Battery backup unit (BBU) shelf with a fire extinguishing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11211669-B2
Application number	US-202016785456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2020
Priority date	Feb 7, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a battery backup unit (BBU) shelf includes a controller, a supply line to supply a fire extinguishing agent, one or more BBUs, each BBU having a battery module and a temperature sensor. The shelf further includes a flow meter that is coupled to the supply line and measures a flow rate of the fire extinguishing agent flowing through the supply line and produces a flow rate signal that represents the flow rate. For each of the BBUs, the shelf includes a spray nozzle to spray the fire extinguishing agent onto the BBU and a valve that is coupled between the supply line and the spray nozzle. The controller is configured to 1) receive temperature signals from the temperature sensors and 2), for each BBU that has a temperature that exceeds a temperature threshold, open the valve of the BBU to spray the fire extinguishing agent.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery backup unit (BBU) shelf, comprising:
a controller;
a supply line to supply a fire extinguishing agent from an external source;
one or more BBUs, each BBU having a battery module with one or more battery cells and a temperature sensor to sense an internal temperature of the BBU and to produce a temperature signal that represents the temperature;
for each of the one or more BBUs
a spray nozzle to spray the fire extinguishing agent onto the BBU; and
a valve that is coupled between the supply line and the spray nozzle,

wherein the controller is configured to 1) receive the temperature signal from the temperature sensor of each BBU and 2), for each BBU that has a temperature that exceeds a temperature threshold, open the valve of the BBU, thereby allowing the spray nozzle of the BBU to spray the fire extinguishing agent.

2. The BBU shelf of claim 1 , wherein the fire extinguishing agent is a pressurized inert gas.

3. The BBU shelf of claim 1 , further comprising one or more fans that are coupled to the BBU shelf, the fans to push ambient air or draw the ambient air into the BBU shelf.

4. The BBU shelf of claim 3 , wherein, when at least one valve is open, the one or more fans are deactivated to prevent the fans from pushing or drawing the ambient air.

5. The BBU shelf of claim 1 , further comprising a flow meter that is coupled to the supply line and measures a flow rate of the fire extinguishing agent flowing through the supply line and produces a flow rate signal that represents the flow rate.

6. The BBU shelf of claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to
determine an optimal flow rate at which the fire extinguishing agent is to flow based on a number of BBUs that have a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold and one or more predefined parameters, and
for each of the BBUs that has a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold, set an opening ratio of the valve of the BBU based on a difference between the flow rate and the optimal flow rate.

7. The BBU shelf of claim 6 , wherein the one or more predefined parameters comprise a volume of each of the BBUs and a predefined period of time for which the open valves are to remain open.

8. The BBU shelf of claim 1 , wherein a power source that is external to the BBU shelf provides power to each valve and the controller, wherein each valve is a fail-open valve that opens in response to the power source ceasing to provide the power to at least one of 1) the valves and 2) the controller.

9. The BBU shelf of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to close each of the open valves after a predefined period of time.

10. A method for controlling one or more valves of a battery backup unit (BBU) shelf that includes one or more BBUs, each BBU having a battery module with one or more battery cells, the method comprising:
receiving an indication that one or more BBUs have begun to either discharge battery energy stored in battery cells of the BBUs to a load or draw power from an external power supply to charge the battery cells;
obtaining, from a temperature sensor of each of the BBUs, a temperature signal that represents a temperature of the BBU;
determining whether the temperature of any of the one or more BBUs exceeds a temperature threshold; and
releasing a fire extinguishing agent only onto the BBUs that have a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fire extinguishing agent is a pressurized inert gas.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising, in response to receiving the indication, activating one or more fans to air cool the one or more BBUs by either pushing ambient air or drawing the ambient air into the BBU shelf.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising, in response to determining that the temperature of any of the one or more BBUs exceeds the temperature threshold, deactivating the one or more fans to prevent the fans from pushing or drawing the ambient air.

14. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the BBU shelf includes a supply line to supply the fire extinguishing agent from an external source, and, for each of the one or more BBUs, a spray nozzle and a valve that is coupled between the supply line and the spray nozzle,
wherein releasing the fire extinguishing agent comprises, for each of the BBUs that has a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold, opening a respective valve to cause a respective spray nozzle to spray the fire extinguishing agent onto the BBU.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising obtaining, from a flow meter that is coupled to the supply line, a flow rate signal that represents a flow rate of the fire extinguishing agent flowing through the supply line.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining an optimal flow rate at which the fire extinguishing agent is to flow based on a number of BBUs that have a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold and one or more predefined parameters; and
for each of the BBUs that has a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold, setting an opening ratio of the respective valve based on a difference between the flow rate and the optimal flow rate.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more predefined parameters comprise an internal volume of the BBU shelf and a predefined period of time for which the open valves are to remain open.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein each of the valves is a fail-open valve that opens in response to a power failure of the BBU shelf.

19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising closing each of the open valves after a predefined period of time.

20. An electronic rack, comprising:
a plurality of pieces of Information Technology (IT) equipment, at least one of the pieces of IT equipment including one or more servers to provide data processing services;
a power supply unit coupled to the plurality of pieces of IT equipment; and
a battery backup unit (BBU) shelf to provide backup power to the pieces of IT equipment when the power supply unit is unavailable, wherein the BBU shelf includes a controller;
a supply line that to supply a fire extinguishing agent from an external source;
one or more BBUs, each BBU having a battery module with one or more battery cells, and a temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the BBU and to produce a temperature signal that represents the temperature;
for each of the one or more BBUs
a spray nozzle to spray the fire extinguishing agent onto the BBU; and
a valve that is coupled between the supply line and the spray nozzle,

wherein the controller is configured to 1) receive temperature signals from the temperature sensors and 2), for each BBU that has a temperature that exceeds a temperature threshold, open the valve of the BBU, thereby allowing the spray nozzle of the BBU to spray the fire extinguishing agent.

Assignees

• Baidu Usa Llc

Inventors

• Shao Shuai
• Gao Tianyi
• Yang Huawei

Classifications

• A62C31/005

  using nozzles · CPC title

• A62C37/40

  with electric connection between sensor and actuator · CPC title

• A62C3/16 Primary

  in electrical installations, e.g. cableways · CPC title

• H01M2220/10

  Batteries in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title

• H01M10/482

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title