Salt-based device and a circuit to monitor and log the times a data center air goes above a predefined limit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9568445-B2
Application number	US-201414248572-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2014
Priority date	Apr 9, 2014
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A salt-based device and a circuit to monitor and log the time periods a data center air's relative humidity goes above a predefined limit. The choice of the salt is such that its deliquescent relative humidity is equal to the desired limit, so that above the desired limit, the salt gets wet and therefore electrically conductive. An alarm can then give notice that relative humidity levels are above acceptable levels so that remedial action may be taken before problems such as electronic malfunction develop.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus to monitor the relative humidity of air going above a predefined value, the apparatus comprising:
metallic, inter-digitated comb patterns printed on a medium having spacing in between the patterns wherein a liquid solution containing salt is dried upon the medium, the salt having a deliquescent relative humidity, wherein the dried salt absorbs moisture and becomes ionically conductive when exposed to relative humidity levels exceeding the salt's deliquescent relative humidity;
a power supply and a resistor connected to the inter-digitated comb pattern forming an electrical circuit;
a microprocessor connected across the resistor which monitors changes in resistance of the circuit that result from the salt becoming ionically conductive thereby indicating an incident of relative humidity of the air exceeding a predefined value based on the salt's deliquescent relative humidity; and
a data logger connected to the microprocessor designed to digitally log data at regular time intervals and when the relative humidity of the air exceeds the predefined value, wherein the digitally logged data is available for downloading to a computer for display as a plot of high relative humidity, wherein the digitally logged data comprises date, time, and the duration of the predefined value being exceeded.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the medium is a quartz frit disk.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an alarm controlled by the microprocessor, the alarm providing an alert to a change in the resistance of the circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the comb patterns are made of corrosion resistant metal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an air mixer controlled by the microprocessor for combining indoor and outdoor air to regulate relative humidity levels of the indoor air based on received relative humidity forecasting from national weather models, wherein the microprocessor is designed to predict future humidity levels based on the received relative humidity forecasting.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an air control unit controlled by the microprocessor for regulating relative humidity levels of the indoor air, wherein the microprocessor is designed to instruct the air control unit to close air dampers and adjust temperature based on the relative humidity of the air exceeding the predefined value.

7. An apparatus to monitor the relative humidity of air of going above a predefined value, the apparatus comprising:
a sand blasted printed circuit board comprising metallic, inter-digitated comb patterns printed on the board, having spacing in between the patterns wherein a liquid solution containing salt is dried upon the board, the salt having a deliquescent relative humidity, wherein the dried salt absorbs moisture and becomes ionically conductive when exposed to relative humidity levels exceeding the salt's deliquescent relative humidity;
a power supply and a resistor connected to the inter-digitated comb pattern forming an electrical circuit;
a microprocessor connected across the resistor which monitors changes in resistance of the circuit that result from the salt becoming ionically conductive thereby indicating an incident of relative humidity of the air exceeding a predefined value based on the salt's deliquescent relative humidity; and
a data logger connected to the microprocessor designed to digitally log data at regular time intervals and when the relative humidity of the air exceeds the predefined value, wherein the digitally logged data is available for downloading to a computer for display as a plot of high relative humidity, wherein the digitally logged data comprises date, time, and the duration of the predefined value being exceeded.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising an alarm controlled by the microprocessor, the alarm activated in response to the deliquescent relative humidity of the solution exceeding a threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the comb patters are made of corrosion resistant metal.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising an air mixer controlled by the microprocessor for combining indoor and outdoor air to regulate relative humidity levels of the indoor air based on received relative humidity forecasting from national weather models, wherein the microprocessor is designed to predict future humidity levels based on the received relative humidity forecasting.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising an air control unit controlled by the microprocessor for regulating relative humidity levels of the indoor air, wherein the microprocessor is designed to instruct the air control unit to close air dampers and adjust temperature based on the relative humidity of the air exceeding the predefined value.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Klein Levente
• Singh Prabjit
• Zhang Jing

Classifications

• B01D53/30

  Controlling by gas-analysis apparatus (regulating non electrical variables in general G05D) · CPC title

• G01N27/121 Primary

  for determining moisture content, e.g. humidity, of the fluid (moisture content of the tested material G01N27/048) · CPC title

• B01D53/02

  by adsorption, e.g. preparative gas chromatography {(solid sorbent compositions B01J20/00, preparation of inorganic compounds or elements C01)} · CPC title

• B01D2257/80

  Water · CPC title

• G01N27/048 Primary

  for determining moisture content of the material · CPC title