Air re-circulation effect reduction system

• US 7,568,360 B1
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Issued: 08/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Bash, Cullen E., Sharma, Ratnesh K., Patel, Chandrakant D., Beitelmal, Abdlmonem
• Primary Examiner(s): Norman; Marc E
• Application Number:
  US11/264,772
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: 621/86, 622/593, 622/592, 236/49.3, 454/228, 454/229, 454/233, 454/236, 454/238, 454/239, 454/240, 361/696
• US Class Current: 62/186
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device

Abstract

A system for reducing effects of adverse air re-circulation in a room containing at least one heat generating component includes an air conditioning unit configured to cool airflow in the room and at least one cooling vent tile operable to deliver the cooled airflow to the at least one heat generating component. The system also includes at least one secondary vent tile positioned and operated to one of, introduce airflow into a re-circulating airflow and remove airflow from a re-circulating airflow, to thereby respectively divert or vary the temperature of the re-circulating airflow and thereby reduce the effects of air re-circulation in the room.

Claims

1. A system for reducing effects of adverse air re-circulation in a room containing at least one heat generating component, said system comprising:

an air conditioning unit configured to cool airflow in the room;

at least one cooling vent tile operable to deliver the cooled airflow to the at least one heat generating component;

at least one secondary vent tile positioned and operated to one of, introduce airflow into a re-circulating airflow and remove airflow from a re-circulating airflow, to thereby respectively divert or vary the temperature of the re-circulating airflow and thereby reduce the effects of air re-circulation in the room;

a plurality of airflow detection devices positioned at a plurality of locations in the room; and

a controller configured to receive information regarding airflow at the plurality of locations in the room from the plurality of airflow detection devices, said controller being configured to evaluate the received information to determine whether and where airflow re-circulation is occurring in the room, and wherein the controller is further configured to control the at least one secondary vent tile based upon the determination independently from the at least one cooling vent tile.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary vent tile is positioned on at least one of a floor, a wall, and a ceiling of the room.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary vent tile comprises a fan, wherein the fan is controllable to vary the amount of pressure applied on the recirculating airflow.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary vent tile is operable to introduce airflow into the re-circulating airflow to at least one of vary the temperature of the re-circulating airflow prior to re-entry into the at least one heat generating component and to divert the re-circulating airflow away from an inlet of the at least one heat generating component.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary vent tile is operable to remove airflow from the re-circulating airflow to substantially reduce an amount of airflow re-circulated into at least one of an inlet of the at least one heat generating component and an inlet of the air conditioning unit.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the airflow detection device comprises at least one of a vane type anemometer and an airflow indicating device.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a proportional, integral, derivative controller configured to receive condition information from the airflow detection devices, compare the condition information with a setpoint condition to determine an error level, and transmit a control signal corresponding to the error level to the at least one secondary vent tile, wherein the at least one secondary vent tile is configured to operate based upon the control signal.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of modules, wherein the controller is configured to implement the plurality of modules in detecting airflow re-circulation at the plurality of locations in the room and in manipulating the at least one secondary vent tile.

9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

at least one imaging device configured to image at least one of the plurality of airflow detection devices, wherein the information regarding the airflow includes an image of the at least one of the plurality of airflow detection devices, and wherein the controller is configured to evaluate the image to determine whether air re-circulation is occurring at the location of the at least one of the plurality of airflow detection devices.

10. A method for reducing effects of air re-circulation in a room containing at least one heat generating component, said method comprising:

supplying cooling airflow to the at least one heat generating component through a cooling vent tile;

detecting at least one condition through use of one or more airflow detection devices;

evaluating the detected at least one condition to determine whether and where air re-circulation is occurring in the room;

formulating a response of how at least one of the secondary vent tiles is to be manipulated in response to a determination that air re-circulation is occurring at one or more of the plurality of locations; and

changing at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow around at least one area of the air re-circulation through one of airflow addition into the at least one area of air re-circulation and airflow removal from the at least one area of air re-circulation through use of at least one secondary vent tile in accordance with the formulated response.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

controlling the at least one secondary vent tile independently from the cooling vent tile.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting information pertaining to the detected at least one condition to a controller;

in the controller, comparing the condition information with a setpoint condition to determine an error level, transmitting a control signal corresponding to the error level to the at least one secondary vent tile to change at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow around the at least one area of air re-circulation.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the error level corresponds to a level of air re-circulation, and wherein the step of changing at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow further comprises changing at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of the airflow when the error level exceeds a predetermined level.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the one or more airflow detection are devices positioned at a plurality of locations in the room, wherein changing the at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow further comprises:

transmitting control signals to the at least one secondary vent tile to change at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow affected by the at least one secondary vent tile based upon the formulated response to change the at least one of the pressure distribution and temperature of the airflow.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining a level of air re-circulation occurring at one or more locations in the room;

comparing the level of air re-circulation with a predetermined minimum value; and

wherein the step of formulating a response further comprises formulating a response of how at least one of the secondary vent tiles is to be manipulated in response to the determined level of air re-circulation exceeding the predetermined minimum value.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of detecting at least one condition further comprises detecting the at least one condition with at least one of a vane type anemometer and an airflow indicating device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of detecting the at least one condition with an airflow indicating device further comprises imaging the airflow indicating device and transmitting an image of the airflow indicating device to a controller configured to control the at least one secondary vent tile.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of changing further comprises changing a pressure distribution of airflow, said step of changing a pressure distribution of airflow further comprising removing airflow through use of the at least one secondary vent tile, said method further comprising:

detecting a location of cooled airflow loss;

removing the lost cooled airflow through the at least one secondary vent tile; and

re-supplying the removed lost cooled airflow through the cooling vent tile.

19. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of changing further comprises changing at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow by physically placing a secondary vent tile to vary the airflow at the at least one area of air re-circulation.

20. A system for reducing effects of air re-circulation in a room, said system comprising:

means for cooling airflow in the room;

means for supplying the cooled airflow to at least one heat generating component through use of at least one cooling vent tile;

means for detecting airflow conditions in the room;

means for evaluating the detected airflow conditions to determine whether and where re-circulation is occurring in the room; and

means for varying a characteristic of the detected re-circulating airflow through use of at least one secondary vent tile, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of airflow pressure and airflow temperature and wherein the means for varying is further configured to control the at least one secondary vent tile independently from the at least one cooling vent tile to vary a characteristic of the detected re-circulating airflow.

21. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method of reducing effects of air re-circulation in a room, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

applying cooling airflow to the at least one heat generating component through a cooling vent tile;

receiving at least one condition detected through use of one or more airflow detection devices;

evaluating the detected condition to determine whether and where air re-circulation is occurring in the room;

formulating a response of how at least one of the secondary vent tiles is to be manipulated in response to a determination that air re-circulation is occurring at one or more of the plurality of locations; and

changing at least one of a pressure distribution and a temperature of airflow around the at least one area of air re-circulation through one of airflow addition into the at least one area of air re-circulation and airflow removal from the at least one area of air re-circulation through control of at least one secondary vent tile in accordance with the formulated response, wherein controlling the at least one secondary vent tile further comprises controlling the at least one secondary vent tile independently of the supply of cooling airflow from the cooling vent tile.