Warm water cooling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10107510-B2
Application number	US-201815949574-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2018
Priority date	Jun 1, 2006
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

A method of providing cooled air to electronic equipment includes capturing heated air from a volume containing electronic equipment, cooling the heated air by more than fifteen degrees Celsius in an air-to-water heat exchanger, and supplying cooling water to the air-to-water heat exchanger at a temperature above a dew point temperature of the heated air.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a human-occupiable workspace in a data center;
a volume enclosed within the human-occupiable workspace that contains heat generating electronic equipment;
one or more fans arranged to circulate air from a cool air plenum of the human-occupiable workspace through the volume and over the heat generating electronic equipment;
an air-to-water heat exchanger comprising a front face arranged to receive the air circulated over the heat generating electronic equipment and a back face in fluid communication with the cool air plenum;
one or more pumps arranged to circulate a cooling fluid to the air-to-water heat exchanger at a temperature above a dew point temperature of the heated air received at the front face of the air-to-water heat exchanger; and
a controller communicably coupled to the one or more pumps and the one or more fans and configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more fans and the one or more pumps so that the air rises in temperature by twenty degrees Celsius or more from an ambient temperature of the workspace as the air passes through the volume and the heated air is cooled by twenty degrees Celsius or more in the air-to-water heat exchanger;
controlling the cooling water to maintain the temperature of the cooling water at the temperature above the dew point temperature of the heated air; and
controlling the one or more pumps to circulate the cooling water from the air-to-water-heat exchanger to a compressorless and burner-less water cooler to transfer heat from the cooling water to an ambient environment in the compressorless and burner-less water cooler.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more common warm air plenums positioned between the front face of the air-to-water heat exchanger and the volume, the one or more common warm air plenums configured to capture substantially only air heated by the heat generating electronic equipment, and capture substantially no air that is not from the volume containing the electronic equipment.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling water is returned from the air-to-water heat exchanger at a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more pumps to circulate the cooling water from the air-to-water heat exchanger to the compressorless and burner-less water cooler at a temperature that is more than 15 degrees Celsius warmer than the temperature of the cooling water circulated to the air-to-water heat exchanger.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the compressorless and burner-less water cooler comprises one or more cooling towers.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the temperature of the water circulated to the compressorless and burner-less water cooler is more than 10 degrees Celsius warmer than the water supplied from the compressorless and burner-less water cooler.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein an approach temperature that is defined by a difference between an air temperature of the cooled air leaving the air-to-water heat exchanger and a water temperature of the cooling water entering the air-to-water heat exchanger is less than about 5 degrees Celsius.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
maintaining a cooling setpoint that is based on an expected wet bulb temperature occurring for one week or more.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling setpoint changes over a time duration.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
maintaining a setpoint that maintains air around the electronic equipment at a temperature below an expected failure level for the electronic equipment.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the setpoint maintains a temperature in a human-occupied space around the electronic equipment above 75 deg. Fahrenheit.

12. The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more fans to circulate the captured air heated by the heat generating electronic equipment from the one or more common warm air plenums to the air-to-water heat exchanger; and
controlling the one or more fans to circulate cooled air from the air-to-water heat exchanger into an occupied workspace around the electronic equipment.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more fans to draw air directly from the workspace into open-front racks that hold the electronic equipment.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more fans to circulate the captured air heated by the heat generating electronic equipment from the one or more common warm air plenums into an attic space; and
controlling the one or more fans to deliver the air in the attic space to the workspace through a conduit adjacent to the workspace.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform operations comprising:
controlling the one or more fans to control flow rates of air through racks containing the electronic equipment and one or more common warm air plenums.

16. The system of claim 5 , wherein the cooling towers comprise hybrid cooling towers.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the heated air enters the air-to-water heat exchanger at a temperature over 110 deg. Fahrenheit.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Carlson Andrew B
• Whitted William H
• Clidaras Jimmy
• Hamburgen William
• Aigner Gerald
• Beaty Donald L

Classifications

• F24F2013/221

  to avoid the formation of condensate, e.g. dew · CPC title

• H05K7/2079

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets · CPC title

• H05K5/0213

  Venting apertures; Constructional details thereof · CPC title

• F24F11/0001 Primary

  for ventilation (F24F11/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/20727

  within server blades for removing heat from heat source · CPC title