Systems and methods for buoyancy-assisted immersion server maintenance
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsNan Wang, Austin M. Shelnutt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system may include a tank configured to hold a dielectric liquid, a rack located within the tank and having a plurality of bays, each bay configured to receive a corresponding device, an air pump configured to drive an air flow, at least one variable-buoyancy chamber mechanically coupled to at least one of the tank and the rack, each of the at least one variable-buoyancy chamber comprising a fluidically-sealed plenum and wherein the at least one variable-buoyancy chamber is configured to mechanically couple to a device-in-service, and a control subsystem configured to control a buoyancy of the at least one variable-buoyancy chamber in order to cause movement of the device-in-service relative to the rack.
Claims18
A system comprising:
- a tank configured to hold a dielectric liquid;
- a rack, horizontally oriented and located within the tank and having a plurality of bays, each bay vertically oriented and configured to receive a corresponding device;
- an air pump configured to drive an air flow;
- two or more variable-buoyancy chambers mechanically coupled to at least one of the tank and the rack, each of the variable-buoyancy chambers comprising a fluidically-sealed plenum and wherein the at two or more variable-buoyancy chambers include a first variable-buoyancy chamber and a second variable-buoyancy chamber, wherein the first variable-buoyancy changer is configured to mechanically couple to a first mechanical coupling of a device-in-service and wherein the second variable-buoyancy chamber is configured to mechanically couple to a second mechanical coupling of a device-in-service;
- and
- a control subsystem configured to control a buoyancy of the first and second variable-buoyancy chambers in order to cause the device-in-service to:
- move vertically relative to the rack;
- and
- to rotate relative to the rack between a vertical orientation and a horizontal orientation.
A method comprising, in a system comprising a tank configured to hold a dielectric liquid, a horizontally oriented rack located within the tank and having a plurality of bays, each bay vertically oriented and configured to receive a corresponding device, an air pump configured to drive an air flow, and first and second variable-buoyancy chambers mechanically coupled to at least one of the tank and the rack, each of the first and second variable-buoyancy chambers comprising a fluidically-sealed plenum and wherein the first and second variable-buoyancy chambers are each configured to mechanically couple to a device-in-service:
- controlling a buoyancy of the first and second variable-buoyancy chambers in order to cause the device-in-service to:
- move vertically relative to the rack;
- and
- to rotate relative to the rack between a vertical orientation and a horizontal orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.