Modular data center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10853460-B2
Application number	US-201816209955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2018
Priority date	Dec 4, 2017
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a modular datacenter having a moveable rack assembly configured to selectively provide access to rack-mounted computing devices, with access barriers selectively providing access to rack-mounted computing devices within an exposed rack or portion of a rack or device mounted thereon, safety interlocks controlling when the rack assembly moves, and space-efficient thermal management systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first modular building, comprising:
a rack assembly comprising a plurality of racks coupled to one another, wherein:
respective racks among the plurality of racks are configured to hold a plurality of rack-mounted computing devices arrayed in a first direction;
the plurality of racks are arrayed in one or more directions orthogonal to the first direction for respective racks, with respective racks positioned side-by-side; and

a rack-assembly enclosure, wherein:
the first modular building envelopes the rack assembly;
the first modular building comprises a first room having a door configured to provide a passage by which a technician walks into the first room;
the rack-assembly enclosure is configured to selectively provide access by the technician in the first room to at least part of the racks;
the first modular building is a modular housing configured to be transported on a first truck and protect the rack assembly from weather; and
the rack-assembly enclosure comprises a plurality of access barriers mechanically coupled to a given one of the racks, the access barriers being configured to secure and selectively provide access to different respective subsets of rack units in the given one of the racks from access via an opening to a portion of the respective subset of rack units extending through the opening, wherein:
a first access barrier among the plurality of access barriers is configured to secure and selectively provide access to a first subset of the rack units in the given one of the racks;
a second access barrier among the plurality of access barriers is configured to secure and selectively provide access to a second subset of the rack units in the given one of the racks; and
the second subset of the rack units is disjoint from the first subset of the rack units; and

a second modular building comprising a cooling unit, the second modular building being coupled to a face the first modular building by a interface and configured to:
cool the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices by removing heat from a cooling fluid circulated through the rack assembly;
protect the cooling unit from weather;
be transported on a second truck to an edge-based data center site; and
couple a face of the second modular building to the face of the first modular building at the edge-based data center site.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack-assembly enclosure is coupled to the rack assembly with:
at least one degree of freedom of relative movement between the rack-assembly enclosure and the rack assembly, and
fewer than three degrees of freedom of relative movement between the rack-assembly enclosure and the rack assembly;

the rack-assembly enclosure comprises a barrier configured to block access to an inaccessible subset of the plurality of racks;
the rack-assembly enclosure comprises an opening in the barrier configured to permit access to at least part of an accessible subset of the plurality of racks, the accessible subset and the inaccessible subsets being disjoint sets;
the rack assembly and rack-assembly enclosure are configured to determine which of the plurality of racks are in the inaccessible subset and which of the plurality of racks are in the accessible subset responsive to the at least one degree of freedom of relative movement between the rack-assembly enclosure and the rack assembly, such that relative movement of the rack assembly and rack-assembly enclosure selectively provides physical access to a technician to different rack unit portions of the rack assembly;
each respective rack comprises more than four rack units each configured to hold one or more of the rack-mounted computing devices;
the rack assembly comprises more than five wedge-shaped racks;
the plurality of racks are arrayed in a circular arrangement defining a circular outer perimeter and an interior chamber extending in the first direction;
the rack-assembly enclosure comprises one or more walls blocking access to every rack among the plurality of racks in the rack assembly except for those racks aligned with the opening;
the opening extends in the first direction at least between a bottom rack unit of the plurality of racks to a top rack unit of the plurality of racks;
the opening extends orthogonal to the first direction at least a rack-unit-width of the plurality of racks;
the opening extends orthogonal to the first direction less than three rack-unit-widths;
the rack-assembly enclosure is coupled to the rack assembly with one and only one degree of freedom of relative movement; and
the one and only one degree of freedom of relative movement is rotation about a central axis of rotational symmetry of the rack assembly.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
a solar panel coupled to the first modular building; and
power conditioning circuitry coupled to the solar panel and configured to provide power from the solar panel to the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices or environmental controls of the first modular building.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
a docking station coupled to the first modular building and configured to dock with a drone and recharge the drone while the drone is docked.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first modular building comprises a second room separated from the first room by a barrier that defines at least part of an opening configured to permit access to at least part of an accessible subset of the plurality of racks.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein:
one or more permeable barriers of the second room define at least part of the rack-assembly enclosure that contains the rack assembly; and
the rack assembly blocks the opening and is configured to prevent a person from walking from the first room into the second room through the opening.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack assembly has one and only one degree of freedom of movement relative to the rack-assembly enclosure.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack assembly is configured to rotate relative to the rack-assembly enclosure while the rack-assembly enclosure remains static.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack-assembly enclosure is configured to rotate relative to the rack assembly while the rack assembly remains static.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack assembly is configured to both translate and rotate relative to the rack-assembly enclosure to selectively provide access to a selected subset of rack units in a selected rack.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack assembly is configured to rotate through more than 90 degrees relative to the rack-assembly enclosure and through less than 720 degrees relative to the rack-assembly enclosure.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack-assembly enclosure is static and the rack assembly is configured to move relative to the rack assembly-enclosure; and
the apparatus comprises:
power and data cables coupled to the rack assembly; and
a linear or rotational cable carrier in which at least part of the power and data cables are disposed.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least three of the followings:
exterior lighting;
interior lighting;
a security camera;
a weight sensor;
a motion sensor; and
a drone configured to be launched, flown, landed, and charged responsive to commands from a remote source.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a fire suppression system configured to detect smoke or heat, and in response to detecting smoke or heat or both:
emit a fire suppressant;

Assignees

• Vapor Io Inc

Inventors

• Crawford Colton Malone
• White Steven
• Chavez Ben
• Basso Frank

Classifications

• A62C37/40

  with electric connection between sensor and actuator · CPC title

• H05K7/20209

  Thermal management, e.g. fan control · CPC title

• Y02B10/10

  Photovoltaic [PV] · CPC title

• G06F21/86 Primary

  Secure or tamper-resistant housings · CPC title

• G05B2219/2614

  HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control · CPC title