Cooling system with desiccant dehumidification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10098265-B2
Application number	US-201615284437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2016
Priority date	May 16, 2013
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

A system for removing heat from electrical systems includes a dehumidification device including a desiccant, an evaporative cooling device, air moving devices, and an air flow control devices. The air moving device moves air through the dehumidification device, the evaporative cooling device, and the electrical systems. The air flow control device controls a rate of flow through the dehumidification device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A data center, comprising:
rack-mounted computing devices that include heat producing components; and
a cooling system, comprising:
one or more desiccant wheels;
one or more evaporative cooling devices downstream from at least one of the desiccant wheels; and
one or more air moving devices;

wherein:
at least one of the air moving devices is configured to move air through at least one of the desiccant wheels, at least one of the one or more evaporative cooling devices, and at least one of the heat producing components of the rack-mounted computing devices; and
the cooling system is configured to transfer heat from the rack-mounted computing devices to at least a portion of air being moved through the at least one of the desiccant wheels to promote reactivation of the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

2. The data center of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more air flow control devices, wherein at least one of the air flow control devices is configured to control a rate of air flow through the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

3. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the one or more evaporative cooling devices are configured to evaporate a liquid into a stream of air flowing through the one or more evaporative cooling devices to cool the stream of air.

4. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the cooling system is configured such that at least a portion of the stream of air that flows through the one or more evaporative cooling devices flows through at least one of the desiccant wheels upstream of the one or more evaporative cooling devices and at least another portion of the stream of air that flows through the one or more evaporative cooling devices bypasses the at least one of the desiccant wheels upstream of the one or more evaporative cooling devices.

5. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the one or more desiccant wheels comprise two or more desiccant wheels, wherein each of at least two of the desiccant wheels is configured to dehumidify a different stream of air.

6. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the desiccant wheels is configured to rotate such that one portion of the desiccant wheel is in a flow of supply air to the rack-mounted computing devices and another portion of the desiccant wheel is in a flow of return air downstream from the rack-mounted computing devices.

7. A system for removing heat from rack-mounted computing devices, comprising:
one or more desiccant wheels;
one or more evaporative cooling devices; and
one or more air moving devices;
wherein:
at least one of the air moving devices is configured to move air through at least one of a plurality of dehumidification devices, at least of the evaporative cooling devices, and one or more of the rack-mounted computing devices; and
the system is configured to transfer heat from heat producing components of the rack-mounted computing devices to at least a portion of air being moved through at least one of the desiccant wheels to promote reactivation of the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
one or more air flow control devices, wherein at least one of the air flow control devices is configured to control a rate of air flow through the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the at least one of the air flow control devices comprises one or more sets of dampers; and
the at least one of the air flow control devices is configured to open and close at least one of the dampers to change a rate of air flow through the one or more desiccant wheels.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more evaporative cooling devices are configured to evaporate a liquid into a stream of air flowing through the one or more evaporative cooling devices to cool the stream of air.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the system is configured such that at least a portion of a stream of air that flows through the one or more evaporative cooling devices flows through at least one of the desiccant wheels upstream of the one or more evaporative cooling devices and at least another portion of the stream of air that flows through the one or more evaporative cooling devices bypasses the at least one of the desiccant wheels upstream of the one or more evaporative cooling devices.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more desiccant wheels comprise two or more desiccant wheels, wherein each of at least two of the desiccant wheels is configured to dehumidify a different stream of air.

13. The system of claim 7 , further comprising one or more ducts configurable to bypass at least one of the desiccant wheels.

14. The system of claim 7 , further comprising two or more air flow control devices, wherein:
the one or more desiccant wheels includes at least two desiccant wheels;
each of at least two of the air flow control devices is configurable to control a rate of air flow through a different one of the at least two desiccant wheels.

15. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a constricted section in a duct upstream from at least one of the desiccant wheels, wherein at least one of the air moving devices is configured to move air through the constricted section of the duct such that at least part of water in the air is converted from water vapor to water droplets.

16. A method, comprising:
moving, via one or more air moving devices, at least one stream of air through one or more desiccant wheels to remove water vapor from the air;
moving the at least one stream of air through one or more evaporative cooling devices downstream from at least one of the desiccant wheels;
delivering at least a portion of the air from the one or more evaporative cooling devices to a conditioned space to remove heat from rack-mounted computing devices in the conditioned space; and
transferring at least a portion of the heat from the rack-mounted computing devices to at least one of the desiccant wheels to promote reactivation of the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
controlling, via one or more air flow control devices, a rate of air flow through the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the one or more desiccant wheels include a first desiccant wheel and a second desiccant wheel; and
the method further comprises:
dehumidifying a first stream of air using the first desiccant wheel; and
dehumidifying a second stream of air using the second desiccant wheel, wherein the second stream of air is different than the first stream of air.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
directing, via one or more dampers, air through one or more ducts configured to bypass the at least one of the desiccant wheels.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the one or more desiccant wheels include multiple desiccant wheels; and
the method further comprises:
staging, using the multiple desiccant wheels, an amount of air being treated to produce treated air; and
maintaining, using one or more dampers, a constant volume of treated air that is delivered to the conditioned space.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc
• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Towner Richard Chadwick
• Eichelberg John William
• Czamara Michael Phillip
• Morales Osvaldo P

Classifications

• H05K7/20836 Primary

  Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control · CPC title

• H05K7/20745

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device · CPC title

• H05K7/20309

  Evaporators · CPC title

• F24F2203/1032

  Desiccant wheel · CPC title

• F24F5/0035

  using evaporation · CPC title