Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling

• US 8,053,926 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Harms, Flemming Nicolas, Lehmann, Gert, Dalgas, Mikkel
• Primary Examiner(s): PALADINI, ALBERT WILLIAM
• Application Number:
  US12/140,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20090309570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,240 Days
• Field of Search: 307 64- 66, 713/320, 713/300, 708/445
• US Class Current: 307/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks

Abstract

A method and corresponding apparatus provide a determination of available power capacity of a phase of a power supply in a data center rack. The method includes metering the power of a power supply and calculating an average peak power draw per phase of the power supply. Using average peak power draw per phase of the power supply and the expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply, the available power capacity can be calculated on a per phase of the power supply. A method and corresponding apparatus for managing data center equipment may use the phase based available power capacity calculations to determine the optimal placement of new data center equipment within a data center configuration.

Claims

1. A method for determining available power capacity of a phase of a power supply, the method comprising:

metering a power draw per phase of a power supply at a data center rack;

calculating an average power draw per phase of the power supply; and

calculating available power capacity per phase of the power supply at the data center rack based on the average power draw and expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the average power draw is the average peak power draw.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the power supply is a power distribution unit.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the power supply is an uninterruptible power supply.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the power supply is a polyphase power supply.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adding at least one element of data center equipment to the data center rack; and

providing power from the available power capacity to the at least one element of data center equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating available power capacity per phase is based on an average peak power draw and the expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the average peak power draw is a running average.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment is based on nameplate information for the data center equipment.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment is corrected nameplate information.

11. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instruction including instructions that will cause a processor to:

control a power meter to meter a power draw per phase of a power supply at a data center rack;

calculate an average peak power draw per phase of the power supply; and

calculate available power capacity per phase of the power supply at the data center rack based on the average peak power draw and expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply.

12. A method for managing data center equipment, the method comprising:

determining available power capacity of a phase of a power supply in a data center rack;

presenting, to a user of a computer system, an interactive representation of a layout of a data center room that includes the data center rack;

receiving, from the user, identification information for at least one element of data center equipment to be placed in the data room; and

presenting, to the user, a representation of an optimal location in the data center rack to connect the at least one element of data center equipment with the phase of the power supply based on the determination of the available power capacity of the phase of the power supply at the data center rack.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining available power capacity includes:

metering a power draw per phase of the power supply

calculating an average power draw per phase of the power supply; and

determining available power capacity per phase of the power supply based on the average power draw and expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the average power draw is an average peak power draw.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the identification information for the at least one element includes power draw, nameplate information, infrastructure redundancy, or tagged information.

16. The method of claim 12, comprising:

identifying the optimal location based at least in part on at least one other available data center resource.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the at least one other available data center resource is cooling capacity, physical space availability, weight support, remote equipment control capability, physical and logical security, or physical and logical network connectivity.

18. The method of claim 12, comprising:

identifying the optimal location based at least in part on power draw, nameplate information, infrastructure redundancy, or tagged information of the at least one element of data center equipment.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instruction including instructions that will cause a processor to:

determine available power capacity of a phase of a power supply in a data center rack;

present, to a user of a computer system, an interactive representation of a layout of a data center room that includes the data center rack;

receive, from the user, identification information of the at least one element of data center equipment to be placed in the data room; and

present, to the user, a representation of an optimal location at the data center rack to connect the at least one element of data center equipment with the phase of the power supply based on the determination of available power capacity of the phase.

20. A system for managing data center equipment, the system comprising:

a memory configured to store power draw data corresponding to data center equipment;

a power meter configured to measure a power draw per phase of a power supply; and

a user interface configured to provide an interactive representation of a layout of a data center room, and to receive identification information for at least one element of data center equipment to be placed in the data room; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to calculate an average peak power draw per phase of a power supply, to calculate available power capacity per phase of the power supply based on the average peak power draw and expected power draw data corresponding to data center equipment coupled to the power supply, and to calculate an optimal location in the data center room to connect the at least one element of data center equipment with a phase of the power supply, based on available power capacity of the phase;

wherein the user interface is further configured to display a representation of the optimal location.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the user interface is located on at least one element of data center equipment.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the user interface is located on a handheld device.