Rack height cooling
AssigneeAmerican Power Conversion Corporation
InventorsMark Germagian, James VanGilder, Jason Dudek
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A data center includes an electronic equipment rack having a front face and a back face and a cooling unit positioned adjacent to the rack, the cooling unit having a front face and a back face, the cooling unit being configured to exhaust cooled air from the front face of the cooling unit to cool the rack. The cooling unit is configured to release the cooled air along a substantial portion of a height of the front face of the rack.
Claims33
A data center comprising:
- an electronic equipment rack having a front face and a back face;
- and
- a cooling unit positioned adjacent to the rack, the cooling unit having a front face and a back face, the cooling unit being configured to exhaust cooled air from the front face of the cooling unit to cool the rack,
- wherein the cooling unit is configured to release the cooled air along a substantial portion of a height of the front face of the rack.
The data center of 1, wherein the cooling unit is configured to adjust an airflow rate of the cooled air based on at least one of the power load to the rack and the temperature of the air exhausted from the rack.
A method of cooling electronic equipment contained in racks in a data center, the method comprising:
- drawing air from an area proximal to a front face of an electronic equipment rack, the electronic equipment rack being configured to draw air into the front face of the rack and expel heated air from a back face of the rack;
- heating the drawn-in air in the rack;
- expelling the heated air from the back face of the rack;
- drawing the heated air into a back face of a cooling unit positioned proximal to the rack;
- cooling the air as the air passes through the cooling unit;
- and
- releasing the cooled air along substantially one of the height of the front face of the rack or a width of the front face of the rack.
A system for cooling equipment placed in racks in a data center, the system comprising:
- a plurality of racks, each of the racks having a front face and a back face, wherein the racks are arranged in a first row and a second row such that the front faces of the racks of the first row face the front faces of the racks of the second row;
- and
- at least one cooling unit positioned in the first row, the at least one cooling unit having a front face and a back face, wherein the front face of the at least one cooling unit faces the front faces of racks of the second row, the at least one cooling unit being configured to exhaust cooled air from the front face of the cooling unit to cool at least one of the plurality of racks,
- wherein the at least one cooling unit is configured to release the cooled air along a substantial portion of a height of the front face of the at least one of the plurality of racks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.