Rack cooling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9820409-B1
Application number	US-201514868280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 28, 2015
Priority date	Sep 28, 2015
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

A rack cooling system includes a plurality of electronic devices mounted in a rack and a plurality of shared rack-level fans arranged in an array and coupled to a rack. A fan controller receives one or more condition signals indicating thermal conditions in the electronic devices and generates a plurality of control signals for controlling the shared rack-level fans. The fan controller generates the plurality of control signals based on respective thermal conditions in respective electronic devices in respective positions in the rack and the plurality of control signals causes different respective groups of one or more shared rack-level fans in different locations in the array to induce air flow through the electronic devices, wherein separate ones of the two or more groups of one or more shared rack-level fans operate at different speeds or angles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of electronic devices mounted in a rack;
a plurality of shared fans arranged in an array and coupled to the rack; and
a fan controller configured to:
receive one or more condition signals indicating respective thermal conditions in different respective groups of one or more electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein each group of the different groups of one or more electronic devices is associated with a respective position in the rack;
access a fan speed control model generated based on performance relationships due to interactions between the plurality of shared fans of the array; and
generate a plurality of respective control signals for controlling different respective groups of one or more shared fans of the plurality of shared fans, wherein the fan controller is configured to generate the plurality of control signals based on:
the respective thermal conditions in the different groups of one or more electronic devices,
respective positions in the rack for the different groups of one or more electronics devices, and
the fan speed control model;

wherein the fan controller is configured to generate the plurality of respective control signals to operate at least one of the groups of one or more shared fans at a different fan speed than another one of the groups of one or more shared fans, wherein the different fan speeds are greater than zero
wherein the fan speed control model is configured to be updated in response to one or more deviations being determined between respective performances of two or more of the groups of shared fans that are located in different respective positions in the array when being operated in accordance with a combination of the respective control signals in comparison to respective performance values included in the fan speed control model for the two or more groups of shared fans located in the different respective positions in the array.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, subsequent to generating the plurality of respective control signals, the fan controller is further configured to:
receive one or more additional condition signals indicating subsequent thermal conditions in the different groups of one or more electronic devices; and
change one or more of the plurality of respective control signals based at least in part on:
a current state of the plurality of respective control signals,
the subsequent respective thermal conditions and corresponding respective positions of the different groups of one or more electronic devices, and
the fan speed control model.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fan speed control model comprises relationships between control signal values for controlling the plurality of shared fans and corresponding performance values for the plurality of shared fans, wherein the performance values correspond to capacities of the plurality of shared fans to remove thermal energy from particular electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices mounted in particular positions in the rack when the plurality of shared fans are operated in accordance with the control signal values.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fan controller is implemented on one or more of the electronic devices mounted in the rack.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising one or more virtual sensors, wherein the one or more condition signals are received from the one or more virtual sensors, wherein the one or more virtual sensors are configured to generate the one or more condition signals indicating the thermal conditions in the different groups of one or more electronic devices based, at least in part, on one or more relationships between one or more non-thermal measurements related to the electronic devices in the different groups of one or more electronic devices and the thermal conditions.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of shared fans are mounted in respective housings, wherein individual ones of the respective housings are configured to couple to the rack, wherein respective angles between the individual ones of the respective housings and the rack are adjustable such that air flows induced by the shared fans mounted in the respective housings are directed according to the respective angles;
wherein the fan speed control model further comprises one or more relationships between respective angles between the individual ones of the respective housings and the rack for the shared fans in the respective locations in the array and the respective positions in the rack associated with the two or more different respective groups of one or more electronic devices.

7. A method, comprising:
receiving one or more condition signals relating to thermal conditions in different groups of one or more electronic devices mounted in a rack, wherein each respective group of the different groups of one or more electronic devices is associated with a respective position in the rack; and
generating a plurality of control signals for controlling a plurality of shared fans arranged in an array and coupled to the rack, wherein the plurality of shared fans comprises different groups of one or more shared fans each associated with a respective location in the array, wherein each respective group of the different groups of one or more shared fans are configured to provide cooling to more than one respective group of the different groups of one or more electronic devices, wherein the plurality of control signals are generated based on:
respective thermal conditions in respective different groups of one or more electronic devices of the different groups of the one or more electronic devices;
respective positions in the rack associated with the respective different groups of one or more electronics devices; and
a fan speed control model generated based on performance relationships due to interactions between the plurality of shared fans arranged in the array; and

wherein the plurality of control signals cause at least one of the different groups of one or more shared fans to induce a different amount or direction of airflow than another one of the different groups of one or more shared fans, wherein the at least one of the different groups of one or more shared fans and the other one of the different groups of one or more shared fans both induce at least some airflow
wherein the fan speed control model is updated in response to determining one or more deviations between current performances of two or more of the groups of shared fans in different respective locations in the array when operating according to a combination of the control signals in comparison to performance values included in the fan speed control model for the two or more groups of shared fans in the different respective locations in the array.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the fan control model includes relationships between control signal values for controlling the plurality of shared fans and corresponding performance values for the plurality of shared fans, wherein the performance values correspond to capacities of the plurality of shared fans to remove thermal energy from particular electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices mounted in particular positions in the rack when the plurality of shared fans are operated in accordance with the control signal values.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
performing an initialization operation to generate at least a portion of the fan control model, wherein performing said initialization operation comprises:
selecting a combination of control signal values for operating the plurality of shared fans;
operating

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Ross Peter George
• Beall Christopher Strickland
• Gutierrez Felipe Enrique Ortega
• Frink Darin Lee

Classifications

• H05K7/20718 Primary

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

• H05K7/20736 Primary

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title