System and method for arranging equipment in a data center

• US 8,219,362 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Shrivastava, Saurabh K., VanGilder, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Assistant Examiner(s): GUILL, RUSSELL L
• Application Number:
  US12/437,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20100287018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 703/2, 703/6, 703/7, 361/695
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/10 Numerical modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/18 Network design, e.g. design based on topological or interconnect aspects of utility systems, piping, heating ventilation air conditioning [HVAC] or cabling circuit design at the physical level G06F30/39; network planning tools for wireless communication networks H04W16/18
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

A system and method for providing a layout of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one rack-based cooling provider. In one aspect, the method includes receiving data regarding airflow consumption for each of the plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, storing the received data, determining a layout of the data center, and displaying the layout of the data center.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a layout of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider, the method comprising:

receiving data regarding airflow consumption for each of the plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider;

storing the received data;

determining a layout of the data center;

displaying the layout of the data center; and

wherein determining a layout includes;

pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks based on airflow consumption of each of the plurality of equipment racks to create a plurality of pairs of equipment racks such that a greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a least airflow consuming equipment rack, and a second greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a second least airflow consuming rack;

determining a combined airflow consumption value for each of the pairs of equipment racks;

arranging the pairs of equipment racks to form a two-row cluster of equipment racks based on the combined airflow consumption value of the equipment racks, wherein each pair includes an equipment rack in a first row of the cluster and an equipment rack in a second row of the cluster; and

determining a location of the at least one cooling provider in the cluster.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein arranging the pairs of equipment racks includes:

identifying a rack pair having a greatest combined airflow consumption value, a rack pair having a least combined airflow consumption value, and a rack pair having a second least combined airflow consumption value; and

positioning the rack pair having the greatest combined airflow consumption value in a middle position of the cluster, arranging the rack pair having the least combined airflow consumption value at a first end of the cluster, and arranging the rack pair having the second least combined power consumption value at a second end of the cluster.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a location for the at least one cooling provider includes determining an interior position for the at least one cooling provider adjacent two equipment racks.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information related to a desired cooling redundancy for at least one of the equipment racks, and wherein determining a layout includes determining a layout based at least in part on the information related to a desired cooling redundancy.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising after determining the layout, providing an optimized layout using an optimization routine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising positioning the equipment in the data center in accordance with the determined layout.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks includes pairing the greatest airflow consuming equipment rack with a fictitious equipment rack.

8. A system for providing a layout of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider, the system comprising:

a display;

a storage device;

an interface; and

a controller coupled to the display, the storage device and the interface and configured to;

receive through the interface data regarding airflow consumption for each of the plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider;

store the received data in the storage device;

determine a layout of the data center; and

display the layout of the data center on the display;

wherein determine a layout includes;

pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks based on airflow consumption of each of the plurality of equipment racks to create a plurality of pairs of equipment racks such that a greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a least airflow consuming equipment rack, and a second greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a second least airflow consuming rack;

determining a combined airflow consumption value for each of the pairs of equipment racks;

arranging the pairs of equipment racks to form a two-row cluster of equipment racks based on the combined airflow consumption value of the equipment racks, wherein each pair includes an equipment rack in a first row of the cluster and an equipment rack in a second row of the cluster; and

determining a location of the at least one cooling provider in the cluster.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein arranging the pairs of equipment racks includes:

identifying a rack pair having a greatest combined airflow consumption value, a rack pair having a least combined airflow consumption value, and a rack pair having a second least combined airflow consumption value; and

positioning the rack pair having the greatest combined airflow consumption value in a middle position of the cluster, arranging the rack pair having the least combined airflow consumption value at a first end of the cluster, and arranging the rack pair having the second least combined airflow consumption value at a second end of the cluster.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein determining a location for the at least one cooling provider includes determining an interior position for the at least one cooling provider adjacent two equipment racks.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to receive information related to a desired cooling redundancy for at least one of the equipment racks, and wherein determine a layout includes determining a layout based at least in part on the information related to a desired cooling redundancy.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configure to determine an optimized layout using an optimization routine having the determined layout as an input.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to pair the greatest airflow consuming equipment rack with a fictitious equipment rack.

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

receive data regarding airflow consumption for each of a plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of at least one cooling provider contained in a data center;

store the received data in a storage device;

determine a layout of the data center; and

display the layout of the data center on a display;

wherein determine a layout includes;

pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks based on airflow consumption of each of the plurality of equipment racks to create a plurality of pairs of equipment racks such that a greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a least airflow consuming equipment rack, and a second greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a second least airflow consuming rack;

determining a combined airflow consumption value for each of the pairs of equipment racks;

arranging the pairs of equipment racks to form a two-row cluster of equipment racks based on the combined airflow consumption value of the equipment racks, wherein each pair includes an equipment rack in a first row of the cluster and an equipment rack in a second row of the cluster; and

determining a location of the at least one cooling provider in the cluster.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein arranging the pairs of equipment racks includes:

identifying a rack pair having a greatest combined airflow consumption value, a rack pair having a least combined airflow consumption value, and a rack pair having a second least combined airflow consumption value; and

positioning the rack pair having the greatest combined airflow consumption value in a middle position of the cluster, arranging the rack pair having the least combined airflow consumption value at a first end of the cluster, and arranging the rack pair having the second least combined airflow consumption value at a second end of the cluster.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining a location for the at least one cooling provider includes determining an interior position for the at least one cooling provider adjacent two equipment racks.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further including instructions that will cause the processor to receive information related to a desired cooling redundancy for at least one of the equipment racks, and wherein determine a layout includes determining a layout based at least in part on the information related to a desired cooling redundancy.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein further including instructions that will cause the processor to determine an optimized layout using an optimization routine having the determined layout as an input.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further including instructions that will cause the processor to pair the greatest airflow consuming equipment rack with a fictitious equipment rack.