 of sidewalls 4. The sidewalls 4 are fastened to the door frame 22 using fasteners, such as a rivet, screw, bolt, or pin, so that the panel attachment overlays to door cooling air intake 21. The blade members 11 are then adjusted to a predetermined position either manually or with direct digital control of the tilt bar 12 assemblies.
Turning now to
While the present invention has been described in connection with the illustrated embodiments, it will be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing, from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 120, the Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. Ser. No. 13/135,452, filed Jul. 6, 2011, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 111(a), which claims the benefit, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(e), of U.S. Ser. No. 61/398,893, filed, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 111(b), on 6 Jul. 2010.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61398893 | Jul 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13135452 | Jul 2011 | US |
| Child | 14251847 | US |
