Data center cooling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11039556-B2
Application number	US-201916421605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2019
Priority date	Jun 2, 2017
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

Approaches presented herein enable cooling a data center with a cooling system having a relatively high coolant temperature. This cooling system is controlled by a building management system and includes piping through which coolant flows, an air cooling unit in thermal contact with the coolant, and a chiller to cool the coolant to a temperature between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius as instructed by the building management system. The building management system uses a chiller controller to vary the chilling of coolant within a range of 18-22 degrees Celsius, thereby controlling the air temperature within the data center to within a required temperature range. Because the building management system maintains the coolant temperature to 18-22 degrees Celsius, the cooling system can be simplified by excluding typical cooling system components such as variable flow control valves and their controllers. This simplification decreases the need for maintenance and reduces operating cost.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for cooling a data center, the system comprising:
a cooling system comprising:
a closed circuit of piping through which a coolant flows, a portion of the closed circuit of piping within an area of the data center having less insulation than a portion of the closed circuit of piping not within the area of the data center;
a coolant chilling unit;
an air cooling unit, wherein the coolant flows from the coolant chilling unit to the air cooling unit via the piping uninterrupted by any flow control mechanism; and
a flow control mechanism downstream from the air cooling unit and prior to the coolant chilling unit, wherein the flow control mechanism alone moves the coolant through the closed circuit of piping; and

a building management system comprising:
a memory medium comprising program instructions;
a bus coupled to the memory medium; and
a processor, for executing the program instructions, that when executing the program instructions causes the building management system to cause the flow control mechanism to control the flow of coolant through the closed circuit of piping.

2. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , the system further comprising a temperature sensor that registers a temperature of the data center.

3. The system for cooling the data center of claim 2 , the instructions further causing the building management system to:
receive temperature information from the temperature sensor;
determine, based on the received reading, a set of adjustments to the temperature of the coolant to most efficiently return the data center to a desired temperature; and
cause the cooling system to adjust a temperature of the coolant based on the received sensor information.

4. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , the temperature the coolant chilling unit chills the coolant to being a recommended temperature of the data center, wherein a temperature of the data center cannot fall below the recommended temperature.

5. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , the instructions further causing the building management system to cause the cooling system to adjust a temperature of the coolant to between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius based on an IT load requirement of the data center.

6. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , the instructions further causing the building management system to cause the cooling system to adjust, based on a temperature reading in the data center, a flow of the coolant through the coolant chilling unit using the control mechanism.

7. The system for cooling the data center of claim 6 , wherein the flow of the coolant is adjusted to a flow between, at minimum, a flow rate required by the coolant chilling unit and, at maximum, a flow rate required by a full data center load.

8. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , wherein the closed circuit of piping does not comprise a set of flow control valves nor a flow controller for operating the set of flow control valves.

9. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism is a variable frequency drive (VFD) pump.

10. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , wherein the cooling system does not comprise internal control logic.

11. The system for cooling the data center of claim 1 , wherein the cooling system is a Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) system or an Air Handling Cooling Units (AHCU) system and the air cooling unit comprises an air blower and a cooling coil.

12. A method for cooling a data center with a cooling system, the method comprising:
receiving a reading from a temperature sensor located in the data center;
determining, based on the received reading, a set of adjustments to a flow of coolant to most efficiently return the data center to a desired temperature; and
adjusting a flow of the coolant through the cooling system only though a control mechanism disposed downstream from the data center, between the data center and a chiller unit, wherein a portion of the cooling system within an area of the data center has less insulation than a portion of the cooling system not within the area of the data center.

13. The method of claim 12 , the method further comprising:
determining, based on the received reading, a set of adjustments to a temperature of the coolant to most efficiently return the data center to a desired temperature; and
instructing, based on the determination, a coolant chiller controller to chill the coolant at the chiller unit to a selected temperature between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius.

14. The method of claim 13 , the selected temperature of the coolant being a desired temperature of the data center, wherein a temperature of the data center is not to be permitted to fall below the desired temperature.

15. The method of claim 12 , the method further comprising instructing an air blowing unit at the data center to blow air at a selected rate across a heat transfer surface based on the received reading.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the cooling system is a Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) system or an Air Handling Cooling Units (AHCU) system.

17. A computer program product for cooling a data center with a cooling system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage device, to:
receive a reading from a temperature sensor located in the data center;
determine, based on the received reading, a set of adjustments to a flow of coolant to most efficiently return the data center to a desired temperature; and
adjust a flow of the coolant through the cooling system only though a control mechanism disposed downstream from the data center, between the data center and a chiller unit, wherein a portion of the cooling system within an area of the data center has less insulation than a portion of the cooling system not within the area of the data center.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to:
determine, based on the received reading, a set of adjustments to a temperature of the coolant to most efficiently return the data center to a desired temperature; and
instruct, based on the determination, a coolant chiller controller to chill the coolant at the chiller unit to a selected temperature between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , the selected temperature of the coolant being a desired temperature of the data center, wherein a temperature of the data center is not to be permitted to fall below the desired temperature.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to instruct an air blowing unit at the data center to blow air at a selected rate across a heat transfer surface based on the received reading.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Karrat Wally
• Lee Lin Heng
• Pare Daniel

Classifications

• H05K7/20745

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

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G05B19/048

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• H05K7/20836 Primary

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