Energy regeneration in fuel cell-powered datacenter with thermoelectric generators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021126179-A1
Application number	US-201916661837-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 23, 2019
Priority date	Oct 23, 2019
Publication date	Apr 29, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of controlling energy in a datacenter includes receiving a fuel cell operating percentage of an operating capacity of the fuel cell, receiving a fuel cell exhaust temperature, receiving a hot aisle air temperature from a hot aisle of a server computer, determining a temperature delta between the hot aisle air temperature and the fuel cell exhaust temperature, and then allocating virtual machine placements to change a server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value to optimize the fuel cell operating percentage relative to the fuel cell efficiency target value, the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user percentage relative to the server user capacity percentage target value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling energy in a datacenter, the method comprising:
receiving a fuel cell operating percentage of an operating capacity of the fuel cell; receiving a fuel cell exhaust temperature; receiving a hot aisle air temperature from a hot aisle of a server computer; determining a temperature delta between the hot aisle air temperature and the fuel cell exhaust temperature; and allocating virtual machine placements to the server computer to change a server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value so as to optimize the fuel cell operating percentage relative to a fuel cell efficiency target value, the temperature delta relative to a thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fuel cell operating percentage relative to the fuel cell efficiency target value is prioritized over the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value and the server user percentage relative to the server user capacity percentage target value.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value is prioritized over the fuel cell operating percentage relative to the fuel cell efficiency target value and the server user percentage relative to the server user capacity percentage target value.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the server user percentage relative to the server user capacity percentage target value is prioritized over the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value and the fuel cell operating percentage relative to the fuel cell efficiency target value.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fuel cell efficiency target value is between 70% and 90%.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value is an average thermoelectric generator efficiency target value for a plurality of thermoelectric generators.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value is a plurality of thermoelectric generator efficiency target values for a plurality of thermoelectric generators along a length of the hot aisle.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the server user capacity percentage target value is between 50% and 90%.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fuel cell efficiency target value, the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user capacity percentage target value is a range of values.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing at least one of the fuel cell efficiency target value, the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user capacity percentage target value includes achieving a corresponding measured value within a preset range of the fuel cell efficiency target value, the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user capacity percentage target value.

11 . A system for controlling energy consumption in a datacenter, the system comprising:
a server computer; a hot aisle configured to remove heat from the server computer; a fuel cell in electrical communication with the server computer; a fuel cell exhaust configured to remove heat from the fuel cell; a thermoelectric generator positioned between the hot aisle and the fuel cell exhaust; and a processor in data communication with at least the server computer; and a hardware storage device in data communication with the processor, the hardware storage device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
allocate virtual machine placements to the server computer to optimize a fuel cell operating percentage relative to a fuel cell efficiency target value, a temperature delta relative to a thermoelectric generator efficiency target value and a server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value.

12 . The system of claim 11 further comprising an exhaust fan to draw air through the hot aisle.

13 . The system of claim 11 further comprising a damper to restrict air flow through the hot aisle.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the fuel cell is a solid oxide fuel cell.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the hardware storage device further comprises a list of high priority virtual machine subscriptions.

16 . The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a second server computer,
a second hot aisle configured to remove heat from the second server computer,
a second fuel cell in electrical communication with the second server computer,
a second fuel cell exhaust configured to remove heat from the second fuel cell, and
a second thermoelectric generator positioned between the second hot aisle and the second fuel cell exhaust,
wherein the processor is in data communication with the second server computer and the instructions further comprise allocating virtual machine placements on either a first server computer or the second server computer.

17 . A method of controlling energy consumption in a datacenter, the method comprising:
receiving a fuel cell operating percentage of an operating capacity of the fuel cell; receiving a fuel cell exhaust temperature; receiving a hot aisle air temperature from a hot aisle of a server; receiving an exhaust fan speed; determining a temperature delta between the hot aisle air temperature and the fuel cell exhaust temperature; and optimizing a server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value, the fuel cell operating percentage relative to a fuel cell efficiency target value, and the temperature delta relative to a thermoelectric generator efficiency target value.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein optimizing the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value includes changing the exhaust fan speed to change the hot aisle air temperature.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein optimizing the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value includes moving a damper of the hot aisle to change the hot aisle air temperature.

20 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
receiving a hot aisle air pressure;
receiving a fuel cell exhaust pressure; and
determining an air pressure delta between the hot aisle air pressure and the fuel cell exhaust pressure,
wherein optimizing the server user percentage relative to a server user capacity percentage target value, the fuel cell operating percentage relative to the fuel cell efficiency target value, the temperature delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value, and the server user capacity percentage target value further includes optimizing the air pressure delta relative to the thermoelectric generator efficiency target value.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Manousakis Ioannis
• Keehn Nicholas Andrew
• Alissa Husam Atallah

Classifications

• H05K7/20745

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

• Y02B90/10

  Applications of fuel cells in buildings · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title