Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling

• US 7,596,476 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2005
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• 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, VanGilder, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rodriguez; Paul L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Craig; Dwin M
• Application Number:
  US11/120,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,611 Days
• Field of Search: 703/2, 703/7, 361/695
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• 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 method for analyzing cooling capacity using a computer system, the computer system including a display, a data storage medium and a controller coupled to the display and the data storage medium, the method comprising:

determining, by the controller, cooling capacity for each of a number of equipment enclosures in a data center based on local air flow characteristics of a proposed location for each equipment enclosure in the data center;

determining, by the controller, cooling requirements of each of the number of equipment enclosures; and

providing, by the controller in the display, an amount of remaining cooling capacity for each of the number of equipment enclosures.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

developing a floor plan model of the data center, wherein the floor plan model includes a floor plan that indicates location of each of the number of equipment enclosures in the data center; and

for each of the number of equipment enclosures, displaying on the floor plan, the amount of remaining cooling capacity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the amount of remaining cooling capacity includes an amount of additional power that can be drawn by each of the number of equipment enclosures based on the remaining cooling capacity.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes calculating a predicted cooling capacity based on the floor plan model.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes measuring airflow at a first plurality of locations in the facility to obtain a measured cooling capacity.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes measuring air temperature at a second plurality of locations in the facility.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the first plurality of locations and the second plurality of locations includes at least one air vent of a raised floor.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising comparing predicted cooling capacity with measured cooling capacity to obtain a comparison result and providing an indication when the comparison result is greater than a threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising adjusting the predicted cooling capacity based on measured airflow.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining placement of new equipment in an equipment enclosure in the data center by comparing power ratings of the new equipment with cooling capacity of the equipment enclosure.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising for each of the number of equipment enclosures, determining electrical power capacity and remaining electrical power availability.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining remaining electrical power availability includes measuring at least one parameter of electrical power provided to at least one of the number of equipment enclosures.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising for each of the number of equipment enclosures, displaying on the floor plan the remaining electrical power availability.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures electrical power capacity, remaining electrical power availability, cooling capacity, and remaining cooling capacity.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes measuring airflow at a first plurality of locations in the facility to obtain a measured cooling capacity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes measuring air temperature at a second plurality of locations in the facility.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining placement of new equipment in an equipment enclosure in the data center by comparing power ratings of the new equipment with cooling capacity of the equipment enclosure.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising for each of the number of equipment enclosures, determining electrical power capacity and remaining electrical power availability.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining remaining electrical power availability includes measuring at least one parameter of electrical power provided to at least one of the number of equipment enclosures.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising for each of the number of equipment enclosures, displaying on the floor plan the remaining electrical power availability.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising displaying for each of the plurality of equipment enclosures electrical power capacity, remaining electrical power availability, cooling capacity, and remaining cooling capacity.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes defining a plurality of control volumes, such that each control volume is adjacent to one of the equipment enclosures, and wherein the method further includes determining airflow into each of the equipment enclosures by determining airflow into and out of each of a plurality of sides of each control volume.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes conducting a Coarse-Grid computational fluid dynamics analysis.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein conducting the Coarse Grid computational fluid dynamics analysis includes defining areas adjacent to each of the equipment enclosures in a grid of approximately one foot cubes and determining cooling parameters for each of the cubes.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein defining a control volume includes defining a control volume adjacent to each equipment enclosure such that a width and a height of each control volume is approximately equal to the width and height of an adjacent equipment enclosure.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity of an equipment enclosure includes estimating available cooling air at the equipment enclosure using a weighted summation of available airflows from a plurality of airflow sources.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein weights used in the weighted summation decrease with distance from the equipment enclosure to each of the airflow sources.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein weights used in the weighted summation are based on mechanical characteristics of the plurality of airflow sources.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising determining available airflow of at least one of the plurality of airflow devices using at least one of specifications of the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices and measured data for the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices in the data center.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising determining available airflow of at least a second one of the plurality of airflow devices based on the measured data for the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes using superposition to combine airflows.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein determining airflow into and out of each of a plurality of sides of each control volume includes computing airflows using equations based on at least one of conservation of mass and conservation of momentum.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein determining airflow into and out of each of a plurality of sides of each control volume includes determining airflows using empirical rules.

55. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes modeling airflows in an area adjacent at least one of the equipment enclosures.

34. A system for managing a data center, the system comprising:

at least one input to receive data related to equipment and equipment enclosures and to receive data related to cooling characteristics of the data center;

a controller operatively coupled to the input and configured to determine cooling capacity of each equipment enclosure based on air flow characteristics local to each equipment enclosure; and

at least one display operatively coupled to the controller that provides an amount of remaining cooling capacity for each of the equipment enclosures.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the system is configured to display a floor plan of at least a portion of the data center indicating a location of at least one of the equipment enclosures in the data center and indicating the remaining cooling capacity for the at least one of the equipment enclosures.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the display device is configured to include an indication of additional power that can be drawn by the at least one of the equipment enclosures.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising at least one airflow monitor operatively coupled to the controller to provide data related to at least one airflow in the data center.

38. The system of claim 37, further comprising at least one air monitor operatively coupled to the controller to provide data related to air temperature at a location in the data center.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the controller is configured to compare a predicted cooling capacity with a measured cooling capacity to obtain a comparison result and to provide an indication when the comparison result is greater than a threshold.

40. The system of claim 39, further comprising at least one power monitor operatively coupled to the controller.

41. The system of claim 40, further comprising at least one airflow controller operatively coupled to the controller and responsive to signals from the controller to alter cooling airflow in the data center.

42. The system of claim 41, further comprising at least one power controller operatively coupled to the controller and responsive to signals from the controller to alter at least one characteristic of power in the data center.

43. The system of claim 34, further comprising at least one airflow monitor operatively coupled to the controller to provide data related to at least one airflow in the data center.

44. The system of claim 34, further comprising at least one air monitor operatively coupled to the controller to provide data related to air temperature at a location in the data center.

45. The system of claim 34, wherein the controller is configured to compare a predicted cooling capacity with a measured cooling capacity to obtain a comparison result and to provide an indication when the comparison result is greater than a threshold.

46. The system of claim 34, further comprising at least one power monitor operatively coupled to the controller.

47. The system of claim 34, further comprising at least one airflow controller operatively coupled to the controller and responsive to signals from the controller to alter cooling airflow in the data center.

48. The system of claim 34, further comprising at least one power controller operatively coupled to the controller and responsive to signals from the controller to alter at least one characteristic of power in the data center.

49. The system of claim 34, wherein the controller is configured to receive data related to additional equipment to be installed in the data center and to determine placement locations of the additional equipment in the data center based at least in part on the cooling capacity data of at least one of the plurality of equipment enclosures.

50. A system for managing a data center, the system comprising:

at least one input to receive data related to equipment and equipment enclosures and to receive data related to cooling characteristics of the data center; and

means, coupled to the at least one input, for determining remaining cooling capacity for each of the number of equipment enclosures based on local airflow characteristics of a proposed location for each of the number of equipment enclosures and providing, in a display of the system, an amount of remaining cooling capacity.

51. The system of claim 50, further comprising means for providing an indication of additional power that can be drawn by each of the equipment enclosures.

52. The system of claim 50, further comprising means for updating the amount of remaining cooling capacity based on measured airflows in the data center.

53. The system of claim 50, further comprising means for determining placement of equipment in the data center based on remaining cooling capacity.

54. The system of claim 50, further comprising means for estimating available cooling air of at least one of the equipment enclosures using a weighted summation of available airflows from a plurality of airflow sources.

56. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

determine cooling capacity of a number of equipment enclosures in a data center based on local air flow characteristics of a proposed location for each equipment enclosure in the data center;

determine cooling requirements of each of the number of equipment enclosures; and

provide, in a display of a computer system, an amount of remaining cooling capacity for each of the number of equipment enclosures.

57. A method for modeling cooling in a data center using a computer system, the computer system including a display, a data storage medium and a controller coupled to the display and the data storage medium, the method comprising:

receiving, by the controller, a layout of equipment in the data center, the layout indicating a number of equipment enclosures;

determining, by the controller, cooling capacity for each of the number of equipment enclosures based on local air flow characteristics of a proposed location in the data center for each equipment enclosure;

determining, by the controller, cooling requirements of each of the number of equipment enclosures;

determining, by the controller, an amount of remaining cooling capacity for each of the number of equipment enclosures;

receiving, by the controller, a change in the layout of equipment in the data center; and

providing, by the controller in the display, a change in the amount of remaining cooling capacity of at least one of the number of equipment enclosures based at least in part on the change in the layout of equipment in the data center.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes modeling airflows in an area adjacent at least one of the equipment enclosures.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity includes conducting a Coarse-Grid computational fluid dynamics analysis.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein determining, by the controller, cooling capacity of an equipment enclosure includes estimating available cooling air at the equipment enclosure using a weighted summation of available airflows from a plurality of airflow sources.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein weights used in the weighted summation decrease with distance from the equipment enclosure to each of the airflow sources.

62. The method of claim 60, wherein weights used in the weighted summation are based on mechanical characteristics of the plurality of airflow sources.

63. The method of claim 60, further comprising determining available airflow of at least one of the plurality of airflow devices using at least one of specifications of the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices and measured data for the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices in the data center.

64. The method of claim 63, further comprising determining available airflow of at least a second one of the plurality of airflow devices based on the measured data for the at least one of the plurality of airflow devices.