Data center evaluation using an air re-circulation index

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool for evaluating one or more components in a data center, said CFD tool comprising:

• a modeling program configured to obtain inlet and outlet temperatures of one or more heat dissipating devices and temperatures of air supplied by one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units based upon at least one of input by a user and through a calculation of airflow characteristics in the data center;
• wherein the modeling program is further configured to calculate indices of air re-circulation of the one or more heat dissipating devices based upon the inlet and outlet temperatures of one or more heat dissipating devices and temperatures of air supplied by one or more CRAC units, the modeling program being further configured to calculate the indices of air re-circulation of the one or more heat dissipating devices at various flow field settings of air delivered to the one or more heat dissipating devices;
• and
• wherein the modeling program is further configured to evaluate the one or more components based upon changes in the indices of air re-circulation of the one or more heat dissipating devices.

A system for evaluating one or more components in a data center, said system comprising:

• one or more heat dissipating devices having respective inlet and outlet temperature sensors;
• one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units having respective supply air temperature sensors;
• and
• a controller configured to calculate indices of air re-circulation for the one or more heat dissipating devices based upon temperatures detected by the inlet and outlet temperature sensors and the supply air temperature sensors at various volume flow field settings of air delivered to the one or more heat dissipating devices, wherein the controller is further configured to evaluate the one or more components in the data center based upon changes in the air re-circulation indices.

A system for evaluating one or more components in a data center, said system comprising:

• means for detecting inlet and outlet temperatures of one or more heat dissipating devices;
• means for detecting temperatures of air supplied by one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units;
• means for calculating indices of air re-circulation for the one or more heat dissipating devices at various flow field settings of air delivered to the one or more heat dissipating devices;
• and
• means for evaluating the one or more components based upon the calculated indices of air re-circulation at the various flow field settings.

A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method for evaluating one or more components in a data center, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

• detecting inlet and outlet temperatures of one or more heat dissipating devices;
• detecting temperatures of air supplied by one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units;
• calculating indices of air re-circulation for the one or more racks at various flow field settings of air delivered to the one or more heat dissipating devices;
• and
• evaluating the one or more components based upon the calculated indices of air re-circulation at the various flow field settings.