Market-based temperature control system and method

• US 6,834,811 B1
• Filed: 04/01/2003
• Issued: 12/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Huberman, Bernardo, Clearwater, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): NORMAN, MARC E
• Application Number:
  US10/405,307
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• Field of Search: 236/49.3, 622/592, 621/78, 621/80, 705/37
• US Class Current: 236/49.3
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/70 Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1923 using thermal energy, the cost of which varies in function of time
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

A temperature control system and method uses a market-based approach to control the temperature of regions within an unpartitioned space, such as a computer data center. Market agents may be associated with regions of the data center that may contain one or more heat-generating processor racks. Prices for the thermal resources may be established. The market agents may generate bids for thermal resources to be delivered to the respective regions. The bids may be based in part on differences between the measured temperatures and the target temperatures of the regions. Sets of the market agents are assigned to control of sets of thermal resources. Delivery of the thermal resources to the regions is controlled by the market agents.

Claims

1. A method for temperature control, comprising:

associating market agents with regions of an area;

generating bids for thermal resources available in the regions using the market agents;

assigning a first set of market agents to control primary thermal resources, the primary thermal resources affecting a majority of the regions;

assigning a second set of market agents to control secondary thermal resources, the secondary thermal resources affecting a minority of the regions; and

controlling the delivery of the thermal resources to the regions using the sets of market agents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the first set of market agents comprises assigning the first set of market agents to control air temperature and air velocity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the second set of market agents comprises assigning the second set of market agents to control air flow direction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the bids for the thermal resources comprises:

determining temperatures of the regions;

comparing the region temperatures with target temperatures; and

generating the bids based in part on differences between the region temperatures and the target temperatures.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the temperature of a particular region comprises determining temperatures of one or more locations within the particular region.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the temperature of a particular region comprises determining an average temperature of the particular region.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the temperature of a particular region comprises determining a maximum temperature of the particular region.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating wealth to the market agents; and

generating the bids based in part on the wealth of the market agents.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein allocating the wealth to the market agents comprises allocating the wealth to the market agents as a function of a difficulty of temperature control in the regions associated with the market agents.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the bids comprises generating buy bids, each buy bid representing a request for an increase in an amount of a particular thermal resource.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the bids comprises generating offers to sell, each offer to sell representing a request for a decrease in an amount of a particular thermal resource.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing prices for the thermal resources; and

controlling the delivery of the sets of thermal resources to the regions based in part on the prices.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conducting an auction to establish market prices for the thermal resources; and

controlling the delivery of the sets of thermal resources to the regions based in part on the market prices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein conducting the auction comprises:

determining supply functions for the thermal resources;

determining demand functions for the thermal resources; and

establishing the market prices for the thermal resources as values at which the supply functions are substantially equal to the demand functions.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the sets of the thermal resources comprises adjusting setpoints of the thermal resources.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the market agents with the regions comprises associating the market agents with processor racks in a data center.

17. A temperature control system, comprising:

a sensing system configured to sense temperatures in a plurality of regions;

a delivery system configured to deliver thermal resources to the plurality of regions; and

a control system, coupled to the sensing system and the delivery system, comprising;

market agents associated with the plurality of regions and configured to generate bids for thermal resources based in part on differences between measured temperatures and target temperatures of the regions; and

an auctioneer configured to accept bids for the thermal resources from the market agents, assign control of sets of thermal resources to sets of market agents, and provide control signals to the delivery system for delivering the thermal resources to the plurality of regions, wherein the auctioneer is configured to assign control of a first set of thermal resources to a first set of market agents and assign control of a second set of thermal resources to a second set of market agents.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first set of thermal resources are primary resources affecting a majority of regions in the data center and the second set of thermal resources are secondary thermal resources affecting a minority of regions in the data center.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the control system is configured to allocate wealth to the market agents based on a difficulty of temperature control in the regions associated with the respective market agents and the market agents are configured to generate bids based in part on the allocated wealth.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the control system is further configured to establish prices for the thermal resources based on costs of the thermal resources.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the control system is further configured to establish prices for the thermal resources based on market equilibrium prices determined using an auction.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein each market agent is associated with one or more processor racks in a data center.

23. A computer-readable medium configured with instructions for causing one or more computers to perform a method for cooling an area, the method comprising:

associating market agents with regions of the area;

generating bids for the thermal resources using the market agents;

assigning a first set of the market agents to control primary thermal resources, the primary thermal resources affecting a majority of the regions;

assigning a second set of the market agents to control secondary thermal resources, the secondary thermal resources affecting a minority of the regions;

controlling delivery of the sets of the thermal resources to the regions using the sets of the market agents.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein generating the bids for the thermal resources comprises:

determining temperatures of the regions;

comparing the region temperatures with target temperatures; and

generating the bids based on differences between the region temperatures and the target temperatures.

25. A thermal control system, comprising:

means for associating market agents with regions of an area;

means for generating bids for thermal resources available in the regions using the market agents;

means for assigning a first set of market agents to control primary thermal resources, the primary thermal resources affecting a majority of the regions;

means for assigning a second set of market agents to control secondary thermal resources, the secondary thermal resources affecting a minority of the regions; and

means for controlling the delivery of the sets of thermal resources to the regions using the sets of market agents.

26. A method for temperature control, comprising:

generating bids, using market agents, for a plurality of thermal resources supplied to an area, at least one thermal resource having an attribute distinct from another thermal resource;

allocating control of the at least one thermal resource to a first set of market agents based on the bids; and

allocating control of each thermal resource other than the at least one thermal resource to a second set of market agents based on the bids.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising associating the market agents with regions of the area.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising associating the market agents with processor racks in a data center.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air temperature.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air flow rate.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air flow direction.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein:

allocating control of the at least one thermal resource to the first set of market agents comprises allocating control of a primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents, the primary thermal resource affecting a majority of the regions; and

allocating control of another thermal resource to the second set of market agents comprises allocating control of a secondary thermal resource to the second set of market agents, the secondary thermal resource affecting a minority of the regions.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein allocating control of the primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents comprises allocating control of air temperature to the first set of market agents.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein allocating control of the primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents comprises allocating control of air flow rate to the first set of market agents.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein allocating control of the secondary thermal resource to the second set of market agents comprises allocating control of air flow direction to the second set of market agents.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein generating the bids for the thermal resources comprises:

determining temperatures of regions of the area;

comparing the region temperatures with target temperatures; and

generating the bids based in part on differences between the region temperatures and the target temperatures.

37. A temperature control system, comprising:

a sensing system configured to sense temperatures in an area;

a delivery system configured to deliver a plurality of thermal resources to the area, at least one thermal resource having an attribute distinct from other thermal resources; and

a control system, coupled to the sensing system and the delivery system, comprising;

market agents configured to generate bids for the thermal resources based in part on differences between measured temperatures and target temperatures in the area; and

an auctioneer configured to allocate control of the at least one thermal resource to a first set of market agents based on the bids and to allocate control of each thermal resource other than the at least one thermal resource to a second set of market agent based on the bids.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the market agents are associated with regions of the area.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the market agents are associated with processor racks in a data center.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air temperature.

41. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air flow rate.

42. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises air flow direction.

43. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises a primary resource affecting a majority of the area.

44. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one thermal resource having the distinct attribute comprises a secondary thermal resource affecting a minority of the area.

45. The system of claim 37, wherein the auctioneer is configured to allocate control of a primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents, the primary thermal resource affecting a majority of the regions and to allocate control of a secondary thermal resource to the second set of market agents, the secondary thermal resource affecting a minority of the regions.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the auctioneer is configured to allocate control of air temperature and air flow rate to the first set of market agents and to allocate control of air flow direction to the second set of market agents.

47. The system of claim 37, wherein each market agent is configured to determine a temperature of a region of the area, compare the region temperature with a target temperature and generate a bid based in part on a difference between the region temperature and the target temperature.

48. A program storage medium, comprising:

a processor-readable device configured with instructions for controlling allocation of thermal resources, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform operations including,

generating bids, using market agents, for a plurality of thermal resources supplied to an area, at least one thermal resource having an attribute distinct from another thermal resource;

allocating control of the at least one thermal resource to a first set of market agents based on the bids; and

allocating control of each thermal resource other than the at least one thermal resource to a second set of market agents based on the bids.

49. The program storage medium of claim 48, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform operations including associating the market agents with regions of the area.

50. The program storage medium of claim 48, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform operations including associating the market agents with processor racks in a data center.

51. The program storage medium of claim 48, wherein:

allocating control of the at least one thermal resource to the first set of market agents comprises allocating control of a primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents, the primary thermal resource affecting a majority of the regions; and

allocating control of another thermal resource to the second set of market agents comprises allocating control of a secondary thermal resource to the second set of market agents, the secondary thermal resource affecting a minority of the regions.

52. The program storage medium of claim 48, wherein generating the bids for the thermal resources comprises:

determining temperatures of regions of the area;

comparing the region temperatures with target temperatures; and

generating the bids based in part on differences between the region temperatures and the target temperatures.

53. A temperature control system, comprising:

means for generating bids, using market agents, for a plurality of thermal resources supplied to an area, at least one thermal resource having an attribute distinct from another thermal resource;

means for allocating control of the at least one thermal resource to a first set of market agents based on the bids; and

means for allocating control of each thermal resource other than the at least one thermal resource to a second set of market agents based on the bids.

54. The system of claim 53, further comprising means for associating the market agent with regions of the area.

55. The system of claim 53, further comprising means for associating the market agents with processor racks in a data center.

56. The system of claim 53, further comprising

means for allocating control of a primary thermal resource to the first set of market agents, the primary thermal resource affecting a majority of the regions; and

means for allocating control of a secondary thermal resource to the second set of market agents, the secondary thermal resource affecting a minority of the regions.