Liquid-assisted bottom air cooling of electronic racks in data centers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9848516-B2
Application number	US-201715460139-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2017
Priority date	Oct 8, 2015
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

An electronic rack includes a housing to contain one or more IT components arranged in a stack, a first rack aisle formed on a first side of the one or more IT components to direct cooler air received from the cooling unit upwardly, and a second rack aisle formed on a second side of the one or more IT components to direct warmer air to the cooling unit downwardly. The electronic rack further includes a cooling unit having one or more cooling units disposed underneath the IT components to receive first liquid from an external chiller system, to exchange heat carried by the warmer air using the first liquid to generate the cooler air, to transform the first liquid into a second liquid with a higher temperature, and to transmit the second liquid carrying the exchanged heat back to the external chiller system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic rack, comprising:
a housing to house one or more IT components arranged in a stack;
a first rack aisle formed on a first side of the one or more IT components to direct cooler air upwardly;
a second rack aisle formed on a second side of the one or more IT components to direct warmer air downwardly, the warmer air being transformed from the cooler air from the first rack aisle by flowing through an airspace between the one or more IT components; and
a cooling unit disposed underneath the IT components to receive first liquid from an external chiller system, to exchange heat carried by the warmer air using the first liquid to generate the cooler air, to transform the first liquid into a second liquid with a higher temperature, and to transmit the second liquid carrying the exchanged heat back to the external chiller system.

2. The electronic rack of claim 1 , wherein the first rack aisle is formed between the first side of the IT components and a front panel of the housing, and wherein the first side is a front side of the IT components that allows a user accessing the IT component.

3. The electronic rack of claim 2 , wherein the second rack aisle is formed between the second side of the IT components and a back panel of the housing, and wherein the second side is a back side of the IT components.

4. The electronic rack of claim 2 , further comprising:
a detector to detect that the cooling unit malfunctions; and
a controller coupled to the front panel of the housing, wherein in response to the malfunctioned cooling unit, the controller opens at least a window on the front panel to draw additional cooler air into the first rack aisle from an external environment.

5. The electronic rack of claim 4 , wherein the detector detects a liquid leakage of the cooling unit as a sign that the cooling unit malfunctions.

6. The electronic rack of claim 4 , wherein in response to the liquid leakage, the controller unlocks and opens the entire front penal of the housing to allow the additional cooler air to come into the housing.

7. The electronic rack of claim 2 , further comprising:
one or more temperature sensors disposed within the housing to sense a temperature within the housing; and
a controller coupled to the front panel of the housing, wherein in response to sensing that the temperature within the housing reaches a predetermined threshold, the controller opens the at least one window to draw additional cooler air into the housing.

8. The electronic rack of claim 7 , wherein in response to sensing that the temperature within the housing reaches a predetermined threshold, the controller unlocks and opens the entire front penal of the housing to allow the additional cooler air to come into the housing.

9. The electronic rack of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the cooler air generated by the cooling unit is directed into the first rack aisle upwardly and wherein a second portion of the cooler air is directed to an external environment outside of the housing.

10. The electronic rack of claim 1 , further comprising one or more fans mounted on the second side of the IT components, wherein the fans draw the cooler air from the first rack aisle to the second rack aisle across the airspace between the IT components.

11. The electronic rack of claim 1 , further comprising a flow controller to control a flow volume of liquid flowing within the cooling unit.

12. The electronic rack of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of electronic component slots to allow each of the IT components to be individually inserted into or removed from one of the electronic slots without disturbing operations of remaining IT components.

13. The electronic rack of claim 1 , further comprising a cooling slot to allow the cooling unit to be inserted into or removed from the cooling slot without disturbing operations of the IT components.

14. The electronic rack of claim 1 , wherein the cooling unit comprises a heat exchanger and a power module, wherein the power module is to provide power to the IT components, and wherein the heat exchanger further provides cooler air to cool the power module.

15. The electronic rack of claim 14 , wherein the power module occupies a portion of an airspace within the cooling unit without significantly blocking the cooler air from flowing from a first side of the cooling unit to a second side of the cooling unit to provide the cooler air to corresponding IT components.

16. The electronic rack of claim 14 , wherein the cooling unit further comprises a first liquid inlet connector and a first liquid outlet connector coupled to first ends of a pair of internal liquid supply lines respectively.

17. The electronic rack of claim 16 , further comprising a second liquid inlet connector and a second liquid out let connector disposed on the housing, wherein the second liquid inlet connector and the second liquid outlet connector are coupled to second ends of the pair of internal liquid supply lines respectively.

18. The electronic rack of claim 17 , wherein second liquid inlet connector and the second liquid outlet connector are further coupled to a pair of external liquid supply lines to receive cooler liquid from the external chiller system and to return warmer liquid back to the external chiller system.

19. The electronic rack of claim 17 , wherein the first liquid inlet connector and the first liquid outlet connector are disposed on a backend of the cooling unit.

20. The electronic rack of claim 19 , wherein the pair of internal liquid supply lines is disposed within the second rack aisle.

Assignees

• Heydari Ali
• Kumar Eric M
• Ingalz Charles J
• Lu Weiyu W
• Gao Tianyi
• Sahini Manasa
• Cui Yan
• Baidu Usa Llc

Inventors

• Heydari Ali
• Kumar Eric M
• Ingalz Charles J
• Lu Weiyu W
• Gao Tianyi
• Sahini Manasa
• Cui Yan

Classifications

• H05K7/20172

  Fan mounting or fan specifications · CPC title

• H05K7/20836

  Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control · CPC title

• H05K7/20145

  Means for directing air flow, e.g. ducts, deflectors, plenum or guides · CPC title

• H05K7/2079 Primary

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets · CPC title

• H05K7/20745

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