U.S. patent application number 17/513997 was filed with the patent office on 2022-05-05 for systems and methods for determining liquid cooled architectures in an it room.
The applicant listed for this patent is SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IT CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Michael B. Condor, Stuart Michael Sheehan, James William VanGilder.
Application Number | 20220137805 17/513997 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000006093934 |
Filed Date | 2022-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220137805 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
VanGilder; James William ;
et al. |
May 5, 2022 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LIQUID COOLED ARCHITECTURES IN
AN IT ROOM
Abstract
Methods and systems for designing a liquid cooled IT room
architecture for an IT room include receiving a design parameter,
responsive to a user input, corresponding to at least one equipment
rack in the IT room, determining a dielectric fluid return
temperature T.sub.h.sup.in in the architecture based on an energy
balance equation and a heat exchange equation, and responsive to
receiving the design parameter and determining the dielectric fluid
return temperature, dynamically calculating and displaying at least
one of a surface temperature of at least one immersion-cooled
equipment rack cooled by the architecture or an amount of required
room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT room.
Inventors: |
VanGilder; James William;
(Pepperell, MA) ; Sheehan; Stuart Michael;
(Narragansett, RI) ; Condor; Michael B.;
(Chelmsford, MA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IT CORPORATION |
Foxboro |
MA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000006093934 |
Appl. No.: |
17/513997 |
Filed: |
October 29, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
17217522 |
Mar 30, 2021 |
11188214 |
|
|
17513997 |
|
|
|
|
63002403 |
Mar 31, 2020 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/771 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/04847 20130101;
G06F 3/0482 20130101; H05K 7/20236 20130101; H05K 7/20781
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/04847 20060101
G06F003/04847; G06F 3/0482 20060101 G06F003/0482 |
Claims
1. A system for designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture for
an IT room, the system comprising: at least one processor
configured to: receive a design parameter, responsive to a user
input, corresponding to at least one equipment rack in the IT room;
determine a dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in in
the architecture based on an energy balance equation and a heat
exchange equation; and responsive to receiving the design parameter
and determining the dielectric fluid return temperature,
dynamically calculate and display at least one of a surface
temperature of at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled
by the architecture or an amount of required room cooling power per
a unit of area of the IT room.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load removed by
liquid cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the
architecture.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load produced by
the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the dielectric fluid return
temperature T.sub.h.sup.in is determined by calculating an overall
thermal resistance R.sub.amb between the ambient environment and
external skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment
rack.
5. The system of claim 4, R amb = N s .times. a .times. R amb s
.times. a + N m .times. R a .times. m .times. b m + N e .times. R
amb e N s .times. a + N m + N e ##EQU00003## wherein where N.sub.sa
is a number of stand alone racks, N.sub.m is a number of middle
racks, N.sub.e is a number of end racks, R.sub.amb.sup.sa is a
thermal resistance of the stand alone racks, R.sub.amb.sup.m is a
thermal resistance of the middle racks, and R.sub.amb.sup.e is a
thermal resistance of the end racks.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the dielectric fluid return
temperature is determined by retrieving a plurality of constants
from one or more stored tables of simulation data generated from a
plurality of previously completed computational fluid dynamics
simulations.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more stored tables
include one table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle
racks, or one table for end racks.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is
further configured to solve the energy balance equation and the
heat exchange equation for two unknowns including the dielectric
fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in where h denotes a hot
stream.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein in solving the energy balance
equation and the heat exchange equation, a temperature of external
skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack is
equivalent to the dielectric fluid return temperature
T.sub.h.sup.in.
11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions
that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or
more processors to perform the steps comprising: receiving a design
parameter, responsive to a user input, corresponding to at least
one equipment rack in the IT room; determining a dielectric fluid
return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in in the architecture based on an
energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation; and
responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining the
dielectric fluid return temperature, dynamically calculating and
displaying at least one of a surface temperature of at least one
immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled by the architecture or an
amount of required room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT
room.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein dynamically calculating comprises dynamically calculating a
percentage of total heat load removed by liquid cooling in the
architecture and/or air cooling in the architecture.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein dynamically calculating comprises dynamically calculating a
percentage of total heat load produced by the at least one
immersion-cooled rack, at least one direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at
least one air-cooled rack, or piping in the architecture.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein the dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in is
determined by calculating an overall thermal resistance R.sub.amb
between the ambient environment and external skin of the at least
one immersion-cooled equipment rack.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14,
wherein R amb = N s .times. a .times. R amb s .times. a + N m
.times. R a .times. m .times. b m + N e .times. R amb e N s .times.
a + N m + N e ##EQU00004## where N.sub.sa is a number of stand
alone racks, N.sub.m is a number of middle racks, N.sub.e is a
number of end racks, R.sub.amb.sup.sa is a thermal resistance of
the stand alone racks, R.sub.amb.sup.m is a thermal resistance of
the middle racks, and R.sub.amb.sup.e is a thermal resistance of
the end racks.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14,
wherein R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein the dielectric fluid return temperature is determined by
retrieving a plurality of constants from one or more stored tables
of simulation data generated from a plurality of previously
completed computational fluid dynamics simulations.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17,
wherein the one or more stored tables include one table for
stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one table for end
racks.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein the steps further comprise solving the energy balance
equation and the heat exchange equation for two unknowns including
the dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in where h
denotes a hot stream.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein
in solving the energy balance equation and the heat exchange
equation, a temperature of external skin of the at least one
immersion-cooled equipment rack is equivalent to the dielectric
fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 17/217,522, titled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LIQUID
COOLED ARCHITECTURES IN AN IT ROOM," filed on Mar. 30, 2021, which
claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/002,403
[Expired], titled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LIQUID
COOLED ARCHITECTURES IN A DATA CENTER," filed on Mar. 31, 2020,
both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their
entirety for all purposes.
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Disclosure
[0002] At least one example in accordance with the present
disclosure relates generally to tools for designing cooling systems
in IT rooms.
2. Discussion of Related Art
[0003] Centralized IT rooms for computer, communications, and other
electronic equipment contain racks of equipment that require power,
cooling, and connections to external communication facilities. To
increase efficiency, in IT room design, one may increase power
density, delivering more power per rack of computing equipment.
However, increased density of computing equipment may strain the
cooling and power systems that service these facilities.
[0004] As power is consumed by computer equipment it is converted
to heat. As a result, the cooling requirements of a facility may
scale with the power consumption. IT rooms may utilize air plenums
under raised floors, or in overhead spaces to distribute cooling
air through an IT room. One or more computer room air conditioners
(CRACs) or computer room air handlers (CRAHs) may be distributed
along the periphery or inline of existing equipment within the data
room. Perforated tiles may be placed in front, above, or beneath
racks of equipment that are to be cooled to allow the cooling air
from beneath the floor, from the ceiling, or adjacent to cool
equipment within the racks.
[0005] Servers may be designed by server hardware specialists. Pod
and room-level cooling architecture may be designed by IT room
specialists. However, the design of one system directly affects the
other. As one example, in the case of immersion-cooled servers,
temperatures of the dielectric fluid circulating within the server
may be directly linked to temperatures of the chilled water
circulating generally outside of the server through a heat
exchanger. Changes to the thermal environment on one side of the
environment, directly impacts the other. In such cases, designing
the systems separately may require numerous iterations, thereby
making system optimization difficult.
SUMMARY
[0006] At least one embodiment is directed to a non-transitory
computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed
by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to
perform the steps comprising simultaneously displaying a
configuration region and a results region in the graphical user
interface, the configuration region including a plurality of
user-selectable graphical user interface elements each
corresponding to at least one equipment rack in the IT room,
receiving a design parameter responsive to a user input of one of
the plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface elements,
determining a dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in
based on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation,
and responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining
the dielectric fluid return temperature, dynamically displaying in
the results region at least one of a first graph representing an
amount of required room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT
room, the first graph being superimposed over a fixed plurality of
room cooling ranges or a second graph representing a surface
temperature of at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled
by the architecture, the second graph being superimposed over a
fixed plurality of surface cooling ranges.
[0007] In one example, dynamically displaying in the results region
comprises simultaneously displaying the first graph and the second
graph in the results region.
[0008] In another example, dynamically displaying in the results
region further comprises displaying at least one of a third graph
representing a percentage of total heat load removed by liquid
cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the architecture
or a fourth graph representing a percentage of total heat load
produced by the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
[0009] In one example, determining the dielectric fluid return
temperature comprises calculating an overall thermal resistance
R.sub.amb between the ambient environment and external skin of the
at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack.
[0010] In another example,
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
[0011] In one example, determining the dielectric fluid return
temperature comprises retrieving a plurality of constants from one
or more stored tables of simulation data generated from a plurality
of previously completed computational fluid dynamics
simulations.
[0012] In another example, the one or more stored tables include
one table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one
table for end racks.
[0013] In one example, the one of the plurality of user-selectable
graphical user interface elements is a slider and the user input is
a change in a position of the slider, the position of the slider
corresponding to the design parameter.
[0014] In another example, the first graph is a bar graph having a
length and the second graph is a bar graph having a length, and
responsive to the change in the position of the slider, the
displayed length of the first bar graph and the displayed length of
the second bar graph are automatically updated in real time.
[0015] In one example, the instructions, when executed by one or
more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the
steps further comprising specifying a layout of the at least one
equipment rack in the IT room responsive to a plurality of user
inputs to one or more of the plurality of user-selected graphical
user interface elements, the layout including one or more of a
number of immersion-cooled equipment racks including the at least
one immersion-cooled equipment rack, a number of the at least one
direct-to-chip cooled equipment racks, a number of air-cooled
equipment racks, or a length of piping.
[0016] In another example, the instructions, when executed by one
or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the
steps further comprising receiving the design parameter as a heat
exchanger effectiveness at given reference dielectric fluid and
chilled-water flowrates and receiving a second design parameter
responsive to one of the plurality of user-selectable graphical
user interface elements receiving a user input, the second design
parameter being a cold plate effectiveness of the at least one
direct-to-chip cooled equipment racks in the architecture.
[0017] At least one embodiment is directed to a system for
designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture for an IT room with
a graphical user interface, the system comprising at least one
processor configured to simultaneously display a configuration
region and a results region in the graphical user interface, the
configuration region including a plurality of user-selectable
graphical user interface elements each corresponding to at least
one equipment rack in the IT room, receive a design parameter
responsive to a user input of one of the plurality of
user-selectable graphical user interface elements, determine a
dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in based on an
energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation, and
responsive to determining the dielectric fluid return temperature,
dynamically display in the results region at least one of a first
graph representing an amount of required room cooling power per a
unit of area of the IT room, the first graph being superimposed
over a fixed plurality of room cooling ranges or a second graph
representing a surface temperature of at least one immersion-cooled
equipment rack cooled by the architecture, the second graph being
superimposed over a fixed plurality of surface cooling ranges.
[0018] In another example, the first graph and the second graph are
simultaneously displayed in the results region.
[0019] In one example, dynamically display in the results region
further comprises displaying at least one of a third graph
representing a percentage of total heat load removed by liquid
cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the architecture
or a fourth graph representing a percentage of total heat load
produced by the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
[0020] In another example, the at least one processor is configured
to determine the dielectric fluid return temperature by calculating
an overall thermal resistance R.sub.amb between the ambient
environment and external skin of the at least one immersion-cooled
equipment rack.
[0021] In one example,
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.inT.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
[0022] In another example, the at least one processor is configured
to determine the dielectric fluid return temperature by retrieving
a plurality of constants from one or more stored tables of
simulation data generated from a plurality of previously completed
computational fluid dynamics simulations.
[0023] In one example, the one or more stored tables include one
table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one
table for end racks.
[0024] In another example, the one of the plurality of
user-selectable graphical user interface elements is a slider and
the user input is a change in a position of the slider, the
position of the slider corresponding to the design parameter.
[0025] In one example, the first graph is a bar graph having a
length and the second graph is a bar graph having a length, and the
at least one processor is further configured to, responsive to the
change in the position of the slider, automatically update the
displayed length of the first bar graph and the displayed length of
the second bar graph in real time.
[0026] In another example, the at least one processor is further
configured to specify a layout of the at least one equipment rack
in the IT room responsive to a plurality of user inputs to one or
more of the plurality of user-selected graphical user interface
elements, the layout including one or more of a number of
immersion-cooled equipment racks including the at least one
immersion-cooled equipment rack, a number of at least one
direct-to-chip cooled equipment racks, a number of air-cooled
equipment racks, or a length of piping.
[0027] In one example, the design parameter is a heat exchanger
effectiveness at given reference dielectric fluid and chilled-water
flowrates, and the at least one processor is further configured to
receive a second design parameter responsive to one of the
plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface elements
receiving a user input, the second design parameter being a cold
plate effectiveness of the at least one direct-to-chip cooled
equipment racks in the architecture.
[0028] At least one embodiment is directed to a method of designing
a liquid cooled IT room architecture for a IT room with a graphical
user interface, the method comprising simultaneously displaying a
configuration region and a results region in the graphical user
interface, the configuration region including a plurality of
user-selectable graphical user interface elements each
corresponding to at least one equipment rack in the IT room,
receiving a design parameter responsive to a user input of one of
the plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface elements,
determining a dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in
based on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation,
and responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining
the dielectric fluid return temperature, dynamically displaying in
the results region at least one of a first graph representing an
amount of required room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT
room, the first graph being superimposed over a fixed plurality of
room cooling ranges, or a second graph representing a surface
temperature of at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled
by the architecture, the second graph being superimposed over a
fixed plurality of surface cooling ranges.
[0029] In one example, the first graph and the second graph are
simultaneously displayed in the results region.
[0030] In another example, dynamically displaying in the results
region further comprises displaying at least one of a third graph
representing a percentage of total heat load removed by liquid
cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the architecture,
or a fourth graph representing a percentage of total heat load
produced by the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
[0031] In one example, determining the dielectric fluid return
temperature further comprises calculating an overall thermal
resistance R.sub.amb between the ambient environment and external
skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack.
[0032] In another example,
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
[0033] In one example, determining the dielectric fluid return
temperature comprises retrieving a plurality of constants from one
or more stored tables of simulation data generated from a plurality
of previously completed computational fluid dynamics
simulations.
[0034] In another example, the one or more stored tables include
one table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one
table for end racks.
[0035] In one example, the one of the plurality of user-selectable
graphical user interface elements is a slider and the user input is
a change in a position of the slider, the position of the slider
corresponding to the design parameter.
[0036] In another example, the first graph is a bar graph having a
length and the second graph is a bar graph having a length, and
responsive to the change in the position of the slider, the
displayed length of the first bar graph and the displayed length of
the second bar graph are automatically updated in real time.
[0037] In one example, the method further comprises specifying a
layout of the at least one equipment rack in the IT room responsive
to a plurality of user inputs to one or more of the plurality of
user-selected graphical user interface elements, the layout
including one or more of a number of immersion-cooled equipment
racks including the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack, a
number of the at least one direct-to-chip cooled equipment racks, a
number of air-cooled equipment racks, or a length of piping.
[0038] In another example, the method further comprises receiving
the design parameter as a heat exchanger effectiveness at given
reference dielectric fluid and chilled-water flowrates, and
receiving a second design parameter responsive to one of the
plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface elements
receiving a user input, the second design parameter being a cold
plate effectiveness of the at least one direct-to-chip cooled
equipment racks in the architecture.
[0039] At least one embodiment is directed to a system for
designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture for an IT room, the
system comprising at least one processor configured to receive a
design parameter, responsive to a user input, corresponding to at
least one equipment rack in the IT room, determine a dielectric
fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in in the architecture based
on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation, and
responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining the
dielectric fluid return temperature, dynamically calculate and
display at least one of a surface temperature of at least one
immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled by the architecture or an
amount of required room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT
room.
[0040] In one example, dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load removed by
liquid cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the
architecture.
[0041] In another example, dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load produced by
the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
[0042] In one example, the dielectric fluid return temperature
T.sub.h.sup.in is determined by calculating an overall thermal
resistance R.sub.amb between the ambient environment and external
skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack.
[0043] In another example,
R amb = N s .times. a .times. R amb s .times. a + N m .times. R a
.times. m .times. b m + N e .times. R amb e N s .times. a + N m + N
e ##EQU00001##
where N.sub.sa is a number of stand alone racks, N.sub.m is a
number of middle racks, N.sub.e is a number of end racks,
R.sub.amb.sup.sa is a thermal resistance of the stand alone racks,
R.sub.amb.sup.m is a thermal resistance of the middle racks, and
R.sub.amb.sup.e is a thermal resistance of the end racks.
[0044] In one example,
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
[0045] In another example, the dielectric fluid return temperature
is determined by retrieving a plurality of constants from one or
more stored tables of simulation data generated from a plurality of
previously completed computational fluid dynamics simulations.
[0046] In one example, the one or more stored tables include one
table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one
table for end racks.
[0047] In another example, the at least one processor is further
configured to solve the energy balance equation and the heat
exchange equation for two unknowns including the dielectric fluid
return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in where h denotes a hot stream.
[0048] In one example, in solving the energy balance equation and
the heat exchange equation, a temperature of external skin of the
at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack is equivalent to the
dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in.
[0049] At least one embodiment is directed to a non-transitory
computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed
by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to
perform the steps comprising receiving a design parameter,
responsive to a user input, corresponding to at least one equipment
rack in the IT room, determining a dielectric fluid return
temperature T.sub.h.sup.in in the architecture based on an energy
balance equation and a heat exchange equation, and responsive to
receiving the design parameter and determining the dielectric fluid
return temperature, dynamically calculating and displaying at least
one of a surface temperature of at least one immersion-cooled
equipment rack cooled by the architecture or an amount of required
room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT room.
[0050] In one example, dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load removed by
liquid cooling in the architecture and/or air cooling in the
architecture.
[0051] In another example, dynamically calculating comprises
dynamically calculating a percentage of total heat load produced by
the at least one immersion-cooled rack, at least one
direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one air-cooled rack, or piping
in the architecture.
[0052] In one example, the dielectric fluid return temperature
T.sub.h.sup.in is determined by calculating an overall thermal
resistance R.sub.amb between the ambient environment and external
skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack.
[0053] In another example,
R amb = N s .times. a .times. R amb s .times. a + N m .times. R a
.times. m .times. b m + N e .times. R amb e N s .times. a + N m + N
e ##EQU00002##
where N.sub.sa is a number of stand alone racks, N.sub.m is a
number of middle racks, N.sub.e is a number of end racks,
R.sub.amb.sup.sa is a thermal resistance of the stand alone racks,
R.sub.amb.sup.m is a thermal resistance of the middle racks, and
R.sub.amb.sup.e is a thermal resistance of the end racks.
[0054] In one example,
R.sub.amb=.alpha.e.sup.-.beta..DELTA.T.sup..gamma. where
.DELTA.T=|T.sub.h.sup.in-T.sub.amb|, T.sub.amb is an ambient room
temperature, and .alpha., .beta., and .gamma. are
previously-computed constants calculated over a range of thermal
emissivity .epsilon. and ambient temperature T.sub.amb values.
[0055] In another example, the dielectric fluid return temperature
is determined by retrieving a plurality of constants from one or
more stored tables of simulation data generated from a plurality of
previously completed computational fluid dynamics simulations.
[0056] In one example, the one or more stored tables include one
table for stand-alone racks, one table for middle racks, or one
table for end racks.
[0057] In another example, the steps further comprise solving the
energy balance equation and the heat exchange equation for two
unknowns including the dielectric fluid return temperature
T.sub.h.sup.in where h denotes a hot stream.
[0058] In one example, in solving the energy balance equation and
the heat exchange equation, a temperature of external skin of the
at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack is equivalent to the
dielectric fluid return temperature T.sub.h.sup.in.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0059] Various aspects of at least one embodiment are discussed
below with reference to the accompanying figures, which are not
intended to be drawn to scale. The figures are included to provide
an illustration and a further understanding of the various aspects
and embodiments, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of
this specification, but are not intended as a definition of the
limits of any particular embodiment. The drawings, together with
the remainder of the specification, serve to explain principles and
operations of the described and claimed aspects and embodiments. In
the figures, each identical or nearly identical component that is
illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral.
For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in
every figure. In the figures:
[0060] FIG. 1 illustrates an example graphical user interface of a
thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled
pods of racks in accordance with various embodiments of the
disclosure;
[0061] FIG. 2A illustrates an example display of a graphical user
interface including various characteristics of a thermal design
tool for IT rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks
in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0062] FIG. 2B illustrates an example display of a graphical user
interface including various characteristics of a thermal design
tool for IT rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks
in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0063] FIG. 3 illustrates an example calculation for immersion
cooled racks of a thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or
more liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with various
embodiments of the disclosure;
[0064] FIG. 4 illustrates modes of heat transfer between servers
and the surrounding room environment of a thermal design tool for
IT rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks in
accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0065] FIG. 5 illustrates an example calculation of thermal
resistances for immersion cooled racks of a thermal design tool for
IT rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks in
accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0066] FIG. 6 illustrates an example thermal-resistance correlation
calculation for ambient temperatures for immersion cooled racks of
a thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or more
liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with various embodiments
of the disclosure;
[0067] FIG. 7 illustrates example thermal-resistance interpolation
tables for immersion cooled racks of a thermal design tool for IT
rooms housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance
with various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0068] FIG. 8 illustrates an example calculation for direct-to-chip
cooled racks of a thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or
more liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with various
embodiments of the disclosure;
[0069] FIG. 9 illustrates an example calculation for chilled-water
temperature and floor area of a thermal design tool for IT rooms
housing one or more liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with
various embodiments of the disclosure;
[0070] FIG. 10 illustrates an example calculation for piping length
of a thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or more
liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with various embodiments
of the disclosure;
[0071] FIG. 11 illustrates an example piping heat transfer
calculation of a thermal design tool for IT rooms housing one or
more liquid-cooled pods of racks in accordance with various
embodiments of the disclosure;
[0072] FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of a general-purpose
computer system in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure;
and
[0073] FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of a general-purpose
storage system in accordance with the general-purpose computer
system of FIG. 12.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0074] A liquid-cooled-server manufacturer may functionally verify
the cooling performance of one or more servers for a given set of
operating conditions, e.g., liquid supply rates and temperatures,
ambient room temperature, etc. Some manufacturers may not
characterize the cooling performance of such systems in an actual
IT room architecture or a specific IT room configuration of
interest to a given end user. Further, typically no guidance is
provided to the end user regarding the effect of the liquid-cooled
IT equipment on the overall data-center room (air) cooling. For
example, in the case where a sufficiently large percentage of the
IT equipment in the IT room is liquid cooled, traditional expensive
and energy-intensive cooling systems (typically used in traditional
air-cooled IT rooms) may not be required. In any case, the IT and
room cooling are intimately coupled and the design of both systems
must be considered concurrently. An IT room is a room that holds IT
(Information Technology) equipment (e.g., servers, UPSs
(uninterruptable power supplies), cooling equipment, etc.). One
example of an IT room is a data center.
[0075] IT room environments may consist of a large number of
servers installed in a rack, with multiple racks arranged in rows
or 2-row pods. The specific physical arrangement of such systems
may affect the cooling performance. As one example, when a server
is "racked," the top surface of the uppermost server and the bottom
surface of the lowest server may be exposed to ambient temperatures
inside the rack. The other intermediate surfaces may be at similar
temperatures so that there is little or no heat transfer.
Furthermore, the heat transfer between the server skin and the room
(which may also establish how much heat is transferred to the
chilled water) may be difficult to determine and may include
natural convection and/or thermal radiation. It may be impractical
to physically test many possible configurations given the large
number of possible configurations, thermal network type (hand or
spreadsheet) predictions may provide insufficient accuracy. While
detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations may provide
more accuracy by modeling the heat transfer between the outer
server skin and the room environment, CFD may be impractical as a
near real-time design tool for simultaneously modeling the combined
internal and external server environments, due in part to the
computationally intensive nature of CFD. There is currently no way
for IT room designers to visualize how changes in the layout of a
pod of server racks (with a mixed population of immersion-cooled,
direct-to-chip-cooled, and air-cooled cooling types) will affect
changes in room cooling requirements and skin surface temperature
of immersion-cooled servers (if any).
[0076] This disclosure is not limited in its application to the
details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth
in the following descriptions or illustrated by the drawings. The
disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced
or of being carried out in various ways. Also, the phraseology and
terminology used herein is for description purposes and should not
be regarded as limiting. The use of "including," "comprising,"
"having," "containing," "involving," and variations herein, are
meant to be open-ended, i.e. "including but not limited to."
[0077] Exemplary systems and methods described herein may solve at
least the above problems by providing a real-time or near real-time
thermal analysis of at least one of the server side or the external
environment such that practical data-center level architectures can
be designed and optimized.
[0078] Systems and methods for determining liquid cooled IT room
architectures are provided. A method for determining liquid cooled
IT room architectures may comprise, receiving data regarding each
of a plurality of IT room equipment in an IT room environment and
displaying characteristics of the plurality of IT room equipment in
an IT room environment based on the received data. One embodiment
may include a web-based trade-off-style tool for computing cooling
requirements of liquid-cooled server pods in an IT room. Such a
tool may facilitate the analysis of a single pod comprised of any
combination of immersion-cooled, direct-to-chip-cooled, and
air-cooled racks.
[0079] "Immersion-cooled" may include "partially-immersed" systems
where some amount of dielectric fluid is circulated throughout the
server and can pool in the bottom of the server, typically, after
being pumped directly onto hot server components. This method is
somewhat different than the "bathtub" style immersion cooling where
the server is completely immersed and cooled only by natural
convection.
[0080] Some embodiments of this disclosure contemplate a
calculation technique which uses the results of "offline" CFD
simulations to provide simpler real-time thermal calculations. Some
embodiments may include a "flow-dependent" heat exchanger
effectiveness option which allows the user to specify the
effectiveness at given reference dielectric fluid and chilled-water
flowrates. A model may then automatically adjust effectiveness as
the user varies flowrates.
[0081] Some embodiments include a "cold plate effectiveness"
coefficient for direct to chip servers as the fraction of IT
component (e.g., a CPU or GPU) heat that is removed by the
cold-plate fluid serving the IT component. Further, scenarios
assuming that the immersion-cooled server skin temperature is equal
to return temperature of the dielectric fluid--essentially the
fluid pooled at the bottom of the server are contemplated in
various embodiments. Such scenarios are important to reducing the
number of unknowns to that of the number of available
equations.
[0082] Additional embodiments include, identifying specific
conditions when the total heat load to the room air is very low and
cooling may be adequately provided by "comfort cooling" systems.
This may lead to new IT room cooling architectures or the concept
of a "cooling out" IT room where the air is not actively cooled but
"floats" to the point where all heat is removed (most efficiently)
through the chilled water. This scenario may imply that cooling
redundancy (on the air side) may not be required.
[0083] Current systems with a graphical user interface for
designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture may not provide a
visual indicator of how a determined dielectric fluid return
temperature and changes to a design parameter alter an amount of
required room cooling power per unit area or surface temperature of
an immersion-cooled equipment rack in a meaningful manner to
IT-room designers. This is a technical problem. An exemplary
embodiment of a system for designing a liquid cooled IT room
architecture may comprise a processor that performs steps including
simultaneously displaying a configuration region and a results
region, where the configuration region includes user-selectable
elements corresponding to at least one rack in an IT room. The
system may receive a design parameter responsive to a user input
and determine a dielectric fluid return temperature based on an
energy balance equation and heat exchange equation. The system may,
responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining the
temperature, display a graph representing required room cooling
power superimposed over room cooling ranges. In some embodiments,
instead or in addition, the system may display a graph representing
surface temperature of an immersion-cooled equipment rack
superimposed over surface cooling ranges. At least this foregoing
combination of features comprises a system with a graphical user
interface for designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture that
serves as a technical solution to the foregoing technical problem.
This technical solution is not routine and is unconventional. This
technical solution is a practical application of a
computer-aided-design system that solves the foregoing technical
problem and constitutes an improvement in the technical field of
software design for IT-room computer-aided-design applications at
least by facilitating a meaning visual indicator of how a
determined dielectric fluid return temperature and changes to a
design parameter alter an amount of required room cooling power per
unit area or surface temperature of an immersion-cooled equipment
rack.
[0084] FIG. 1 illustrates an example graphical user interface (GUI)
generally indicated at 10 for designing liquid cooled IT room
architectures. The GUI 10 includes a first region 12 and a second
region 14. Each of the regions 12, 14, of the GUI 10 may be
configured to display user-selectable elements (e.g., drop down
menus, radio buttons, sliders, text boxes, etc.) and/or display
information calculated by one or more processors. In one example,
the first region 12 includes one or more GUI elements for receiving
user input(s) and the second region 14 displays output(s) produced
that are responsive to the input(s) being received by the one or
more processors. It is understood that changing the exact number
and arrangement of regions in the GUI is readily apparent to one
having ordinary skill in the art. In an example, the first region
12 includes a GUI button that opens a separate window for advanced
options for inputting data.
[0085] For immersion-cooled servers, energy balance and heat
exchanger calculations may be used in computing the thermal
resistance R.sub.amb between the external server skin and the
surrounding room ambient. These latter physics may be captured in
CFD simulations, which may be reduced to correlations and table
interpolation. As R.sub.amb depends on computed temperatures,
temperature calculations are iterative, initial temperatures are
assumed so that R.sub.amb may be estimated. Next, new temperatures
are computed which can be used to further improve the estimate of
R.sub.amb. The process may then repeat until there are no further
significant changes in R.sub.amb.
[0086] For direct-to-chip-cooled servers, a "cold plate
effectiveness" may be defined as the fraction of IT (chip) heat
that is removed by the cold-plate fluid and a "% server power
served by cold plate". With these values assumed, the fractions of
heat released to the air are known so that the external server skin
temperature and R.sub.amb may not be needed.
[0087] Some embodiments of the disclosure contemplate computing the
heat transfer between the chilled-water pipes and the room air as
this may add to the room heat load.
[0088] Some embodiments of the available outputs for designing
liquid cooled IT room architectures may include, a breakdown of how
heat produced by immersion-cooled, direct-to-chip-cooled, and/or
air-cooled racks is removed--e.g., by air or water cooling. Any
room (air) cooling requirements on a W/ft.sup.2 or (W/m.sup.2)
basis and an indication of when the design heat load is in the
"comfort cooling" or "IT room cooling" regimes. A displayed maximum
surface temperature of immersion-cooled racks may be used to ensure
compliance with maximum touch-surface-temperature limits.
Calculations may include a table of fluid temperatures "in" and
"out" of all equipment and the entire pod in aggregate.
[0089] In designing a liquid cooling architecture (e.g., including
immersion cooling and/or direct-to-chip architectures) for an IT
room, if one had unlimited time, then full CFD simulations of the
room housing the IT equipment to be cooled would be performed for
every design iteration. Consequently, a major drawback is that
thousands of simulations are needed in a short period of time, and
it can take weeks of computation time to compute just a few
thousand full CFD simulations of a server pod with two rows of
servers and 4 racks per row, for example.
[0090] Examples described herein include a web-based design tool
for designing liquid cooling-based architectures in various types
of structures (e.g., IT room, office building, warehouse). Such a
design tool is shown by the GUI generally indicated at 16 in FIG.
2A. The GUI 16 is divided into two regions: a configuration region
18 and a results region 20. The configuration region differs from
the results region primarily in that the configuration region
includes a plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface
elements. Some of these selectable elements include drop down menus
11 and sliders 13. When a user selects a value from a list in the
drop-down menu or changes the position of the button of a slider, a
value in the design tool is updated for subsequent cooling
calculation processing.
[0091] Though the results region 20 does not include
user-selectable GUI elements like the configuration region 18, the
results region displays a plurality of graphs 15, 17, 19, 21 that
dynamically update in real-time as user-inputs are provided through
GUI elements in the configuration region 18. Every cooling
architecture will vary in design based on a number of factors
including the number of equipment racks being cooled, the type of
cooling for each rack, the cooling minimum or maximum requirements
of the ambient space, and so on.
[0092] Within the results region 20 is a first graph 19 and a
second graph 21. The first graph 19 is superimposed over a fixed
plurality of room cooling ranges including a first room cooling
range 7a and a second room cooling range 7b. The second graph 21 is
superimposed over a fixed plurality of surface cooling ranges
including a first surface cooling range 9a, a second surface
cooling range 9b, and a third surface cooling range 9c. In an
example, the first graph 19 represents an amount of power consumed
per a unit of area (e.g., W/ft.sup.2 or W/m.sup.2) of the IT room.
The first graph 19 is superimposed over the first room cooling
range 7a and second room cooling range 7b, terminating at an edge
19a in the second room cooling range 7b. In the example of FIG. 2A,
the first room cooling range 7a extends from 0 W/ft.sup.2 to about
50 W/ft.sup.2 and the second room cooling range 7b extends from
about 50 W/ft.sup.2 to 200 W/ft.sup.2. As shown in FIG. 2A, the
edge 19a of the first graph 19 indicates a value in the second room
cooling range 7b. In some examples, the first room cooling range 7a
is a "comfort cooling" range and the second cooling range 7b is an
"IT room cooling" range or "data center cooling" range. The second
graph 21 represents a maximum surface temperature of at least one
immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled by the architecture being
designed. In one example, the second graph 21 includes a first
surface cooling range 9a from 10.degree. C. to 45.degree. C., a
second surface cooling range 9b from 45.degree. C. to 60.degree.
C., and a third surface cooling range 9c from 60.degree. C. to
100.degree. C. The second graph 21, as shown in FIG. 2A, terminates
at an edge 21a, which corresponds to a maximum surface temperature
value in the third surface cooling range 9c.
[0093] It is understood that the ranges described above are one
example and those in the field may set different ranges depending
on their unique design requirements. As the user-selectable GUI
buttons are manipulated to change in value, such as the sliders 13
being adjusted, the first graph 19 and/or the second graph 21
increase or decrease in value, thereby changing the position of
their corresponding edge 19a, 21a, while the corresponding range
7a, 7b, 9a, 9b, 9c remains fixed, thereby allowing immediate
results to a user for iteratively fine tuning design parameters to
achieve a design goal (e.g., comfort cooling and a maximum surface
temperature of less than 60.degree. C.).
[0094] An example of a design parameter is power per server.
Another example of a design parameter is power per rack. In some
examples, for immersion-cooled racks, design parameters may
include, but are not limited to power per sever, power per rack,
dielectric fluid flowrate per server, heat exchanger effectiveness,
chilled water flowrate per server, or chilled water flowrate per
rack. In some examples, for direct-to-chip-cooled racks, design
parameters may include, but are not limited to power per server,
power per rack, chilled flowrate per server, chilled flowrate per
rack, cold plate effectiveness, or % server power served by cold
plate. Other design parameters include pod room air temperature,
pod chilled water supply temperature, layout with number of rows
and number of racks per row, number of immersion-cooled servers per
rack, number of direct-to-chip-cooled servers per rack, floor area
per pod average power per rack for air-cooled racks, piping length
from pod to wall, piping outer diameter, or piping redundancy.
[0095] In certain embodiments, these ranges are specified
automatically and are based on the particular set of user inputs in
the configuration region 18. In other embodiments, these ranges are
manually set by a user, and then retained by the controller when
the user subsequently accesses the GUI 16 in the future (e.g., save
the user's login credentials in the cloud, on a local server,
etc.).
[0096] Because the configuration region 18 and the results region
20 can be displayed simultaneously (i.e., in real-time on the same
screen or display), and the first graph 19 and the second graph 21
can be configured to be dynamically updated responsive to users
entering new design parameters into the tool via one of the GUI
elements in the configuration section 18, a user can easily and
quickly see the effects of making adjustments in the configuration
region 18. As an example, a user may want to design a disruptive IT
equipment cooling architecture that is both efficient enough to be
integrated into an office setting (e.g., in a comfort cooling
range) and handled by existing cooling equipment, and is safe to
the touch (e.g., in a safe/lower maximum surface temperature
range). Keeping the temperature ranges of a particular design in
the forefront of the results region 20 enables efficient
adjustments, corrections, and improvements to be made by a user of
the design tool.
[0097] The results section 20 may include a third graph 15
representing a percentage of total heat load produced by liquid
cooling in the architecture being designed and/or air cooling in
the architecture, and a fourth graph 17 representing a percentage
of total heat load produced by the at least one immersion-cooled
rack, at least one direct-to-chip-cooled rack, at least one
air-cooled rack, or piping in the architecture. In the example
architecture being designed in the GUI 16, as shown in FIG. 2A,
both liquid and air types of cooling are included, as well as
immersion-cooled racks, direct-to-chip cooled racks, and air-cooled
racks. In other architectures being designed using the GUI 16, any
number of different rack types may be included. In one example, an
architecture includes only immersion-cooled racks and
direct-to-chip cooled racks, and no air-cooled racks.
[0098] In certain embodiments, additional GUI elements (i.e.,
buttons 22, 24) are provided in the configuration region 18. When
the first button 22 is pressed, the GUI 16 overlays a smaller
advanced pod window 23, as shown in FIG. 2B. Similarly, when the
second button 24 is pressed, the GUI 16 overlays a smaller advanced
immersion cooling window 25. It is understood that the terms
"press," "select," "click," "touch" and the like, as used herein
refer to those actions understood by those of skill in the art that
are user for selecting GUI elements (e.g., mouse clicking, touch
screen touching with stylus or finger).
[0099] FIG. 3 illustrates an example calculation for immersion
cooled racks for designing liquid cooled IT room architectures
using a GUI (e.g., the GUI 16). A system of equations is formed by
an energy balance equation 27 and a heat exchange equation 29. Some
quantities required (e.g., R.sub.amb) in the calculation of the
energy balance equation 27 and the heat exchange equation 29 are
further described in other figures provided herein (e.g., see FIG.
5 for the calculation of R.sub.amb).
[0100] FIG. 4 illustrates modes of heat transfer between the
servers and the surrounding room environment for designing liquid
cooled IT room architectures using a GUI (e.g., the GUI 16) as
described herein. The equipment rack layout provided by example in
FIG. 4 is, in certain embodiments, a layout used to calculate over
1000 CFD simulations.
[0101] FIG. 5 illustrates an example calculation of thermal
resistances for immersion cooled racks for designing liquid cooled
IT room architectures. The overall thermal resistance between the
external server skin and the ambient temperature, R.sub.amb,
depends on various temperatures, but for the sake of design time
constraints, one may assume temperatures are known (for purposes of
computing R.sub.amb) then iteratively solve for temperatures and
update R.sub.amb until no further changes occur. R.sub.amb includes
natural convection and thermal radiation between the servers and
the rack skin and the rack skin and the ambient room. R.sub.amb is
a function of server emissivity, .DELTA.T (the difference between
the server skin temperature T.sub.h.sup.in and the ambient room
temperature T.sub.amb), and the ambient temperature T.sub.amb. CFD
simulations were analyzed in which these design parameters were
varied. Using curve fitting, correlations for R.sub.amb were
determined. Since R.sub.amb is different for stand-alone, middle,
and end rack positions, R.sub.amb is weighted based on the number
of each type of rack position in pod configuration as shown
below.
[0102] Of note, this approach is technically only correct when all
racks in pod are immersion-cooled; otherwise it is just a
statistically reasonable guess. Averaging R.sub.amb as shown is not
precisely correct either because each rack type technically would
have different server-skin and dielectric fluid temperatures--which
are averaged together in certain embodiments.
[0103] FIG. 6 illustrates an example thermal-resistance correlation
calculation for ambient temperatures for immersion-cooled racks
such as those described above.
[0104] FIG. 7 illustrates example thermal-resistance interpolation
tables for immersion-cooled racks for designing liquid cooled IT
room architectures using a GUI (e.g., the GUI 16) as described
herein. In certain embodiments, the GUI is presented in a web
browser and the interpolation tables are stored in a storage. The
storage may be local and/or remote to the computer system hosting
the web browser. In an example, the GUI (through communication with
at least one processor) first determines which type of rack is
being simulated (e.g., stand-alone, middle, or end). Second, with
the rack type(s) known in the pod, the ambient temperature
T.sub.amb and thermal emissivity .epsilon. are used to determine
the constants of the exponential function for R.sub.amb. In certain
embodiments, one or more of the most closely matching table entries
to the provided the ambient temperature T.sub.amb and thermal
emissivity .epsilon. are averaged or combined in a weighted sum.
Each table entry specifies an interpolation of the exponential
function for R.sub.amb with the data obtained from over 1000 CFD
simulations.
[0105] FIG. 8 illustrates an example calculation for direct-to-chip
cooled racks for designing liquid cooled IT room architectures.
Since the fraction of heat covered by cold plates and the cold
effectiveness are given, the total heat transferred to the water
and the air can be directly computed. T.sub.c.sup.out can be
computed from an energy balance on the water. Additionally, the
heat transferred to the room air is the difference between the
total power dissipation and the heat transferred to the air.
[0106] FIG. 9 illustrates an example calculation for chilled-water
temperature and floor area for designing liquid cooled IT room
architectures. For the minimum floor area per pod shown in FIG. 9,
the minimum floor area is enforced in the GUI tool input values.
This example assumes a minimum aisle spacing of 4 ft around the
perimeter of the pod, 2 ft wide.times.3.5 ft deep racks, and a 3 ft
hot aisle.
[0107] FIG. 10 illustrates an example calculation for piping length
for designing liquid cooled IT room architectures. On the left-hand
side of FIG. 10, a single-row server rack layout is provided. On
the right-hand side of FIG. 10, a double-row server rack layout is
provided. In both layouts, a distance L.sub.ext is provided to
indicate the distance between the ambient wall and the external
skin surface temperature.
[0108] FIG. 11 illustrates an example piping heat transfer
calculation for designing liquid cooled IT room architectures. This
calculation assumes that the piping in its entirety can be
represented as a horizontal cylinder with skin temperature equal to
the average of the chilled-water supply and return temperatures. A
natural-convection heat transfer coefficient is estimated and total
piping heat transfer q.sub.piping per the equations in FIG. 11.
[0109] Various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented as
specialized software executing in a computer system 1100 such as
that shown in FIG. 12. The computer system 1100 may include a
processor 1120 connected to one or more memory devices 1130, such
as a disk drive, memory, or other device for storing data. Memory
1130 is typically used for storing programs and data during
operation of the computer system 1100. The computer system 1100 may
also include a storage system 1150 that provides additional storage
capacity. Components of computer system 1100 may be coupled by an
interconnection mechanism 1140, which may include one or more
busses (e.g., between components that are integrated within the
same machine) and/or a network (e.g., between components that
reside on separate discrete machines). The interconnection
mechanism 1140 enables communications (e.g., data, instructions) to
be exchanged between system components of system 1100.
[0110] Computer system 1100 also includes one or more input devices
1110, for example, a keyboard, mouse, trackball, microphone, touch
screen, and one or more output devices 1160, for example, a
printing device, display screen, speaker. In addition, computer
system 1100 may contain one or more interfaces (not shown) that
connect computer system 1100 to a communication network (in
addition or as an alternative to the interconnection mechanism
1140).
[0111] The storage system 1150, shown in greater detail in FIG. 13,
typically includes a computer readable and writeable nonvolatile
recording medium 1210 in which signals are stored that define a
program to be executed by the processor or information stored on or
in the medium 1210 to be processed by the program to perform one or
more functions associated with embodiments described herein. The
medium may, for example, be a disk or flash memory. Typically, in
operation, the processor causes data to be read from the
nonvolatile recording medium 1210 into another memory 1220 that
allows for faster access to the information by the processor than
does the medium 1210. This memory 1220 is typically a volatile,
random access memory such as a Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM)
or Static RAM (SRAM). It may be located in storage system 1200, as
shown, or in memory system 1130. The processor 1120 generally
manipulates the data within the integrated circuit memory 1130,
1220 and then copies the data to the medium 1210 after processing
is completed. A variety of mechanisms are known for managing data
movement between the medium 1210 and the integrated circuit memory
element 1130, 1220, and the disclosure is not limited thereto. The
disclosure is not limited to a particular memory system 1130 or
storage system 1150.
[0112] The computer system may include specially-programmed,
special-purpose hardware, for example, an application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC). Aspects of the disclosure may be
implemented in software, hardware or firmware, or any combination
thereof. Further, such methods, acts, systems, system elements and
components thereof may be implemented as part of the computer
system described above or as an independent component.
[0113] Although computer system 1100 is shown by way of example as
one type of computer system upon which various aspects of the
disclosure may be practiced, it should be appreciated that aspects
of the disclosure are not limited to being implemented on the
computer system as shown in FIG. 13. Various aspects of the
disclosure may be practiced on one or more computers having a
different architecture or components shown in FIG. 13. Further,
where functions or processes of embodiments of the disclosure are
described herein (or in the claims) as being performed on a
processor or controller, such description is intended to include
systems that use more than one processor or controller to perform
the functions.
[0114] Computer system 1100 may be a computer system that is
programmable using a high-level computer programming language.
Computer system 1100 may be also implemented using specially
programmed, special purpose hardware. In computer system 1100,
processor 1120 is typically a commercially available processor such
as the well-known Pentium class processor available from the Intel
Corporation. Many other processors are available. Such a processor
usually executes an operating system which may be, for example, the
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME,
Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10, or progeny operating
systems available from the Microsoft Corporation, MAC OS System X,
or progeny operating system available from Apple Computer, the
Solaris operating system available from Sun Microsystems, UNIX,
Linux (any distribution), or progeny operating systems available
from various sources. Many other operating systems may be used.
[0115] The processor and operating system together define a
computer platform for which application programs in high-level
programming languages are written. It should be understood that
embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to a particular
computer system platform, processor, operating system, or network.
Also, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the
present disclosure is not limited to a specific programming
language or computer system. Further, it should be appreciated that
other appropriate programming languages and other appropriate
computer systems could also be used.
[0116] One or more portions of the computer system may be
distributed across one or more computer systems coupled to a
communications network. For example, as discussed above, a computer
system that determines available power capacity may be located
remotely from a system manager. These computer systems also may be
general-purpose computer systems. For example, various aspects of
the disclosure may be distributed among one or more computer
systems configured to provide a service (e.g., servers) to one or
more client computers, or to perform an overall task as part of a
distributed system. For example, various aspects of the disclosure
may be performed on a client-server or multi-tier system that
includes components distributed among one or more server systems
that perform various functions according to various embodiments of
the disclosure. These components may be executable, intermediate
(e.g., IL) or interpreted (e.g., Java) code which communicate over
a communication network (e.g., the Internet) using a communication
protocol (e.g., TCP/IP). For example, one or more database servers
may be used to store device data, such as expected power draw, that
is used in designing layouts associated with embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0117] It should be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited
to executing on any particular system or group of systems. Also, it
should be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited to any
particular distributed architecture, network, or communication
protocol.
[0118] Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be
programmed using an object-oriented programming language, such as
JavaScript, SmallTalk, Java, C++, Ada, or C# (C-Sharp). Other
object-oriented programming languages may also be used.
Alternatively, functional, scripting, and/or logical programming
languages may be used, such as BASIC, ForTran, COBoL, TCL, or Lua.
Various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented in a
non-programmed environment (e.g., documents created in HTML, XML or
other format that, when viewed in a window of a browser program
render aspects of a graphical-user interface (GUI) or perform other
functions). Various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented as
programmed or non-programmed elements, or any combination
thereof.
[0119] At least some embodiments of systems and methods described
above are generally described for use in IT rooms having equipment
racks; however, embodiments of the disclosure may be used with IT
rooms without equipment racks and with facilities other than IT
rooms. Some embodiments may comprise a number of computers
distributed geographically.
[0120] In some embodiments, results of analyses are described as
being provided in real or near real-time. As understood by those
skilled in the art, the use of the term real-time is not meant to
suggest that the results are available immediately, but rather, are
available quickly giving a designer the ability to try a number of
different designs over a short period of time, such as a matter of
minutes.
[0121] Having thus described several aspects of at least one
embodiment, it is to be appreciated various alterations,
modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled
in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are
intended to be part of this disclosure and are intended to be
within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing
description and drawings are by way of example only.
* * * * *