Cooling module for modular data center and system comprising the cooling module and at least one server module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9632547-B2
Application number	US-201213667091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2012
Priority date	Nov 3, 2011
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A cooling module for cooling at least two server modules that are configured to house a plurality of servers, the cooling module including a housing having an interior containing air, an intake into the housing, an outlet from the housing, at least one fan configured to move the air from the intake to the outlet and at least one sprayer configured to spray a mist into the air in the interior for evaporative cooling of the interior. Also a system formed of the cooling module, first and second server modules and a plenum connecting the outlet of the cooling module and intakes of the first and second server modules.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling module for cooling at least one server module configured to house a plurality of servers, the cooling module comprising:
a housing having an interior containing air;
an intake into the housing;
an outlet from the housing;
at least one fan configured to move the air from the intake to the outlet;
at least one sprayer configured to spray a mist into the air in the interior for evaporative cooling of the interior; and
a mist collector for removing at least some of the mist from the air in the interior, wherein the mist collector comprises a plurality of mist collector elements mounted on a support and wherein the support is shiftable from a first position in which the plurality of mist collector elements and the support reside in a first plane and a first portion of the air in the interior moving from the intake to the outlet passes through the plurality of mist collector elements on the support and the mist collector removes a first portion of mist from the first portion of the air, to a second position in which the plurality of mist collector elements and the support reside in a second plane, wherein the first plane is more perpendicular to the air flow direction than the second plane, and a second portion of the air in the interior moving from the intake to the outlet passes through the plurality of mist collector elements on the support, wherein the second portion of the air is less than the first portion of the air and the mist collector removes a second portion of mist, less than the first portion of mist, from the second portion of the air, or the second portion of the air is substantially zero as the air flows around the support and bypasses the plurality of mist collector elements and the mist collector removes substantially no mist.

2. The cooling module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sprayer comprises a plurality of spray nozzles.

3. The cooling module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fan comprises a plurality of fan modules mounted in a support frame.

4. The cooling module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one support is mounted for pivotable motion about an axis perpendicular to an airflow direction in the housing.

5. The cooling module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mist collector elements are a first plurality of mist collector elements formed of wires, rods or plates and the support is a first support, and the mist collector further comprising:
a second plurality of mist collector elements formed of wires, rods or plates mounted on a second support and wherein the second support is shiftable from a first position in which a third portion of the air in the interior moving from the intake to the outlet passes through the second plurality of mist collector elements on the second support to a second position in which a fourth portion of the air in the interior moving from the intake to the outlet passes through the second plurality of mist collector elements on the second support, wherein the fourth portion is less than the third portion or is substantially zero.

6. The cooling module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one server module comprises at least two server modules and including a plenum connected to the cooling module and to the at least two server modules and configured to guide air from the cooling module outlet to inlets of the at least two server modules.

7. The cooling module of claim 1 including a controller for controlling operation of the at least one fan and for controlling operation of the at least one sprayer and for controlling the position of the support.

8. The cooling module of claim 7 including a plurality of sensors for sensing at least one of temperature, humidity and pressure.

9. A system comprising a cooling module and first and second server modules,
the first server module including a housing having a floor, a roof, a first end wall, a second end wall, a first side wall connecting the first end wall to the second end wall and a second side wall spaced from the first side wall and connecting the first end wall to the second end wall; the floor, roof and walls defining an interior, an inlet into the interior formed in the first end wall, plural rows of racks holding a plurality of servers located in the interior, and at least one outlet for air to escape from the interior;
the second server module including a housing having a floor, a roof, a first end wall, a second end wall, a first side wall connecting the first end wall to the second end wall and a second side wall spaced from the first side wall and connecting the first end wall to the second end wall, the floor, roof and walls defining an interior, an inlet into the interior formed in the first end wall, plural rows of racks holding a plurality of servers located in the interior, and at least one outlet for air to escape from the interior;
the cooling module including a housing having a floor, a roof, a first end wall, a second end wall, a first side wall connecting the first end wall to the second end wall and a second side wall spaced from the first side wall and connecting the first end wall to the second end wall, the floor, roof and walls defining an interior, an inlet into the cooling module interior formed in the first end wall and an outlet from the cooling module interior for cooled air to escape from the interior, at least one fan configured to move air through the cooling module interior to the cooling module outlet, and at least one sprayer configured to spray a mist into the cooling module interior, the cooling module further including a mist collector for removing at least some of the mist from the air in the cooling module interior, wherein the mist collector comprises a plurality of mist collector elements mounted on a support and wherein the support is shiftable from a first position in which the plurality of mist collector elements and the support reside in a first plane and a first portion of the air in the cooling module interior moving from the cooling module intake to the cooling module outlet passes through the plurality of mist collector elements on the support and the mist collector removes a first portion of mist from the first portion of the air, to a second position in which the plurality of mist collector elements and the support reside in a second plane, wherein the first plane is more perpendicular to the air flow direction than the second plane, and a second portion of the air in the cooling module interior moving from the cooling module intake to the cooling module outlet passes through the plurality of mist collector elements on the support, wherein the second portion of the air is less than the first portion of the air and the mist collector removes a second portion of mist, less than the first portion of mist, from the second portion of air, or the second portion of the air is substantially zero as the air flows around the support and bypasses the plurality of mist collector elements and the mist collector removes substantially no mist; and
a plenum connecting the cooling module outlet to the inlets formed in the first end walls of the first and second server modules.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first server module housing has the first server module housing outlet formed in the second end wall, wherein the plural rows of racks in the first server module comprises a first rack spaced from the first side wall by a first gap and a second rack spaced from the first rack by a center aisle and spaced from the second side wall by a second gap, wherein the inlet of the first server module is configured to allow air into the center aisle, wherein the at least one outlet of the first server module comprises a first outlet for allowing air to

Assignees

• Commscope Inc North Carolina

Inventors

• Hendrix Walter Mark
• Sivanandan Deepak Kumar

Classifications

• H05K7/20345

  Sprayers; Atomizers · CPC title

• F28C3/08

  with change of state, e.g. absorption, evaporation, condensation (generating steam under pressure F22) · CPC title

• H05K7/20745

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

• Y02B30/545

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F24F2011/0006

  using low temperature external supply air to assist cooling · CPC title