Method of operating an energy center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9019700-B2
Application number	US-201213533755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2012
Priority date	Jun 27, 2011
Publication date	Apr 28, 2015
Grant date	Apr 28, 2015

Abstract

Methods are provided for creating and operating data centers. A data center may include an information technology (IT) load and a fuel cell generator configured to provide power to the IT load.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a data center, comprising
a plurality of information technology (IT) loads,
a plurality of fuel cell generators electrically coupled to the plurality of IT loads,
a building structure housing the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads, wherein at least one of:
the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads are laterally separated and are located on a same floor of the building structure, or
the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a first floor of the building structure and none of the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a second floor of the building structure, and the plurality of IT loads are located on the second floor and none of the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on the first floor, and

a cooling device, the method comprising:
operating the plurality of fuel cell generators to provide power to the plurality of IT loads;
providing a process exhaust stream from at least one of the plurality of fuel cell generators or the plurality of IT loads; and
using the process exhaust stream to cool at least one of the plurality of fuel cell generators or the plurality of IT loads.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
providing the process exhaust stream comprises providing the process exhaust stream from the plurality of fuel cell generators; and
using the process exhaust stream comprises using the process exhaust stream to cool the plurality of IT loads.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
providing the process exhaust stream comprises providing the process exhaust stream from the plurality of IT loads; and
using the process exhaust stream comprises using the process exhaust stream to cool the plurality of fuel cell generators.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring the plurality of IT loads;
controlling an operation of the plurality of fuel cell generators to provide power to an energy storage device coupled to the plurality of IT loads; and
controlling an operation of the energy storage device to power to the plurality of IT loads.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the building structure includes an air inlet conduit, an air filter coupled to the air inlet conduit, a fan, and an air exhaust conduit, the method further comprising:
operating the fan to draw air into the building structure via the air inlet conduit and circulate the air within the building structure;
filtering the air from the air inlet conduit to create filtered air;
providing the filtered air to the plurality of fuel cell generators or the plurality of IT loads; and
exhausting the air from the building structure via the air exhaust conduit.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
exhausting a fuel exhaust stream from the plurality of fuel cell generators out a first side of the building structure different from a second side of the building structure from which the air inlet conduit draws the air; and
exhausting the process exhaust stream from the plurality of IT loads and the plurality of fuel cell generators out a third side of the building structure different from the second side of the building structure from which the air inlet conduit draws the air and the first side of the building structure from which the fuel exhaust stream from the plurality of fuel cell generators is exhausted.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one of: the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads are laterally separated and are located on a same floor of the building structure, or the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a first floor of the building structure and none of the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a second floor of the building structure, and the plurality of IT loads are located on the second floor and none of the plurality of IT loads are located on the first floor is the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads are laterally separated and are located on a same floor of the building structure, and
wherein the building structure comprises a first building portion housing the plurality of IT loads and a second building portion housing the plurality of fuel cell generators, the first building portion and a second building portion are two separate building portions connected together by a connection structure, the method further comprising:
passing the air from the first building portion to the second building portion via the connection structure.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising maintaining the air temperature in the connection structure at 50 to 70 degrees Celsius.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: providing hot air exhausted from each of the plurality of IT loads to an air inlet of each of the plurality of fuel cell generators.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of IT loads are one or more of a server, a computer, a router, or an IT rack.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of IT loads is cooled by absorptive cooling.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of IT loads is cooled by compression cooling.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing water from the process exhaust stream of the plurality of fuel cell generators; and
cooling the plurality of IT loads using the removed water by evaporative cooling.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the building structure further comprises a first electrically grounded metal skin and a second electrically grounded metal skin which is separately ground from the first electrically grounded metal skin and surrounds the first electrically grounded metal skin, wherein the ground of the second electrically grounded metal skin is isolated in a ground vault.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
drawing air into the building structure via an air inlet conduit through at least a first metal mesh placed over an opening of both the first electrically grounded metal skin and the second electrically grounded metal skin and at least a second metal mesh placed between the first electrically grounded metal skin and the second electrically grounded metal skin.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a minimum runtime for each of the plurality of fuel cell generators;
providing a fuel storage for each of the plurality of fuel cell generators;
storing an amount of fuel in each fuel storage selected to provide the minimum runtime for a respective one of the plurality of fuel cell generators; and
cooling the plurality of IT loads using heat removal from the stored fuel.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the heat removal from the stored fuel occurs during conversion of the stored fuel from a liquid to a gas or during expansion of the stored fuel.

18. A method for operating a data center, comprising
a plurality of information technology (IT) loads,
a plurality of fuel cell generators electrically coupled to the plurality of IT loads,
a building structure housing the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads, wherein at least one of:
the plurality of fuel cell generators and the plurality of IT loads are laterally separated and are located on a same floor of the building structure, or
the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a first floor of the building structure and none of the plurality of fuel cell generators are located on a second floor of the building structure, and the plurality of IT loads are located on the second floor and none of

Assignees

• Ballantine Arne
• Sridhar Kr
• Motta Jon Christopher
• Light Peter
• Cottuli Carl
• Mahler Jessica
• Bloom Energy Corp

Inventors

• Ballantine Arne
• Sridhar Kr
• Motta Jon Christopher
• Light Peter
• Cottuli Carl
• Mahler Jessica

Classifications

• H02J2101/30

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• Y10T29/49002

  Electrical device making · CPC title

• H05K7/1497

  Rooms for data centers; Shipping containers therefor · CPC title

• H05K7/20718

  Forced ventilation of a gaseous coolant (in closed loop H05K7/20754) · CPC title

• H05K7/20827

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