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US 9,179,580 B2Granted
Data center cooler with chiller and cooling tower
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorRobert Tozer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention is a cooling module for one or more data centers. The cooling module accepts coolant from a data center, chills the coolant, then returns the coolant to the data center. The coolant is subject to cooling via a free cooling system and a then chiller. The chiller includes a bypass. The free cooling system and the chiller are fluidly connected in a second cooling loop that includes a dry cooling tower. A pump maintains pressure at a predetermined level.
Claims19
A cooling apparatus, comprising:
- an outlet that supplies a chilled liquid to a data center;
- an inlet that receives return chilled liquid from the data center;
- a heat exchanger arranged downstream of the inlet that provides first cooling to the return chilled liquid;
- a chiller unit with an evaporator and a condenser, the evaporator arranged downstream of the heat exchanger with respect to the chilled liquid flow, the chiller unit configured to further cool the return chilled liquid to a predetermined temperature;
- a pressure difference sensor that measures a pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet;
- a pump coupled between the heat exchanger and the evaporator that is configured to maintain a predetermined pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet;
- a bypass line that connects the outlet of the evaporator to the inlet of the pump;
- control logic that is configured to control the chiller unit such that the return chilled liquid exiting the chiller unit is maintained at the predetermined temperature;
- and
- a liquid cooling loop that circulates a coolant;
- said cooling loop connecting the heat exchanger, the condenser, and a dry cooling tower in series;
- said cooling loop further comprising a bypass line arranged in parallel to the condenser.
9 more elements
A facility comprising:
- one or more data center modules, each data center module having one or more cooling elements requiring a supply of a chilled liquid through a distribution pipework;
- and
- one or more modular cooling modules removably connected to the distribution pipework,
- wherein each of the one or more modular cooling modules comprises:
- an outlet that supplies a chilled liquid to at least one data center module;
- an inlet that receives return chilled liquid from the at least one data center module;
- a heat exchanger arranged downstream of the inlet that provides first cooling to the return chilled liquid;
- a chiller unit with an evaporator and a condenser, the evaporator arranged downstream of the heat exchanger with respect to the chilled liquid flow, the chiller unit configured to further cool the return chilled liquid to a predetermined temperature;
- a pressure difference sensor that measures a pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet;
- a pump coupled between the heat exchanger and the evaporator that is configured to maintain a predetermined pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet;
- a bypass line that connects the outlet of the evaporator to the inlet of the pump;
- control logic that is configured to control the chiller unit such that the return chilled liquid exiting the chiller unit is maintained at the predetermined temperature;
- and
- a liquid cooling loop that circulates a coolant;
- said cooling loop connecting the heat exchanger, the condenser, and a dry cooling tower in series;
- said cooling loop further comprising a bypass line arranged in parallel to the condenser.
13 more elements
A method of cooling a data center comprising:
- supplying a chilled liquid to a data center via an outlet;
- receiving return chilled liquid from the data center via an inlet;
- providing first cooling to the return chilled liquid via a heat exchanger arranged downstream of the inlet;
- providing second cooling to the return chilled liquid via a chiller unit that comprises an evaporator and a condenser, the evaporator arranged downstream of the heat exchanger with respect to the chilled liquid flow, the second cooling chilling the return chilled liquid to a predetermined temperature;
- measuring a pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet with a pressure difference sensor;
- pumping the chilled liquid with a pump coupled between the heat exchanger and the evaporator;
- maintaining a predetermined pressure difference between the chilled liquid supplied at the outlet and the return chilled liquid received at the inlet by controlling the pump;
- controlling a bypass line that connects the outlet of the evaporator to the inlet of the pump;
- maintaining the return chilled liquid at the predetermined temperature with the application of preconfigured control logic;
- circulating a coolant in a liquid cooling loop that connects the heat exchanger, the condenser, and a dry cooling tower in series;
- controlling a coolant bypass line arranged in parallel to the condenser.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.