Accelerated rack acclimator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10667435-B1
Application number	US-201916355703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 15, 2019
Priority date	Mar 15, 2019
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A rack acclimating device can accelerate the acclimation of an already assembled rack of computing equipment to an environment. A rack acclimating device can comprise one or more heating elements and an air moving device that can be oriented to move air across the heating elements and then through the rack of computing equipment. Additionally, the rack acclimating device can comprise a controller or other like computing device that can receive environmental sensor data and, based upon the received environmental sensor data, can control the heating elements and air moving device. Environmental sensor data can be received from environmental sensors, such as temperature and/or humidity sensors, which can be positioned to sense various environmental aspects. A rack acclimating device can also comprise a hood or other like structure to confine and direct the heated air from the heating elements and/or air moving device to the computer equipment rack.

First claim

We claim:

1. A rack acclimating device comprising:
one or more heating elements;
an air mover oriented to move air across the one or more heating elements;
a hood having a first opening proximate to the air mover and a second opening having a size conforming to a computer equipment rack sizing standard;
one or more environmental sensors, each sensing at least one of a temperature or a humidity; and
a controller communicationally coupled to the one or more environmental sensors, the controller being configured to decrease or deactivate operation of at least one of the one or more heating elements or the air mover in response to the at least one of the temperature or the humidity received from each of the one or more environmental sensors.

2. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the second opening of the hood is opposite the first opening.

3. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the first opening of the hood is circular and the second opening of the hood is rectangular.

4. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the computer equipment rack sizing standard to which the second opening's size conforms is the 42U rack height standard and the 19 inch rack width standard.

5. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , further comprising a foam gasket around a periphery of the second opening of the hood.

6. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , further comprising one or more magnets positioned around a periphery of the second opening of the hood.

7. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , further comprising a wheel frame to which the hood is attached.

8. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heating elements comprise a dedicated electric heater and the air mover is a fan, the rack acclimating device further comprising a housing encasing both the dedicated electric heater and the fan, the housing having a first opening from which the fan draws the air and a second opening through which the fan exhausts the air after moving the air across the dedicated electric heater;
and wherein further the first opening of the hood being proximate to the air mover comprises the first opening of the hood being proximate to the second opening of the housing.

9. The rack acclimating device of claim 8 , further comprising a duct having a first opening positioned outside of a building housing the rack acclimating device and a second opening positioned proximate to the first opening of the housing.

10. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the air mover comprises one or more fans of computer equipment of a first computer equipment rack being acclimated by the rack acclimating device.

11. The rack acclimating device of claim 10 , wherein the one or more fans of the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack are powered by a separate power supply system from other electrical components of the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack.

12. The rack acclimating device of claim 10 , wherein the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack comprises supplemental fans that cool the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack, the supplemental fans being independent of the one or more fans of the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack, the supplemental fans not being part of the air mover of the rack acclimating device.

13. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more heating elements comprise one or more processors of one or more operational server computing devices;
the air mover comprises one or more fans of the one or more operational server computing devices; and
the first opening of the hood is positioned in a hot aisle into which the one or more fans of the one or more operational server computing devices vent heat generated by the one or more processors of the one or more operational server computing devices.

14. The rack acclimating device of claim 13 , further comprising a dehumidifier positioned proximate to the first opening of the hood.

15. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more environmental sensors comprise one or more computer equipment temperature sensors sensing temperatures of computer equipment of a first computer equipment rack being acclimated by the rack acclimating device; and
wherein further the controller is configured to decrease or deactivate operation of at least one of the heating element or the air mover in response to the one or more computer equipment temperature sensors sensing that the temperatures of the computer equipment of the first computer equipment rack are all above a dew point of a climate-controlled, enclosed space to which the first computer equipment rack is being acclimated.

16. The rack acclimating device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more environmental sensors comprise at least one environmental sensor positioned inside the climate-controlled, enclosed space, the at least one environmental sensor sensing at least one of a temperature or a humidity of the climate-controlled, enclosed space, the dew point of the climate-controlled, enclosed space being derived from the at least one of the temperature or the humidity of the climate-controlled, enclosed space sensed by the at least one environmental sensor.

17. The rack acclimating device of claim 15 , wherein the dew point of the climate-controlled, enclosed space is a pre-determined threshold applicable to both the climate-controlled, enclosed space and to other climate-controlled, enclosed spaces.

18. The rack acclimating device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more environmental sensors comprise:
a first environmental sensor sensing at least one of a rack-inbound air temperature or a rack-inbound air humidity; and
a second environmental sensor sensing at least one of a rack-outbound air temperature or a rack-outbound air humidity;
wherein further the controller is configured to decrease or deactivate operation of at least one of the one or more heating elements or the air mover in response to detecting that a difference between the at least one of the rack-inbound air temperature or the rack-inbound air humidity and the at least one of the rack-outbound air temperature or the rack-outbound air humidity is below a first threshold.

19. A method of acclimating a rack of computing equipment to an operating environment, the method comprising:
receiving the rack of computing equipment in an environmental state that differs from the operating environment in that either: (1) at least some of the environmental state of the rack of computing equipment is colder than a dew point of the operating environment or (2) at least some of the environmental state of the rack of computing equipment has a dew point above a temperature of the operating environment;
coupling a second opening of a hood of a rack acclimating device to the rack of computing equipment; and
operating the rack acclimating device to either heat the rack of computing equipment above a threshold temperature or dry the rack of computing equipment below a threshold humidity;
wherein the rack acclimating device comprises:
one or more heating elements;
an air mover oriented to move air across the one or more heating elements;
the hood having a first opening proximate to the air mover and the second opening having a size conforming to the rack of computer equipment;
one or more environmental sensors, each sensing at least one of a temperature or a humidity; and
a controller communicationally coupled to the one or more environme

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Alissa Husam
• Zeighami Roy Medhi
• Heath Scot Edward
• Rubenstein Brandon Aaron

Classifications

• H05K7/20745 Primary

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

• H05K7/20836

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

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• H05K7/20727 Primary

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