US 9,313,929 B1Granted

Managing data center airflow

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorsChristopher G. Malone, Ankit Somani

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Abstract

Techniques for cooling a data center include operating an air handling system in a first mode of operation to provide an outside airflow cooled through a direct evaporative cooling module to a data center without substantial mixing of the cooled outside airflow with another airflow; determining that a measured outside air contaminant level exceeds a setpoint contaminant level; and based on the determination, operating the air handling system in a second mode of operation to provide a datacenter return airflow cooled through an indirect evaporative cooling module to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A method for cooling a data center, comprising:

operating an air handling system in a first operation mode, the first operation mode comprising:
circulating an airflow from an outside environment into the air handling system;
cooling the outside airflow through a direct evaporative cooling module of the air handling system to reduce a dry bulb temperature of the outside airflow;
and
circulating the cooled outside airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled outside airflow with another airflow;
receiving an indication of a measured air contaminant level of the outside airflow greater than a setpoint contaminant level of the outside airflow;
and
based on the received indication, switching from operating the air handling system in the first operation mode to operating the air handling system in a second operation mode, the second operation mode comprising:
circulating a return airflow from the data center to the air handling system;
cooling the return airflow through an indirect evaporative cooling module of the air handling system to reduce a dry bulb temperature and a wet bulb temperature of the return airflow, where the return airflow is cooled through an air-to-air heat exchanger of the indirect evaporative cooling module that transfers heat from the return airflow to a scavenger airflow that is cooler than the return airflow and comprises outside air;
circulating the cooled return airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow;
determining that the scavenger airflow is warmer than a predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, evaporating a cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow to cool the scavenger airflow to a temperature cooler than a predetermined temperature, and circulating the cooled scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger;
and
determining that the scavenger airflow is cooler than the predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, directly circulating the scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger from the outside environment without evaporating the cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow.

11 more elements

A cooling system, comprising:

an air handling system defining an airflow path and comprising:
an outside air intake configured to receive an outside airflow into the airflow path;
a return air intake configured to receive a return airflow from a data center into the airflow path;
a fan configured to circulate a supply air from the airflow path to the data center;
a direct evaporative cooling module positioned in the airflow path and downstream of the outside air intake;
an indirect evaporative cooling module positioned in the airflow path and downstream of the outside air intake;
and
a pump configured to circulate a cooling fluid to at least one of the direct evaporative cooling module or the indirect evaporative cooling module;
and
a control system communicably coupled to the fan and the pump and configured to operate the air handling system in a first operation mode by:
controlling the fan to circulate outside airflow from an outside environment into the airflow path through the outside air intake;
controlling the pump to circulate the cooling fluid to the direct evaporative cooling module to cool the outside airflow to reduce a dry bulb temperature of the outside airflow;
and
controlling the fan to circulate the cooled outside airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled outside airflow with another airflow,
the control system configured to receive an indication of a measured air contaminant level of the outside airflow greater than a setpoint contaminant level, and based on the received indication, switch from operating the air handling system in the first operation mode to operating the air handling system in a second operation mode by:
controlling the fan to circulate the return airflow from the data center to the air handling system;
controlling the pump to circulate the cooling fluid to the indirect evaporative cooling module to cool the return airflow to reduce a dry bulb temperature and a wet bulb temperature of the return airflow, where the return airflow is cooled through an air-to-air heat exchanger of the indirect evaporative cooling module that transfers heat from the return airflow to a scavenger airflow that is cooler than the return airflow and comprises outside air;
controlling the fan to circulate the cooled return airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow;
determining that the scavenger airflow is warmer than a predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, controlling the pump to circulate the cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow to cool the scavenger airflow to a temperature cooler than a predetermined temperature, and controlling a circulation of the cooled scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger;
and
determining that the scavenger airflow is cooler than the predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, controlling a circulation of the scavenger airflow directly into the air-to-air heat exchanger from the outside environment without evaporating the cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow.

18 more elements

A method for cooling a data center, comprising:

operating an air handling system in a first mode of operation to provide an outside airflow cooled through a direct evaporative cooling module to a data center without substantial mixing of the cooled outside airflow with another airflow;
determining that a measured outside air contaminant level exceeds a setpoint contaminant level;
and
based on the determination, operating the air handling system in a second mode of operation to provide a data center return airflow cooled through an indirect evaporative cooling module to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow, where operating the air handling system in the second mode of operation comprises:
circulating the return airflow from the data center to an air-to-air heat exchanger of an indirect evaporative cooling module of the air handling system;
circulating a scavenger airflow that comprises outside air into the air-to-air heat exchanger to cool the return airflow by:
determining that the scavenger airflow is warmer than a predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, evaporating a cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow to cool the scavenger airflow to a temperature cooler than a predetermined temperature, and circulating the cooled scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger;
or
determining that the scavenger airflow is cooler than the predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, directly circulating the scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger without evaporating the cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow;
and
circulating the cooled return airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

A method for cooling a data center, comprising:

operating an air handling system in a first operation mode, the first operation mode comprising:
circulating an airflow from an outside environment into the air handling system;
cooling the outside airflow through a direct evaporative cooling module of the air handling system to reduce a dry bulb temperature of the outside airflow;
and
circulating the cooled outside airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled outside airflow with another airflow;
receiving an indication of a measured air contaminant level of the outside airflow greater than a setpoint contaminant level of the outside airflow;
and
based on the received indication, switching from operating the air handling system in the first operation mode to operating the air handling system in a second operation mode, the second operation mode comprising:
circulating a return airflow from the data center to the air handling system;
cooling the return airflow through an indirect evaporative cooling module of the air handling system to reduce a dry bulb temperature and a wet bulb temperature of the return airflow, where the return airflow is cooled through an air-to-air heat exchanger of the indirect evaporative cooling module that transfers heat from the return airflow to a scavenger airflow that is cooler than the return airflow and comprises outside air;
circulating the cooled return airflow to the data center without substantial mixing of the cooled return airflow with another airflow;
determining that the scavenger airflow is warmer than a predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, evaporating a cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow to cool the scavenger airflow to a temperature cooler than a predetermined temperature, and circulating the cooled scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger;
and
determining that the scavenger airflow is cooler than the predetermined temperature, and based on the determination, directly circulating the scavenger airflow into the air-to-air heat exchanger from the outside environment without evaporating the cooling fluid into the scavenger airflow.

11 more elements