System and method for optimizing cooling efficiency of a data center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016249487-A1
Application number	US-201415027134-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2014
Priority date	Oct 4, 2013
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for optimizing cooling efficiency of a data center is disclosed. The system may comprise an importing module, a Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling module, a scope determination module, a metrics computation module, an identification module and a recommendation module. The importing module may be configured to import data associated to the data center. The CFD modeling module may be configured to leverage an external CFD Analysis tool in order to develop a CFD model of the data center. The scope determination module may be configured to determine a scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center. The metrics computation module may be configured to compute metrics based upon the data. The identification module may be configured to identify inefficiency and a cause producing the inefficiency. The recommendation module may be configured to facilitate optimizing cooling efficiency of the data center.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for optimizing cooling efficiency of a data center, the method comprising:
importing data comprising a design parameter of the data center and an operational parameter of the data center; developing, via a processor, a Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the data center based upon the data, wherein the CFD model is developed for various scenarios generated based upon various combinations within the data; computing, via the processor, a first set of metrics for the data center based upon the data and the CFD model; comparing the first set of metrics with reference metrics, wherein the reference metrics are associated with a reference data center; determining, via the processor, a scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the first set of metrics with the reference metrics; computing, via the processor, a second set of metrics based upon the operational parameter; comparing the second set of metrics with threshold values of the data center; identifying inefficiency associated with current state of the data center based upon the comparing of the second set of metrics with the threshold values; determining a cause producing the inefficiency, wherein the cause is determined based upon the data and the inefficiency; and facilitating optimizing cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the inefficiency and the cause.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises information on layout of the data center, information on equipments of the data center, information regarding racking practices in the data center, power consumption by the equipments of the data center, operational parameters of the equipment, temperature and air velocity at various locations of the data center, ambient temperature outside the data center, electricity cost per unit, location of the data center, and combinations thereof

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference data center indicates another data center having previously undergone the method of claim 1 for optimizing the cooling efficiency.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of metrics comprises at least one of a rack net temperature, a tile temperature, rack threshold temperature and a combination thereof, and wherein the rack inlet temperature is associated with a rack, and wherein the tile temperature is associated with a tile placed around the rack, and the rack threshold temperature is associated with safe operation of equipment inside rack.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the facilitation comprises providing a recommendation based upon the inefficiency and the cause, and wherein the recommendation is indicative of suggesting a gradual change in at least one of the design parameter of the data center and the operational parameter of the data center, and wherein the gradual change is feasible to be implemented easily and at a low cost.

6 . The method of claim 5 further comprising a step of generating a recommendation report, wherein the recommendation report comprises the inefficiency, the cause, the recommendation, and the scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center.

7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising a step of displaying the recommendation report and the layout of the data center, wherein at least one section of the layout visually indicates the inefficiency identified.

8 . A system for optimizing cooling efficiency of a data center, the system comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is capable of executing a plurality of modules stored in the memory, and wherein the plurality of modules comprising:
an importing module configured to import data comprising a design parameter of the data center and an operational parameter of the data center;
a CFD modeling module configured to leverage a CFD analysis tool in order to develop a Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the data center based upon the data, wherein the CFD model is developed for various scenarios generated based upon various combinations within the data;
a metrics computation module configured to compute:
a first set of metrics for the data center based upon the data and the CFD model, and
a second set of metrics based upon the operational parameter;
a scope determination module configured to:
compare the first set of metrics with reference metrics, wherein the reference metrics are associated with a reference data center, and
determine a scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the comparison of the first set of metrics with the reference metrics;
an identification module configured to:
compare the second set of metrics with threshold values of the data center;
identify inefficiency associated with a current state of the data center based upon the comparing of the second set of metrics with the threshold values, and
determine a cause producing the inefficiency, wherein the cause is determined based upon the data and the inefficiency; and
a recommendation module configured to facilitate optimizing cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the inefficiency and the cause.

9 . The system of claim 8 further comprising a report generation module configured to generate a recommendation report comprising the inefficiency, the cause, a recommendation, and the scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center, wherein the recommendation is indicative of suggesting a gradual change in at least one of the design parameter of the data center and the operational parameter of the data center, and wherein the gradual change is feasible to be implemented easily and at a low cost.

10 . The system of claim 9 further comprising a data visualization module configured to display the recommendation report and a layout of the data center, wherein at least one section of the layout visually indicates the inefficiency identified.

11 . A computer program product having embodied thereon a computer program for optimizing cooling efficiency of a data center, the computer program product comprising instructions for:
importing data comprising a design parameter of the data center and an operational parameter of the data center; developing a Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the data center by leveraging a CFD analysis tool based upon the data, wherein the CFD model is developed for various scenarios generated based upon various combinations within the data; computing a first set of metrics for the data center based upon the data and the CFD model; comparing the first set of metrics with reference metrics, wherein the reference metrics are associated with a reference data center; determining a scope for optimizing the cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the comparison of the first set of metrics with the reference metrics; computing a second set of metrics based upon the operational parameter; comparing the second set of metrics with threshold values of the data center; identifying inefficiency associated with functioning current state of the data center based upon the comparing of the second set of metrics with the threshold values; determining a cause producing the inefficiency, wherein the cause is determined based upon the data and the inefficiency; and facilitating optimizing cooling efficiency of the data center based upon the inefficiency and the cause.

Assignees

• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

Inventors

• Bhagwat Harshad Girish
• Singh Umesh
• D Sankara Narayanan
• Varghese Arun
• Singh Amarendra Kumar
• Jayaprakash Rajesh
• Sivasubramaniam Anand

Classifications

• G06F30/23

  using finite element methods [FEM] or finite difference methods [FDM] · CPC title

• G06F2111/10

  Numerical modelling · CPC title

• H05K7/20745

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

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title