U.S. patent application number 12/782886 was filed with the patent office on 2010-11-25 for air conditioning installation.
This patent application is currently assigned to FUJITSU LIMITED. Invention is credited to Junichi ISHIMINE, Tadashi KATSUI, Ikuro NAGAMATSU, Yuji OHBA, Seiichi SAITO, Masahiro SUZUKI, Akira UEDA, Yasushi URAKI, Nobuyoshi YAMAOKA.
Application Number | 20100297927 12/782886 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42340963 |
Filed Date | 2010-11-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100297927 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
NAGAMATSU; Ikuro ; et
al. |
November 25, 2010 |
AIR CONDITIONING INSTALLATION
Abstract
An installation for cooling an electronic device provided on a
floor in a room includes an underfloor space below the floor; an
air conditioner for sending air to the underfloor space; a first
opening provided in the floor and adjacent to the electronic
device, for sending air from the underfloor space to the room; and
a second opening provided in the floor and adjacent to the air
conditioner, the second opening being configured to cause the air
pressure of the lower side of the second opening to be lower than
the air pressure of the upper side of the second opening.
Inventors: |
NAGAMATSU; Ikuro; (Kawasaki,
JP) ; ISHIMINE; Junichi; (Kawasaki, JP) ;
SAITO; Seiichi; (Kawasaki, JP) ; SUZUKI;
Masahiro; (Kawasaki, JP) ; KATSUI; Tadashi;
(Kawasaki, JP) ; OHBA; Yuji; (Kawasaki, JP)
; YAMAOKA; Nobuyoshi; (Kawasaki, JP) ; UEDA;
Akira; (Kawasaki, JP) ; URAKI; Yasushi;
(Kawasaki, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY L.L.P.
8000 TOWERS CRESCENT DRIVE, 14TH FLOOR
VIENNA
VA
22182-6212
US
|
Assignee: |
FUJITSU LIMITED
Kawasaki-shi
JP
|
Family ID: |
42340963 |
Appl. No.: |
12/782886 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
454/256 ;
454/290 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05K 7/20745 20130101;
F24F 1/0053 20190201; F24F 1/005 20190201 |
Class at
Publication: |
454/256 ;
454/290 |
International
Class: |
F24F 11/04 20060101
F24F011/04; F24F 13/10 20060101 F24F013/10 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 22, 2009 |
JP |
2009-124607 |
Claims
1. An installation for cooling an electronic device provided on a
floor in a room, comprising: an underfloor space below the floor;
an air conditioner for sending air to the underfloor space; a first
opening provided in the floor and adjacent to the electronic
device, for sending air from the underfloor space to the room; and
a second opening provided in the floor and adjacent to the air
conditioner, the second opening being configured to cause the air
pressure of the lower side of the second opening to be lower than
the air pressure of the upper side of the second opening.
2. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the second
opening is openable and closable, the installation further
comprising: a sensor for detecting a direction of air getting
through the second opening; and a controller for enlarging the
second opening when the sensor detects the direction of air from
the room to the underfloor space, and reducing the second opening
when the sensor detects the direction of air from the underfloor to
the room.
3. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the second
opening is openable and closable, the installation further
comprising: a sensor for detecting a pressure under the second
opening in the underfloor space; and a controller for enlarging the
second opening when the sensor detects the pressure lower than a
predetermined value, and reducing the second opening when the
sensor detects the pressure equal to or higher than the
predetermined value.
4. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the air
conditioner includes an air outlet for blowing air, the second
opening being adjacent to the air outlet.
5. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate of
the air below the second opening is higher than that above the
second opening.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of
priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-124607,
filed on May 22, 2009, the entire contents of which are
incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
[0002] The embodiments discussed herein are related to an air
conditioning installation for sending cooled air to a bottom-floor
level and then supplying the cooled air to electronic equipment
installed on a raised-floor level.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Hitherto, a data center that supplies cold air from a
bottom-floor level to electronic equipment through a panel has been
utilized. A data center of this type has a double-floor
configuration including a bottom-floor level and a raised-floor
level and electronic equipment is disposed on the raised-floor
level. In a data center configured as mentioned above, electronic
equipment mounted on a rack tends to generate more heat in less
space, causing heat generated per server rack to increase and hot
spots with air exhausted from the electronic equipment and flowing
around the rack to occur.
[0004] Here, air flows in a data center will be described with
reference to FIG. 14. As illustrated in the drawing, an air flow
blown off from an air conditioner and sucked into a rack (see (1)
in FIG. 14), an air flow blown off from the air conditioner and
sucked into the air conditioner (see (2) in FIG. 14), an air flow
exhausted from the rack and sucked into the air conditioner (see
(3) in FIG. 14) and an air flow exhausted from the rack and sucked
into the rack (see (4) in FIG. 14) are observed as air flows in the
data center.
[0005] In the case that a flow rate of air exhausted from a rack
and sucked into the rack is higher than a predetermined rate, a hot
spot is generated with air exhausted from electronic equipment and
flowing around the rack. On the other hand, in the case that a flow
rate of air blown off from an air conditioner is lower than another
predetermined rate, electronic equipment mounted on a lower part of
a rack is cooled, but electronic equipment mounted on an upper part
of the rack is not cooled for lack of cooled air and hence a hot
spot is generated at the upper part of the rack as illustrated in
FIG. 15.
[0006] Here, an example illustrated in FIG. 15 will be specifically
described. In FIG. 15, there are two racks on the raised-floor
level. An air flow rate in the upper space of the each rack is 10
m.sup.3/min. An air flow rate in the lower space of the each rack
is 150 m.sup.3/min. The total air flow rate in the rack is 320
m.sup.3/min (corresponding to about 59 kW). An air conditioner 20
blows off cooled air at the air flow rate of 300 m.sup.3/min and at
the constant temperature of 20.degree. C.
[0007] As illustrated in FIG. 15, air cooled down to 20.degree. C.
exhausted to a bottom-floor level and passing through a panel is
supplied to each rack on which the electronic equipment is mounted.
In the situation, the cooled air is supplied to pieces of
electronic equipment starting from those mounted on a lower shelf
of each rack, so that a variation in temperature occurs between
upper and lower shelves of the rack. As a result, re-circulation of
exhaust air occurs in the electronic equipment stacked on the upper
shelf of the rack for lack of the cooled air and the hot spot is
generated.
[0008] Therefore, as a method of preventing a hot spot from being
generated, there is known a technique for causing a flow rate of
air sucked into electronic equipment to be higher than a flow rate
of air blown off from an air conditioner. For example, cold air is
mixed with exhaust air on a raised-floor level that is the space in
contact with a surface of an air conditioner suction port, thereby
causing the flow rate of air sucked into the electronic equipment
to be higher than the flow rate of air blown off from the air
conditioner. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 08-303815
discloses an example of such technique.
[0009] However, the above mentioned technique for increasing the
flow rate of air sucked into the electronic equipment has such a
problem that, since the cold air is mixed with the exhaust air on
the raised-floor level that is the space in contact with the
surface of the air conditioner suction port, part of the air blown
off from the bottom-floor level toward the raised-floor level is
not supplied to the electronic equipment and directly returns to
the air conditioner suction port and hence the energy of the air is
not effectively utilized.
SUMMARY
[0010] According to an aspect of the invention, an installation for
cooling an electronic device provided on a floor in a room includes
an underfloor space below the floor; an air conditioner for sending
air to the underfloor space; a first opening provided in the floor
and adjacent to the electronic device, for sending air from the
underfloor space to the room; and a second opening provided in the
floor and adjacent to the air conditioner, the second opening being
configured to cause the air pressure of the lower side of the
second opening to be lower than the air pressure of the upper side
of the second opening.
[0011] The object and advantages of the invention will be realized
and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly
pointed out in the claims.
[0012] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general
description and the following detailed description are exemplary
and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as
claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an
air conditioning installation according to an embodiment 1;
[0014] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating detailed configurations of
an opening part and an air conditioner;
[0015] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a rack cooling
operation;
[0016] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an upper surface of a data
center to which the air conditioning installation according to the
embodiment 1 is applied;
[0017] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a side surface of the data
center to which the air conditioning installation according to the
embodiment 1 is applied;
[0018] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the data center to which the
air conditioning installation according to the embodiment 1 is
applied;
[0019] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating one example of a result of
simulation performed;
[0020] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another example of the
result of simulation performed;
[0021] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a result of
simulation performed;
[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates diagrams of examples of pressure
distributions;
[0023] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a location
of an opening part;
[0024] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a result of
simulation performed;
[0025] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of
an air conditioning installation according to an embodiment 2;
[0026] FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a flow of air in an air
conditioning installation;
[0027] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an existing rack cooling
operation; and
[0028] FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of
an air conditioning installation according to an embodiment 3.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0029] Next, preferred embodiments of an air conditioning
installation according to the present invention will be described
in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1
[0030] In the following, a configuration of an air conditioning
installation according to the embodiment 1 and a flow of processing
performed will be described in this order and finally, advantages
attained by the embodiment 1 will be described.
[0031] [Configuration of Air Conditioning System]
[0032] Next, a configuration of an air conditioning installation
100 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block
diagram illustrating the configuration of the air conditioning
installation according to the embodiment 1. As illustrated in FIG.
1, the air conditioning installation 100 has a double-floor
configuration including a raised-floor level 1a and a bottom-floor
level 1b and is configured such that an air conditioner 20 sends
cooled air down to the bottom-floor level 1b and then supplies the
cooled air to electronic equipment 40a disposed on the raised-floor
level 1a. In general, a raised-floor opening panel through which
the cooled air is supplied to the electronic equipment 40a is
disposed adjacent to the electronic equipment in order to prevent
the cooled air from being mixed with exhaust hot air. Next, the
respective components of the air conditioning installation will be
described.
[0033] An opening part 10 which is provided separately from the
raised-floor opening panel which is disposed adjacent to the
electronic equipment in order to supply the cooled air to the
electronic equipment is formed in a raised tiled floor 31 which is
in contact with a negative pressure area which is an area in the
bottom-floor level 1b and on which a negative pressure is exerted
relative to a positive pressure on the raised-floor level 1a in
order to take exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level 1b from
the raised-floor level 1a.
[0034] The air conditioner 20 includes a blower 21 for sending air
to the bottom-floor level 1b and an heat exchanger 24 for cooling
the hot air which is exhausted from the electronic equipment 40a
and operates to send the cooled air down to the bottom-floor level
1b using the blower 21 and supply the cooled air up to the
electronic equipment 40a disposed on the raised-floor level 1a
through a raised-floor opening panel 50.
[0035] Next, detailed configurations of the opening part 10 and the
air conditioner 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG.
2 is a diagram illustrating detailed configurations of the opening
part and the air conditioner. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the opening
part 10 is fitted in a raised tiled floor 31 in contact with the
negative pressure area in the vicinity of the air conditioner.
[0036] The air conditioner 20 includes the blower 21, an air
conditioner suction port 23 and the heat exchanger 24. The blower
21 is driven using a built-in motor 21a to send the cooled air down
to the bottom-floor level 1b through an air conditioner blow-off
port.
[0037] The heat exchanger 24 cools the exhaust hot air which is
exhausted from the electronic equipment 40a and is sucked into the
heat exchanger through the air conditioner suction port 23 and
makes the blower 21 blow off the cooled air.
[0038] Next, a rack cooling operation will be described in detail
with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the rack
cooling operation. In FIG. 3, the two racks in which a total air
flow rate is 320 m.sup.3/min (corresponding to about 59 kW) are
cooled. (An air flow rate of the each rack is 160 m.sup.3/min.) The
air conditioner 20 blows off air which has been cooled down to the
constant temperature of 20.degree. C. at the air flow rate of 300
m.sup.3/min.
[0039] As illustrated in the drawing, the air which has been cooled
down to 20.degree. C. using the air conditioner 20 and blown off at
the air flow rate of 300 m.sup.3/min using the blower is mixed with
exhaust hot air which has been taken into the opening part 10 in a
heated-up-to-30.degree. C. and decelerated-down-to-20 m.sup.3/min
state and then the mixed air is blown off toward the raised-floor
level at the total air flow rate of 320 m.sup.3/min.
[0040] That is, in the air conditioning installation 100, although
the exhaust hot air from the electronic equipment is taken into the
system and hence the average temperature of the cooled air which is
mixed with the exhaust hot air in a vacant bottom-floor level is
increased, the air flow rate of the cooled air may be increased. As
a result, it may become possible to prevent the temperature on a
rack air-suction surface from being varied, thereby preventing a
hot spot from being generated.
[0041] Returning to the description on the configuration in FIG. 1,
the electronic equipment 40a is mounted on a rack 40 disposed on
the raised tiled floor 31, the cooled air is supplied to the
electronic equipment 40a using the air conditioner 20 and the
electronic equipment 40a then exhausts the hot air to the
raised-floor level 1a.
[0042] The raised-floor opening panel 50 is an opening panel which
is fitted in the raised tiled floor in the vicinity of the rack 40
in order to supply the cooled air which has been sent down to the
bottom-floor level 1b up to the raised-floor level 1a.
[0043] Next, results of simulation performed by modeling a data
center to which the air conditioning installation 100 according to
the embodiment 1 is applied and using a height from a bottom floor,
an air flow rate of the air conditioner and an area of a blow-off
opening part in the air conditioner as parameters will be described
with reference to FIGS. 4 to 12. First, the data center to which
the air conditioning installation which is a simulation object is
applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. 4 is
a diagram illustrating an upper surface of the data center to which
the air conditioning installation according to the embodiment 1 is
applied. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a side surface of the
data center to which the air conditioning installation according to
the embodiment 1 is applied. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the
data center to which the air conditioning installation according to
the embodiment 1 is applied.
[0044] As illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6, the data center as the
simulation object is modeled to have the room size of 7.2
[m].times.10.8 [m] (W.times.D), have a height from a raised floor
of 2.5 [m], have the size of a raised-floor opening panel 50 of 0.6
[m].times.0.6 [m] (W.times.D) whose aperture ratio is 50% and have
the area of the opening part 10 of 0.8 [m].times.0.6 [m]
(W.times.D).
[0045] First, as a simulating process, how the value of a maximum
vertical distance "d" [m] (hereinafter, referred to as a negative
pressure distance) measured from a front surface of the air
conditioner is changed within a range of the negative pressure area
on which a negative pressure is exerted relative to a positive
pressure on the raised-floor level in the case that the parameters
(the height from the bottom floor and the air conditioner air flow
rate) have been changed has been confirmed.
[0046] Results of simulation performed are illustrated in FIGS. 7
to 9. FIGS. 7 to 9 are diagrams illustrating examples of results of
simulation performed in order to confirm a change in the value of
the negative pressure distance "d" which is obtained when the
height from the bottom floor has been changed. As illustrated in
FIGS. 7 and 8, according to the result of simulation performed, the
lower the bottom floor is, the more the value of the negative
pressure distance "d" is increased.
[0047] An example illustrated in FIG. 9 is of a result of
simulation performed in order to confirm a change in the value of
the negative pressure distance "d" obtained when the air
conditioner air flow rate has been changed. As illustrated in FIG.
9, the more the air conditioner air flow rate is increased, the
more the value of the negative pressure distance "d" is
increased.
[0048] Next, pressure distributions under the raised floor will be
described with reference to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 illustrates diagrams
explaining the pressure distributions. As illustrated in FIG. 10, a
change in the negative pressure distance "d" and a change in the
pressure distribution at the height of -0.04 [m] measured from the
raised floor obtained when the height from the bottom floor has
been changed are indicated. In the examples in FIG. 10, a black
part indicates a negative pressure area which is the area within
the bottom-floor level and on which a negative pressure is exerted
relative to a positive pressure on the raised-floor level. As
illustrated in the examples in FIG. 10, the higher the height from
the bottom floor is, the more the negative pressure distance "d" is
decreased.
[0049] In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 10, in the case that the
height from the bottom floor is h=0.9, a negative pressure area is
not observed on the side where the electronic equipment is disposed
relative to the air conditioner and a negative pressure area is
observed on the side opposite to the side where the electronic
equipment is disposed relative to the air conditioner. In a data
center of the above mentioned arrangement, an opening part may be
provided on the side opposite to the side where the electronic
equipment is disposed relative to the air conditioner. That is, the
location of the opening part suited for conditions of a data center
concerned may be determined on the basis of the results of
simulation performed in the above mentioned manner.
[0050] In addition, negative pressure area may also be caused by
the flow rate of the air below the opening part being higher than
that above the opening part.
[0051] Next, an air flow rate increasing effect which has been
clarified from a result of simulation performed by modeling a data
center to which the air conditioning installation 100 according to
the embodiment 1 is applied such that the raised-floor opening
panel 50 is disposed in an area corresponding the raised floor on
which a negative pressure is exerted relative to a pressure on a
raised-floor level will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and
12. In the examples illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12, it is assumed
that simulation has been performed in a state in which the air flow
rate of the air conditioner has been set to 4.0 [m.sup.3/s] and the
air blow-off temperature thereof has been set to 20.degree. C. FIG.
11 is a diagram illustrating an example indicative of the location
of the opening part and FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the
result of simulation performed.
[0052] As illustrated in FIG. 11, the data center which is the
simulation object is modeled such that the opening part is disposed
in a negative pressure area in the vicinity of the air conditioner.
Identification numbers (corresponding to Grill Nos. in FIG. 12) 1
to 20 are allocated to respective raised-floor opening panels of
the data center.
[0053] The result of simulation performed on the data center so
configured is illustrated in FIG. 12. In the example illustrated in
FIG. 12, the air flow rates of the opening part 10 and the
respective raised-floor opening panels 50 and the air bow-off
temperatures of the opening part 10 and the respective raised-floor
opening panels 50 are indicated as the result of simulation
performed.
[0054] Specifically, "Grill No." indicative of the identification
number of each grill, "Air Flow" indicative of the air flow rate at
which air has been blown off from each grill and "Temperature"
indicative of the temperature of each blown-off air are indicated
in a one-to-one correspondence.
[0055] As illustrated in the example in FIG. 12, in the data center
to which the air conditioning installation 100 according to the
embodiment 1 is applied, an increase in the air flow rate of 0.87
[m.sup.3/s] is attained for the air flow rate of 4.0 [m.sup.3/s] of
the air conditioner. In addition, in the data center to which the
air conditioning installation according to the embodiment 1 is
applied, as for the temperature of the air which has been blown off
from each grill, an increase in the temperature is limited to a
value from 0.95 to 1.13.degree. C. for the air blown-off
temperature of 20.degree. C. at which the air is blown off from the
air conditioner.
Effect of Embodiment 1
[0056] As described above, in the air conditioning installation 100
according to the embodiment 1, since the opening part 10 is formed
on the level in contact with the negative pressure area in order to
take exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level from the
raised-floor level, generation of a hot spot with the exhaust air
flowing around a rack, which would occur at an insufficient air
flow rate, may be prevented by taking the exhaust hot air into the
bottom-floor level from the raised-floor level so as to increase
the air flow rate.
Embodiment 2
[0057] Although a case in which the opening is usually opened has
been described in the explanation of the embodiment 1, the present
invention is not limited thereto and may be embodied to control
opening/closing of the opening part.
[0058] Therefore, in the embodiment 2 which will be described
hereinbelow, a configuration of an air conditioning installation
according to the embodiment 2 will be described with reference to
FIG. 13 in relation to a case in which the direction of air passing
through an opening part is sensed to control opening/closing of the
opening part in accordance with the direction of the air passing
through the opening part, by way of example. FIG. 13 is a block
diagram illustrating the configuration of the air conditioning
installation according to the embodiment 2.
[0059] As illustrated in FIG. 13, an air conditioning installation
100a according to the embodiment 2 differs from the air
conditioning installation 100 according to the embodiment 1 in that
an air direction and air speed sensor 60 and an opening panel
control section 70 are newly provided. The opening part 10 is
configured to be variably opened/closed and opening/closing of the
opening part 10 is controlled using the opening panel control
section 70 which will be described later. For example, the opening
part 10 has a valve 10a. The opening panel control section 70
controls the valve 10a so as to control opening/closing of the
opening part 10. The opening panel control section 70 enlarges the
opening part 10 when it detects the direction of air from the
raised-floor level to the bottom-floor level. The opening panel
control section 70 reduces the opening part 10 when it detects the
direction of air from the bottom-floor level to the raised-floor
level.
[0060] The air direction and air speed sensor 60 senses the
direction of the air passing through the opening part 10 which is
configured to be variably opened/closed in order to take exhaust
hot air into the space under the raised floor. Then, the air
direction and air speed sensor 60 notifies the opening panel
control section 70 of a result of sensing.
[0061] In the case that it has been sensed that the air is directed
from the raised-floor level toward the bottom-floor level, the
opening panel control section 70 controls to open the opening part
10 which is configured to be variably opened/closed in order to
take the exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level. While in the
case that it has been sensed that the air is directed from the
bottom-floor level toward the raised-floor level using the air
direction and air speed sensor 60, the opening panel control
section 70 controls to close the opening part 10.
[0062] As described above, in the embodiment 2, the air
conditioning installation 100a senses the direction of the air
passing through the opening part 10 using the air direction and air
speed sensor 60. Then, in the case that it has been sensed that the
air is directed from the raised-floor level toward the bottom-floor
level using the air direction and air speed sensor 60, the air
conditioning installation 100a controls to pen the opening part 10
which is configured to be variably opened/closed in order to take
the exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level using the opening
panel control section 70. While in the case that it has been sensed
that the air is directed from the bottom-floor level toward the
raised-floor level using the air direction and air speed sensor 60,
the air conditioning installation 100a controls to close the
opening part 10 using the opening panel control section 70.
Therefore, in the case that it has been sensed that the air is
directed from the bottom-floor level toward the raised-floor level,
the opening part 10 which is configured to be variably
opened/closed in order to take the exhaust hot air into the
bottom-floor level may be closed to prevent the cooled air from
being mixed with the exhaust hot air on the raised-floor level.
Embodiment 3
[0063] Although the embodiments have been described, the present
invention is not limited to the above mentioned embodiments and may
be embodied in a variety of ways. Thus, in the following, a further
embodiment of the present invention will be described as an
embodiment 3.
[0064] (1) Opening/Closing the Opening Part in Accordance with
Pressure Information
[0065] In the above mentioned embodiment 2, a case in which the
direction of the air passing through the opening part is sensed to
control opening/closing of the opening part in accordance with the
direction of the air passing through the opening part has been
described. However, the embodiment is not limited thereto and the
embodiment may be configured to sense bottom-floor-level pressure
information (information on pressure exerted on a bottom-floor
level) of the opening part is sensed to control opening/closing of
the opening part in accordance with the bottom-floor-level pressure
information of the opening part.
[0066] FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of
the air conditioning installation according to the embodiment 3.
Specifically, the air conditioning installation 100a includes a
bottom-floor-level pressure sensor 80 for sensing the
bottom-floor-level pressure information of the opening part 10 and
an opening panel control section 70 for controlling opening/closing
of the opening part 10 in accordance with the bottom-floor-level
pressure information of the opening part 10. Then, in the case that
bottom-floor-level pressure information sensed using the
bottom-floor-level pressure sensor 80 is of a value less than a
predetermined threshold value, the opening panel control section 70
of the air conditioning installation controls to open the opening
part 10 which is configured to be variably opened/closed in order
to take the exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level. While in
the case the bottom-floor-level pressure information sensed using
the bottom-floor-level pressure sensor 80 is of a value more than
the predetermined threshold value, it controls to close the opening
part 10.
[0067] As described above, according to the embodiment 3, in the
case that the bottom-floor-level pressure information of the
opening part 10 which is configured to be variably opened/closed in
order to take the exhaust hot air into the bottom-floor level and
the sensed bottom-floor-level pressure information is of a value
less than the predetermined threshold value, the air conditioning
installation 100a controls to open the opening part 10. While in
the case that the bottom-floor-level pressure information is of a
value more than the predetermined threshold value, the system 100a
controls to close the opening part 10. Thus, in the case that the
bottom-floor-level pressure information is of a value more than the
predetermined threshold value, the opening part 10 may be closed to
prevent the cooled air from being mixed with the exhaust air on the
raised floor level.
[0068] A system according to the above embodiments exhibit such an
advantage that the hot spot at a rack generated with exhaust air
flowing around the rack, which occurs at an insufficient air flow
rate, can be efficiently prevented by supplying the exhaust hot air
to the bottom-floor level from the raised-floor level to increase
the air flow rate.
[0069] All examples and conditional language recited herein are
intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in
understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the
inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being
without limitation to such specifically recited examples and
conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the
specification relate to a showing of the superiority and
inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the
present inventions have been described in detail, it should be
understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations
could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of
the invention.
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