Data center cooling with an air-side economizer and liquid-cooled electronics rack(s)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9101078-B2
Application number	US-201213676212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2012
Priority date	Jul 21, 2011
Publication date	Aug 4, 2015
Grant date	Aug 4, 2015

Abstract

A cooling apparatus and method are provided for cooling an electronics rack. The cooling apparatus includes an air-cooled cooling station, which has a liquid-to-air heat exchanger and ducting for directing a cooling airflow across the heat exchanger. A cooling subsystem is associated with the electronics rack, and includes a liquid-cooled condenser facilitating immersion-cooling of electronic components of the electronics rack, a liquid-cooled structure providing conductive cooling to electronic components of the electronics rack, or an air-to-liquid heat exchanger associated with the rack and cooling airflow passing through the electronics rack. A coolant loop couples the cooling subsystem to the liquid-to-air heat exchanger. In operation, heat is transferred via circulating coolant from the electronics rack, and rejected in the liquid-to-air heat exchanger of the cooling station to the cooling airflow passing across the liquid-to-air heat exchanger. In one embodiment, the cooling airflow is outdoor air.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a cooling apparatus, the providing comprising:
providing at least one outdoor air-cooled cooling station separate from at least one electronics rack to be cooled and disposed within a data center comprising the at least one electronics rack, each outdoor-air-cooled cooling station comprising:
a liquid-to-air heat exchanger, and
ducting configured to direct cooling airflow across the liquid-to-air heat exchanger to facilitate transfer of heat within the data center from the liquid-to-air heat exchanger to the cooling airflow; and

providing a cooling airflow supply plenum and an airflow exhaust plenum, the ducting of the at least one outdoor-air-cooled cooling station being coupled to the cooling airflow supply plenum and to the airflow exhaust plenum, and the ducting receiving cooling airflow from the cooling airflow supply plenum, directing the cooling airflow across the liquid-to-air heat exchanger, and exhausting heated airflow from the liquid-to-air heat exchanger to the airflow exhaust plenum, wherein the cooling airflow comprises outdoor air drawn into the cooling apparatus;
providing at least one cooling subsystem for association with the at least one electronics rack, one cooling subsystem of the at least one cooling subsystem comprising at least one of a liquid-cooled condenser facilitating immersion-cooling of one or more electronic components of the at least one electronics rack, a liquid-cooled structure providing conductive cooling of one or more electronic components of the at least one electronics rack, or an air-to-liquid heat exchanger associated with the at least one electronics rack and cooling airflow passing through the at least one electronics rack;
providing at least one coolant loop, one coolant loop of the at least one coolant loop coupling the one cooling subsystem, of the at least one electronics rack to the liquid-to-air heat exchanger of the separate, at least one outdoor-air-cooled cooling station, wherein the one coolant loop facilitates circulation of liquid coolant between the one cooling subsystem of the at least one electronics rack and the liquid-to-air heat exchanger of the separate, at least one outdoor-air-cooled cooling station, and wherein heat is transferred via the circulating liquid coolant from the at least one electronics rack and rejected in the liquid-to-air heat exchanger of the at least one outdoor-air-cooled cooling station to the cooling airflow passing across the liquid-to-air heat exchanger; and
providing a controllable air recirculation fan disposed between the airflow exhaust plenum and the cooling airflow supply plenum for selectively, actively recirculating a portion of exhausting airflow in the airflow exhaust plenum to the cooling airflow supply plenum, and a controller coupled to the controllable air recirculation fan, the controller activating recirculation of at least a portion of the exhausting heated airflow in the airflow exhaust plenum to the cooling airflow supply plenum responsive to a temperature of the outdoor air being below a set low temperature threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cooling apparatus further comprises an evaporative cooling system associated with the cooling airflow supply plenum, and wherein the method further comprises selectively cooling outdoor air being drawn into the cooling airflow supply plenum employing the evaporative cooling system responsive to a temperature of the outdoor air exceeding a set high temperature threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one electronics rack comprises one electronics rack with multiple electronic subsystems, and the cooling apparatus comprises multiple cooling subsystems, each electronic subsystem of the multiple electronic subsystems having a respective cooling subsystem of the multiple cooling subsystems associated therewith, and wherein the one cooling subsystem of the multiple cooling subsystems comprises at least one of the liquid-cooled condenser facilitating immersion-cooling of one or more electronics components of the at least one electronics rack, or the liquid-cooled structure providing conductive cooling of the one or more electronics components of the one electronics rack.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein another cooling subsystem of the multiple cooling subsystems comprises the air-to-liquid heat exchanger associated with the at least one electronics rack and cooling airflow passing through the at least one electronics rack.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cooling apparatus facilitates cooling of multiple electronics racks, and wherein the cooling apparatus comprises multiple cooling subsystems, the multiple cooling subsystems comprising:
a first cooling subsystem of the multiple cooling subsystems associated with a first electronics rack of the multiple electronics racks, the first cooling subsystem comprising at least one of a first liquid-cooled condenser facilitating immersion-cooling of one or more electronic components of the first electronics rack, a first liquid-cooled structure providing conductive cooling to one or more electronic components of the first electronics rack, or a first air-to-liquid heat exchanger associated with the first electronics rack and cooling airflow passing through the first electronics rack; and
a second cooling subsystem comprising at least one of a second liquid-cooled condenser facilitating immersion-cooling of one or more electronic components of a second electronics rack of the multiple electronics, a second liquid-cooled structure providing conductive cooling to one or more electronic components of the second electronics racks, or a second air-to-liquid heat exchanger associated with the second electronics rack and cooling airflow passing through the second electronics rack.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein one air-cooled cooling station of the at least one air-cooled cooling station is a central, air-cooled cooling station providing cooling to multiple electronics rack, and facilitating heat transfer from the multiple electronics racks, via the circulating coolant, to the cooling airflow passing across the liquid-to-air heat exchanger thereof.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Campbell Levi A
• Chu Richard C
• David Milnes P
• Ellsworth Jr Michael J
• Iyengar Madhusudan K
• Schmidt Roger R
• Simons Robert E

Classifications

• H05K7/2079

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets · CPC title

• H05K7/203 Primary

  by immersion · CPC title

• F28D1/0477

  the conduits being bent in a serpentine or zig-zag · CPC title

• H05K7/20827

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

• H05K7/20781

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title