Cold Row Encapsulation For Server Farm Cooling System
AssigneeYahoo! Inc.
InventorsScott Noteboom, Albert Dell Robison
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to efficient cooling of data centers. Some embodiments of the invention allow encapsulation of cold rows through an enclosure and allow one or more fans to draw cold air from the cold row encapsulation structure to cool servers installed on the server racks. In other particular embodiments, the systems disclosed can be used to mix outside cool air into the cold row encapsulation structure to cool the servers. In some embodiments, the present invention involves fanless servers installed on the server racks and introduces fan units to draw cooling air from the cold row encapsulation structure through the fanless servers on the racks.
Claims20
A data center comprising:
- an enclosure including:
- a plurality of side walls;
- a floor on which a plurality of rows of server racks are arranged to form a space between any two adjacent ones of the server racks;
- a ceiling;
- a plurality of dampers for directing a flow of air from outside the enclosure into the enclosure,
- wherein the server racks are configured to receive a plurality of servers,
- wherein one of the rows of server racks and one of the side walls are arranged to form a space therebetween;
- and
- a mixing chamber located between the ceiling and the rows of the server racks to mix the air received from outside the enclosure with hot air generated by the plurality of servers.
The data center of claim 3, wherein the enclosure includes an opening between the cooling module and the space between the adjacent one of the rows of server racks for passing the cold air from the cooling module to the space between the adjacent ones of the server racks.
A data center comprising:
- an enclosure including:
- a plurality of side walls;
- a floor on which a plurality of rows of server racks are arranged to form a space between any two adjacent ones of the server racks;
- a ceiling having a plurality of ceiling dampers for directing a flow of air from outside the enclosure towards the space between the two adjacent ones of the server racks,
- wherein the server racks are configured to receive a plurality of servers,
- wherein one of the rows of server racks and one of the side walls are arranged to form a space therebetween, and
- a plurality of wall dampers located between the ceiling and the rows of the server racks for mixing the air with hot air generated by the plurality of servers.
A data center comprising:
- a plurality of server racks included in a cold row encapsulation structure, each server rack having a first side oriented toward a cold column and having a second side oriented toward a hot column, the hot column having a lower pressure relative to the cold column so that air flows from the cold column to the hot column across one of the server racks;
- a cooling module coupled to the cold column, the air from outside the data center system entering the cold column through an opening and being cooled by the cooling module to a temperature lower than a temperature of the air outside the data center, the cold column having a height sufficient to cause air to flow through the cold column when there is a temperature difference between the cooled air in the cold column and the air outside the data center;
- and
- a plurality of dampers coupled to the hot column, the hot column having a height sufficient to, at a temperature difference between a temperature of air in the hot column and a temperature of the air outside to the data center, create a pressure difference that that causes air to flow from the hot column through the dampers to outside the data center.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.