Cooling system with evaporators distributed in parallel
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsCullen E. Bash, Chandrakant D. Patel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for cooling a room configured to house a plurality of computer systems. A plurality of evaporator units are arranged in parallel and are configured to receive air from the room and to deliver air to the room. The evaporator units are supplied with refrigerant operable to cool the received air in the evaporator units. The air may be controlled in response to temperatures sensed at one or more locations in the room.
Claims44
A method for cooling a room configured to house a plurality of computer systems, said method comprising:
- providing a plurality of evaporator units distributed in parallel along refrigerant lines and configured to receive air from said room and to deliver air to said room;
- supplying said plurality of evaporator units with refrigerant through the refrigerant lines, wherein an evaporator valve is positioned upstream of each of said plurality of evaporator units, wherein said refrigerant is operable to cool said air in said plurality of evaporator units;
- sensing temperatures at one or more locations in said room;
- controlling the temperature of said air in response to said step of sensing temperatures at said one or more locations;
- sensing a superheat temperature of said refrigerant exiting from at least one of said plurality of evaporator units;
- and
- varying the refrigerant supplied to each of said plurality of evaporator units in response to the sensed superheat temperature through operation of said evaporator valves to control the temperature of said air.
A system for cooling a room containing a plurality of computer systems, said system comprising:
- a plurality of evaporator units distributed in parallel and configured to receive refrigerant through a refrigerant line and to receive air, wherein said air may be cooled through heat transfer with said refrigerant, said plurality of evaporator units having at least one fan configured to cause said air to flow out of said plurality of evaporator units;
- an evaporator controller operable to control a supply of said refrigerant to said plurality of evaporator units and operable to control the speed of said at least one fan;
- a refrigeration system for cooling said refrigerant;
- a refrigeration system controller configured to operate said refrigeration system to vary the temperature of said refrigerant;
- and
- at least one valve configured to meter the flow of said refrigerant through said plurality of evaporator units positioned along said refrigerant line generally upstream of said plurality of evaporator units, wherein said evaporator controller is operable to control the mass flow rate of said refrigerant through said at least one valve.
A system for cooling computer systems housed in one or more racks, said racks being maintained in a room, said system comprising:
- means for cooling air including means for receiving refrigerant, wherein the means for receiving refrigerant comprises refrigerant lines configured to deliver refrigerant to a plurality of means for cooling air arranged in a parallel configuration;
- means for delivering cooled air to said plurality of computer systems;
- means for measuring temperatures at one or more locations in said room;
- means for controlling delivery of said cooled air in response to said means for measuring;
- means for controlling the temperature of said refrigerant;
- means for sensing a superheat temperature of said refrigerant exiting from the means for cooling air;
- and
- means for varying the refrigerant supplied through said refrigerant lines in response to the sensed superheat temperature.
A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method of cooling a room configured to house a plurality of computer systems, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:
- providing a plurality of evaporator units distributed in parallel and configured to receive air from said room and to deliver air to said room;
- supplying said plurality of evaporator units with refrigerant, wherein said refrigerant is operable to cool said air in said plurality of evaporator units;
- sensing temperatures at one or more locations in said room;
- controlling the temperature of said air in response to said temperatures at said one or more locations;
- sensing a superheat temperature of said refrigerant exiting from at least one of said plurality of evaporator units;
- and
- varying the refrigerant supplied to each of said plurality of evaporator units in response to the sensed superheat temperature through operation of said evaporator valves to control the temperature of said air.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.