Fuel vaporization using data center waste heat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10082048-B2
Application number	US-201615249718-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Nov 19, 2014
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for data center cooling by vaporizing fuel using data center waste heat. The systems include, for instance, an electricity-generating assembly, a liquid fuel storage, and a heat transfer system. The electricity-generating assembly generates electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to the data center. The liquid fuel storage is coupled to supply the fuel vapor, and the heat transfer system is associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage. In an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly. The system may be implemented with the liquid fuel storage and heat transfer system being the primary fuel vapor source, or a back-up fuel vapor source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing an electricity-generating assembly to generate electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to a data center, the data center producing data center waste heat;
providing a liquid fuel storage to facilitate supply of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly;
providing a heat transfer system associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage, wherein in an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly; and
wherein the heat transfer system comprises a controller, and the electricity-generating assembly produces generating assembly waste heat, the controller controllably combining in the operational mode the generating assembly waste heat with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage when additional heat is required to provide a required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat transfer system further comprises adjustable valves for selectively controlling in the operational mode an amount of the generating assembly waste heat combined with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage to vaporize the liquid fuel, the controller automatically controlling the adjustable valves to provide the required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the operational mode, the data center waste heat is transferred from at least one data center heat exchanger to at least one fuel storage heat exchanger via a heat transfer fluid flow through at least one fluid loop of the heat transfer system coupling in fluid communication the at least one data center heat exchanger and the at least one fuel storage heat exchanger.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a vaporizer associated with the liquid fuel storage, and wherein the heat transfer system combines fuel vapor output of the vaporizer with fuel vapor output of the liquid fuel storage, due to the transfer of the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage, and the controller is configured to automatically control output of fuel vapor from the vaporizer, with reference to output of the fuel vapor from the liquid fuel storage, the controller automatically adjusting the output of the fuel vapor from the vaporizer to provide a required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the controller selectively combines the generating assembly waste heat with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage when additional heat is needed to provide the required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly from the liquid fuel storage without the output of fuel vapor from the vaporizer.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the controller automatically turns off the vaporizer when the fuel vapor output of the liquid fuel storage is at the required flow rate of the fuel vapor for the electricity-generating assembly.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational mode comprises a back-up operational mode, the liquid fuel storage comprises a back-up liquid fuel storage, and the fuel vapor comprises a back-up fuel vapor, and wherein, based on an interruption in a primary fuel vapor supply to the electricity-generating assembly, the controller automatically initiates the back-up operational mode and controls the heat transfer system to direct the data center waste heat to the back-up liquid fuel storage to generate the back-up fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly for continued operation of the electricity-generating assembly.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises providing an absorption chiller receiving the generating assembly waste heat, the absorption chiller operating to dissipate the data center waste heat in a normal operational mode when the primary fuel vapor supply is provided to the electricity-generating assembly, and the controller automatically switching the data center waste heat away from the absorption chiller and to the back-up liquid fuel storage in the back-up operational mode.

9. A method comprising:
providing a heat transfer system coupling a data center and a liquid fuel storage, the data center producing data center waste heat, and the liquid fuel storage being coupled to facilitate supply of a fuel vapor to an electricity-generating assembly, the electricity-generating assembly generating electricity from the fuel vapor for supply to the data center, wherein in an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly; and
wherein the heat transfer system comprises a controller, and the electricity-generating assembly produces generating assembly waste heat, the controller controllably combining in the operational mode the generating assembly waste heat with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage when additional heat is required to provide a required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Campbell Levi A
• David Milnes P
• Demetriou Dustin W
• Schmidt Roger R
• Simons Robert E

Classifications

• F25B19/00

  Machines, plants or systems, using evaporation of a refrigerant but without recovery of the vapour · CPC title

• F25B49/00

  Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices · CPC title

• H05K7/20818

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title

• H02P9/04

  Control effected upon non-electric prime mover and dependent upon electric output value of the generator · CPC title

• F01K5/00

  Plants characterised by use of means for storing steam in an alkali to increase steam pressure, e.g. of Honigmann or Koenemann type · CPC title