Cooling system

A system for cooling a room containing one or more computer systems, said one or more computer systems being housed in a plurality of racks, said system comprising:

• a plurality of heat exchanger units configured to receive cooling fluid through a cooling fluid line from an air conditioning unit for cooling the cooling fluid, said plurality of heat exchanger units being further configured to receive air through openings in the plurality of heat exchanger units, wherein said air is cooled through heat transfer with said cooling fluid in the plurality of heat exchanger units;
• said plurality of heat exchanger units having at least one fan configured to cause air to flow into and flow out of the heat exchanger unit;
• a heat exchanger controller operable to control a supply of said cooling fluid to said plurality of heat exchanger units and operable to control the speed of the at least one fan;
• one or more temperature sensors for sensing temperatures at one or more locations in the room;
• an air conditioning unit controller configured to operate the air conditioning unit to vary the temperature of said cooling fluid delivered to the one or more locations in the room;
• and
• a plurality of pumps configured to control cooling fluid delivery to respective ones of said plurality of heat exchanger units, wherein said heat exchanger controller is operable to control said plurality of pumps to thereby individually control the mass flow rate of cooling fluid delivered into each of the respective heat exchanger units.

A system for cooling a room containing one or more computer systems, said system comprising:

• a plurality of heat exchanger units configured to receive cooling fluid through a cooling fluid line from an air conditioning unit for cooling the cooling fluid, said plurality of heat exchanger units being further configured to receive air through openings in the plurality of heat exchanger units, wherein said air is cooled through heat transfer with said cooling fluid in the plurality of heat exchanger units;
• said plurality of heat exchanger units having at least one fan configured to cause air to flow into and flow out of the plurality of heat exchanger units;
• a heat exchanger controller operable to control a supply of said cooling fluid to said plurality of heat exchanger units and operable to control the speed of the at least one fan;
• one or more temperature sensors for sensing temperatures at one or more locations in the room;
• an air conditioning unit controller configured to operate the air conditioning unit to vary the temperature of said cooling fluid delivered to the one or more locations in the room;
• and
• a plurality of valves configured to meter the flow of cooling fluid through each of said plurality of heat exchanger units positioned along respective cooling fluid lines generally upstream of respective heat exchanger units, wherein said heat exchanger controller is operable to individually control the mass flow rate of said cooling fluid through said plurality of valves.

A system for cooling computer systems housed in one or more racks, said racks being maintained in a room, said system comprising:

• means for receiving air from the room, said means for receiving air being located at a plurality of locations of the room;
• means for cooling the received air in the plurality of means for receiving air, said plurality of means for cooling including means for receiving cooling fluid from an air conditioning unit;
• means for delivering cooled air to said computer systems;
• means for measuring temperatures at one or more locations in said room;
• means for controlling delivery of said cooled air through said means for delivering cooled air in response to the temperature measurements;
• means for controlling the temperature of said cooling fluid;
• and
• means for individually manipulating a mass flow rate of the cooling fluid supplied to the plurality of means for receiving air, wherein the means for individually manipulating varies the mass flow rate of cooling fluid supplied to each of the plurality of means for receiving air in substantially independent manners.

A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method for cooling a room configured to house a plurality of computer systems, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

• supplying a plurality of heat exchanger unit configured to receive air from the room and to deliver air to the room with cooling fluid from an air conditioning unit;
• cooling said received air through heat exchange with the cooling fluid in the plurality of heat exchanger units;
• sensing temperatures at one or more locations in said room;
• controlling at least one of the temperature of said cooling fluid and said air delivery by said plurality of heat exchanger units to said room in response to said sensed temperatures at said one or more locations;
• and
• individually manipulating a mass flow rate of the cooling fluid supplied to the each of the plurality of heat exchanger units.