Management of airflow provisioning to meet a cooling influence redundancy level

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10228668-B2
Application number	US-201214408673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2012
Priority date	Jul 6, 2012
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

In an implementation, airflow provisioning in an area by a plurality of fluid moving devices is managed through assignment of the fluid moving devices to monitor and regulate conditions at respective subsets of a plurality of locations based upon determined influence levels of the fluid moving devices on the respective locations to meet a predefined cooling influence redundancy level. The predefined cooling influence redundancy level for a particular location identifies a number of the fluid moving devices that are to monitor and regulate a condition at the particular location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing airflow provisioning in an area by a plurality of fluid moving devices, said method comprising:
accessing a predefined cooling influence redundancy level for a plurality of locations in the area, wherein the cooling influence redundancy level for a particular location identifies a number of the fluid moving devices that are to monitor and regulate a condition at the particular location;
determining respective influence levels of the plurality of fluid moving devices on each of the plurality of locations;
determining, for each location of the plurality of locations, a set of fluid moving devices having the highest influence levels on the location, a number in each set equaling the predefined cooling influence redundancy level, each of the fluid moving devices having a respective controller;
assigning, by a processor, for each of the locations, controllers of the determined set of fluid moving devices having the highest influence levels on the location to monitor and regulate the condition at the location to meet the predefined cooling influence redundancy level; and
wherein the processor controls the controllers of the determined set of fluid moving devices having the highest influence levels on the location.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein accessing the predefined cooling influence redundancy level further comprises:
accessing a first predefined cooling influence redundancy level for a first location and a second predefined cooling influence redundancy level for a second location, wherein the second predefined cooling influence redundancy level differs from the first predefined cooling influence redundancy level; and
wherein determining, for each of the locations, a set of fluid moving devices further comprises determining, a first set of fluid moving devices and a second set of fluid moving devices, a number of the first set equaling the first predefined cooling influence redundancy level and a number of the second set equaling the second predefined cooling influence redundancy level.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of sensors detect conditions at the plurality of locations and wherein the controllers are to access the detected conditions to monitor and regulate the conditions of the respective locations.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining respective influence levels of the plurality of fluid moving devices on each of the plurality of locations further comprises:
accessing a model that describes airflow transport and distribution within the area, said model comprising a plurality of parameters; and
determining values for the plurality of parameters, wherein at least one of the plurality of parameters comprises the influence level of the plurality of fluid moving devices on each of the plurality of locations.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the model further describes effects of actuations on the plurality of fluid moving devices on the airflow transport and distribution within the area.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the plurality of locations in the area comprises a plurality of racks, wherein the plurality of fluid moving devices are to supply airflow to the plurality of racks through a shared plenum, and wherein the model is described by the following equation:

T
⁡

(

k
+
1

)

=

T
⁡

(
k
)

+

{

∑

i
=
1

N
CRAC

⁢

g
i

·

[

SAT
i

⁡

(
k
)

-

T
⁡

(
k
)

]

·

VFD
i

⁡

(
k
)

}

·

{

∑

j
=
1

N
tile

⁢

b
j

·

U
j

⁡

(
k
)

]

Assignees

• Zhou Rongliang
• Base Cullen E
• Cader Tahir
• Wang Zhiki
• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Zhou Rongliang
• Base Cullen E
• Cader Tahir
• Wang Zhiki

Classifications

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G05B15/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• H05K7/20836

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

• F24F11/62

  characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values · CPC title

• F24F11/30

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title