Deicing louvers for datacenter applications
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsEric C. Peterson, Christian L. Belady
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A datacenter may use heat collected from a heat exchanger at the exhaust portion of a cooling system to heat inlet louvers for an atmospheric intake. The louvers may have fluid passages through which heated fluid may pass and cause the louvers to heat up. The heated louvers may operate during periods of snow, rain, high humidity, or other conditions to eliminate condensation, snow and ice buildup, or other problems. In some embodiments, a liquid may be passed through the louvers, while in other embodiments, heated air or other gas may be passed through conductive paths in the louvers. In a heated air system, holes in the louvers may allow the heated air to enter the incoming airstream to regulate the incoming temperature to the datacenter.
Claims20
A heated louver system for a datacenter, said datacenter comprising a plurality of computer systems, said heated louver system comprising:
- a heat collection system located downstream from plurality of computer systems, said heat collection system that removes heat from said plurality of computer systems and heats a heat transfer medium;
- a heated louver system located upstream from said plurality of computer systems, said heated louver system comprising:
- an inlet port that accepts atmospheric air;
- a plurality of louvers over said input port, each of said louvers having at least one heat transfer passageway to accept said heat transfer medium;
- and
- a controller that receives an outdoor temperature and causes said heat transfer medium to pass through said heat transfer passageway based at least in part on said outdoor temperature.
A system for regulating the heat of a plurality of computer devices, said system comprising:
- a heat capture system that captures at least a portion of heat generated by said plurality of computer devices to heat a heat transfer medium;
- a ducting system having an external air inlet that receives atmospheric air at an outdoor temperature and passes said atmospheric air through at least a portion of said plurality of computer devices;
- a louver system at an external port for said ducting system, said louver system comprising a plurality of louvers disposed over said external port and having heat transfer passages that heat at least a portion of said plurality of louvers with said heat transfer medium.
A method comprising:
- receiving atmospheric air through an intake port;
- passing said atmospheric air across a set of louvers, said louvers comprising heat transfer passages;
- passing heat transfer medium through said heat transfer passages to heat said atmospheric air;
- passing said atmospheric air through at least a portion of a plurality of computers to remove heat from said plurality of computers and add said heat to said heat transfer medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.