Data center refrigeration system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10888024-B1
Application number	US-201816115199-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2018
Priority date	Aug 28, 2017
Publication date	Jan 5, 2021
Grant date	Jan 5, 2021

Abstract

An apparatus includes a pump and a driver mechanically coupled to the pump. The driver is configured to receive gaseous refrigerant at a first pressure, discharge gaseous refrigerant at a second pressure, and produce a mechanical force from a pressure differential between the first pressure and the second pressure. The pump is configured to receive liquid refrigerant at a third pressure, discharge liquid refrigerant at a fourth pressure, and pump liquid refrigerant from the third pressure to the fourth pressure in response to the mechanical force from the driver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a driver mechanically coupled to a pump, wherein the driver comprises a first driver chamber and a second driver chamber separated by a moveable driver barrier coupled to a mechanical link, and wherein the driver is configured to:
receive gaseous refrigerant at a first pressure;
discharge gaseous refrigerant at a second pressure;
alternately expand and contract the first and second driver chambers in response to an alternating pressure differential between the first pressure and the second pressure of the first and second driver chambers; and
produce a mechanical force from the alternating pressure differential;

the pump configured to:
receive liquid refrigerant at a third pressure;
discharge liquid refrigerant at a fourth pressure; and
pump liquid refrigerant from the third pressure to the fourth pressure in response to the mechanical force from the driver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the driver further comprises a 3-way inlet valve and a 3-way outlet valve each fluidically coupled to each of the first and second driver chambers, and wherein the driver is configured to create the alternating pressure differential across the moveable driver barrier by alternately supplying gaseous refrigerant at the first pressure to one of the first and second driver chambers using the 3-way inlet valve and discharging gaseous refrigerant at the second pressure from the other of the first and second driver chambers using the 3-way outlet valve.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump includes a first pump chamber and a second pump chamber separated by a moveable pump barrier coupled to the mechanical link, and wherein the pump is configured to alternately expand and contract the first and second pump chambers in response to the mechanical force.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a controller communicatively coupled to the driver, wherein the controller includes switch circuitry configured to energize or deenergize the 3-way inlet and outlet valves based on a position of the moveable driver barrier in the driver.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the switch circuitry comprises a first switch adjacent the first driver chamber and a second switch adjacent one of the second driver chamber and the second pump chamber,
the first switch is configured to close when the moveable driver barrier is positioned near the first switch and energize the 3-way inlet and outlet valves,
the second switch is configured to close when the moveable driver barrier or moveable pump barrier is positioned near the second switch and deenergize the 3-way inlet and outlet valves,
the 3-way inlet valve is configured to supply gaseous refrigerant to the first driver chamber in response to being energized and the second driver chamber in response to being deenergized, and
the 3-way outlet valve is configured to discharge gaseous refrigerant from the second driver chamber in response to being energized and the first driver chamber in response to being deenergized.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the driver is one of a piston driver and a diaphragm driver, and wherein the pump is one of a piston pump and a diaphragm pump.

7. A system, comprising:
a driver mechanically coupled to a pump, wherein the driver comprises a first driver chamber and a second driver chamber separated by a moveable driver barrier coupled to a mechanical link, and wherein the driver is configured to:
receive gaseous refrigerant at a first pressure;
discharge gaseous refrigerant at a second pressure;
alternately expand and contract the first and second driver chambers in response to an alternating pressure differential between the first pressure and the second pressure of the first and second driver chambers; and
produce a mechanical force from the alternating pressure differential;

the pump configured to:
receive liquid refrigerant at a third pressure;
discharge liquid refrigerant at a fourth pressure; and
pump liquid refrigerant from the third pressure to the fourth pressure in response to the mechanical force from the driver;

a system inlet fluidically coupled to the driver, the system inlet configured to receive gaseous refrigerant at the first pressure from at least one heat exchanger;
a system outlet fluidically coupled to the pump, the system outlet configured to discharge liquid refrigerant at the second pressure to the at least one heat exchanger; and
a condenser fluidically coupled to the driver and the pump, the condenser configured to condense gaseous refrigerant to liquid refrigerant.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the system inlet includes an inlet manifold and the system outlet includes an outlet manifold.

9. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a liquid receiver fluidically coupled to the condenser and the pump, the liquid receiver configured to store the liquid refrigerant.

10. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a gas accumulator fluidically coupled to the system inlet and the driver, the gas accumulator configured to store the gaseous refrigerant.

11. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a flow regulating valve fluidically coupled to the pump and the system outlet, the flow regulating valve configured to control refrigerant flow through to the at least one heat exchanger.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the at least one heat exchanger includes a plurality of channels, wherein each of the plurality of channels has a diameter less than or equal to about 1 mm.

13. The system of claim 7 , where the at least one heat exchanger is configured to remove heat generated by at least one computer processor executing within a data center.

14. A method comprising:
receiving, by a system inlet, gaseous refrigerant from at least one heat exchanger, the system inlet fluidically coupled to a driver and the at least one heat exchanger, wherein the driver further comprises a first driver chamber and a second driver chamber separated by a moveable driver barrier coupled to a mechanical link, and wherein the first and second driver chambers alternately expand and contract in response to an alternating pressure differential of the gaseous refrigerant between the first and second driver chambers;
producing, by the driver, an alternating mechanical force from the alternating pressure differential of the gaseous refrigerant, the driver mechanically coupled to a pump through the mechanical link;
condensing, by a condenser, the gaseous refrigerant to a liquid refrigerant, the condenser fluidically coupled to the driver and the pump;
pumping, by the pump, the liquid refrigerant from the condenser to a system outlet in response to the alternating mechanical force from the driver; and
discharging, by the system outlet, the liquid refrigerant to the at least one heat exchanger, the system outlet fluidically coupled to the pump and the at least one heat exchanger.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the driver further comprises a 3-way inlet valve and a 3-way outlet valve fluidically coupled to each of the first and second driver chambers, and further comprising creating, by the driver, the alternating pressure differential across the moveable driver barrier by alternately supplying gaseous refrigerant at the first pressure to one of the first and second driver chambers using the 3-way inlet valve and discharging gaseous refrigerant at the second pressure from the other of the first and second driver chambers.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the pump includes a first pump chamber and a second pump chamber separated by a m

Assignees

• Equinix Inc

Inventors

• Pichai Tikhon Suresh
• Asay Douglas James
• Shah Bhavin Raju

Classifications

• H05K7/20327 Primary

  Accessories for moving fluid, for connecting fluid conduits, for distributing fluid or for preventing leakage, e.g. pumps, tanks or manifolds · CPC title

• F01K3/08 Primary

  Use of accumulators and the plant being specially adapted for a specific use · CPC title

• F25B41/20

  Disposition of valves, e.g. of on-off valves or flow control valves (expansion valves F25B41/31) · CPC title

• F04B9/133

  reciprocating movement of the pumping members being obtained by a double-acting elastic-fluid motor · CPC title

• H05K7/20827

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