Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling

• US 20070078635A1
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Neil, Dalgas, Mikkel, VanGilder, James, Shrivastava, Saurabh, Buell, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,885,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/08 Thermal analysis or thermal optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for determining data center cooling and power requirements and for monitoring performance of cooling and power systems in data centers. At least one aspect provides a system and method that enables a data center operator to determine available power and cooling at specific areas and enclosures in a data center to assist in locating new equipment in the data center.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating the cooling performance of a cluster of equipment racks in a data center, wherein the cluster of equipment racks includes at least a first row of racks and a second row of racks separated by a cool aisle, with each of the equipment racks being configured to draw cooling air from the cool aisle, the method comprising:

obtaining at least one of power data and airflow data for each of the equipment racks;

obtaining cool airflow data for cool air supplied to the cool aisle from a source of cool air; and

conducting an analysis of airflows in the cool aisle to determine a recirculation index for at least one of the equipment racks, wherein the recirculation index is indicative of a quantity of recirculated air included in an input airflow of the at least one equipment rack.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recirculation index is equal to a ratio of recirculated air to total air in the input airflow of the at least one equipment rack.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a recirculation index for each of the equipment racks.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the act of obtaining cool airflow data includes obtaining cool airflow data for an in-row cooling unit included in the cluster of racks.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the act of obtaining cool airflow data includes obtaining cool airflow data of at least one perforated tile included in the cool aisle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes defining a plurality of control volumes in the cool aisle, and wherein the method further includes determining airflows in the cool aisle by determining airflow into and out of at least one of the control volumes.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the recirculation index for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures with a threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining a cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures based on the recirculation index for each of the equipment enclosures.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures along with a representation of a data center containing the cluster.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes assigning different chemical concentration identifiers to the airflows for at least two of the plurality of equipment racks.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical data and determining end of aisle airflows using the empirical data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes determining cool aisle airflows in isolation from the data center to obtain isolated results, and combining the isolated results with the empirical data.

13. A computer-implemented method for evaluating the cooling performance of a cluster of equipment racks in a data center, wherein the cluster of equipment racks includes at least a first row of racks and a second row of racks separated by a hot aisle, with each of the equipment racks being configured to exhaust air into the hot aisle, the method comprising:

obtaining at least one of power data and airflow data for each of the equipment racks;

obtaining airflow data for at least one air removal unit contained in one of the first row of equipment racks and the second row of equipment racks; and

conducting an analysis of airflows in the hot aisle to determine a capture index for at least one of the equipment racks, wherein the capture index is indicative of a fraction of air that is exhausted by the at least one of the equipment racks and captured by the at least one air removal unit.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one air removal unit includes an in-row cooling unit.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the capture index is equal to a ratio of captured air to total air exhausted by the at least one equipment rack.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining a capture index for each of the equipment racks.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes defining a plurality of control volumes in the hot aisle, and wherein the method further includes determining airflows in the hot aisle by determining airflow into and out of at least one of the control volumes.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising comparing the capture index for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures with a threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures based on the capture index for each of the equipment enclosures.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising displaying the cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures along with a representation of a data center containing the cluster.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes assigning different chemical concentration identifiers to the airflows for at least two of the plurality of equipment racks.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical data and determining end of aisle airflows using the empirical data.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes determining hot aisle airflows in isolation from the data center to obtain isolated results, and combining the isolated results with the empirical data.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical rules, and determining the capture index using the empirical rules.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the empirical rules include coefficients for use in determining at least one capture index.

26. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for execution on a computer system, the instructions when executed, performing a method comprising acts of:

obtaining at least one of power data and airflow data for a plurality of equipment racks arranged in a cluster, wherein the cluster of equipment racks includes at least a first row of racks and a second row of racks separated by a cool aisle, with each of the equipment racks being configured to draw cooling air from the cool aisle;

obtaining cool airflow data for cool air supplied to the cool aisle from a source of cool air; and

conducting an analysis of airflows in the cool aisle to determine a recirculation index for at least one of the equipment racks, wherein the recirculation index is indicative of a quantity of recirculated air included in an input airflow of the at least one equipment rack.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the recirculation index is equal to a ratio of recirculated air to total air in the input airflow of the at least one equipment rack.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the acts further include determining a recirculation index for each of the equipment racks.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the act of obtaining cool airflow data includes obtaining cool airflow data for an in-row cooling unit included in the cluster of racks.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the act of obtaining cool airflow data includes obtaining cool airflow data of at least one perforated tile included in the cool aisle.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes defining a plurality of control volumes in the cool aisle, and wherein the method further includes determining airflows in the cool aisle by determining airflow into and out of at least one of the control volumes.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, further comprising comparing the recirculation index for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures with a threshold.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the acts further include determining a cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures based on the recirculation index for each of the equipment enclosures.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the acts further include displaying the cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures along with a representation of a data center containing the cluster.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes assigning different chemical concentration identifiers to the airflows for at least two of the plurality of equipment racks.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical data and determining end of aisle airflows using the empirical data.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes determining cool aisle airflows in isolation from the data center to obtain isolated results, and combining the isolated results with the empirical data.

38. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for execution on a computer system, the instructions when executed, performing a method comprising acts of:

obtaining at least one of power data and airflow data for a plurality of equipment racks arranged in a cluster, wherein the cluster of equipment racks includes at least a first row of racks and a second row of racks separated by a hot aisle, with each of the equipment racks being configured to exhaust air into the hot aisle;

obtaining airflow data for at least one air removal unit contained in one of the first row of equipment racks and the second row of equipment racks; and

conducting an analysis of airflows in the hot aisle to determine a capture index for at least one of the equipment racks, wherein the capture index is indicative of a fraction of air that is exhausted by the at least one of the equipment racks and captured by the at least one air removal unit.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the at least one air removal unit is an in-row cooling unit.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the capture index is equal to a ratio of captured air to total air exhausted by the at least one equipment rack.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the acts further include determining a capture index for each of the equipment racks.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes defining a plurality of control volumes, and wherein the method further includes determining airflows in the hot aisle by determining airflow into and out of at least one of the control volumes.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the acts further include comparing the capture index for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures with a threshold.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the acts further include determining a cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures based on the capture index for each of the equipment enclosures.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the acts further include displaying the cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures along with a representation of a data center containing the cluster.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes assigning different chemical concentration identifiers to the airflows for at least two of the plurality of equipment racks.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical data and determining end of aisle airflows using the empirical data.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes determining hot aisle airflows in isolation from the data center to obtain isolated results, and combining the isolated results with the empirical data.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the act of conducting an analysis includes importing empirical rules, and determining the capture index using the empirical rules.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the empirical rules include coefficients for use in determining at least one capture index.