Method for designing raised floor and dropped ceiling in computing facilities

• US 8,473,265 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Hlasny, Christopher, VanGilder, James W., Daae, Henrik, Vester, Kresten Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Eunhee
• Application Number:
  US12/259,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,702 Days
• Field of Search: 703 6- 7, 703/1
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads

Abstract

A system and method for design aspects of a cooling system for a data center is provided. In one example, a method is provided including acts of receiving an indication to position a perforated tile in a model, calculating cooling available in a model space adjacent to the tile, and displaying an indication of cooling availability within the context of the model on a computer system. In another example, a method is provided for manipulating representations of data elements in a model of a data center. The method allows a user to move multiple representations by adjusting the position of a layer of the model space relative to another layer in the model space.

Claims

1. A method for presenting a cooling model of a data center, the cooling model including representations of at least one cooling provider, at least one cooling consumer and at least one perforated tile, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements, the method comprising:

segmenting the cooling model into a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers being a bounded space within the cooling model and including one or more modeled components located within the bounded space, the plurality of layers having a first layer that includes the at least one perforated tile and a second layer that includes the at least one cooling consumer;

receiving an indication to reposition the first layer relative to the second layer;

determining, in response to the indication and based upon positions of the first layer and the second layer, at least one new position for the at least one perforated tile relative to the at least one cooling consumer;

determining a cooling metric measuring the ability of the at least one cooling provider to meet the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer via the at least one perforated tile in the at least one new position; and

displaying the cooling model on a computer system, the at least one cooling consumer including an indication of the cooling metric.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving an indication includes receiving the indication responsive to a user dragging and dropping the first layer relative to the second layer.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the at least one new position includes determining at least one new position where a percentage of the surface area of the at least one perforated tile is occluded.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein determining the cooling metric includes determining a rate of airflow, and the method further comprises calculating a rate of airflow associated with the at least one perforated tile in the at least one new position as a function of the occluded percentage of the surface area of the at least one perforated tile in the at least one new position.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein calculating the rate of airflow includes calculating the rate of airflow as a function of the occluded percentage, the occluded percentage being valued in 25% increments.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the cooling metric includes retrieving a user defined rate of airflow associated with the at least one perforated tile.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the cooling metric includes determining a uniform rate of airflow.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining the uniform rate of airflow includes calculating the uniform rate of airflow associated with the at least one perforated tile as a function of an airflow rate of the cooling provider, a rate of leakage of airflow and a number of perforated tiles supplied by the cooling provider, the number of perforated tiles including the at least one perforated tile.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein displaying the cooling model on the computer system includes displaying a representation of a rack, the representation indicating a rate of airflow in a model space adjacent to the rack.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein displaying the cooling model on the computer system includes displaying the at least one new position including an indication of the cooling metric.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising repositioning the at least one perforated tile to the at least one new position.

12. A system for presenting a cooling model of a data center, the system comprising:

an interface; and

a controller configured to;

segment the cooling model into a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers being a bounded space within the cooling model and including one or more modeled components located within the bounded space, the plurality of layers including;

a first layer having at least one perforated tile; and

a second layer having at least one cooling consumer;

receive an indication to reposition the first layer relative to the second layer;

determine, in response to the indication and based upon positions of the first layer and the second layer, at least one new position for the at least one perforated tile relative to the at least one cooling consumer;

determine a cooling metric measuring the ability of the at least one cooling provider to meet the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer via the at least one perforated tile in the at least one new position; and

display the cooling model on a computer system, the at least one cooling consumer including an indication of the cooling metric.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to receive the indication responsive to a user dragging and dropping the first layer relative to the second layer.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the cooling metric at least in part by retrieving a user defined rate of airflow associated with the at least one perforated tile.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the cooling metric at least in part by determining a uniform rate of airflow.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the uniform rate of airflow at least in part by calculating the uniform rate of airflow associated with the at least one perforated tile as a function of an airflow rate of the cooling provider, a rate of leakage of airflow and a number of perforated tiles supplied by the cooling provider, the number of perforated tiles including the at least one perforated tile.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to display the cooling model on the computer system at least in part by displaying a representation of a rack, the representation indicating a rate of airflow in a model space adjacent to the rack.

18. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to display the cooling model on the computer system at least in part by displaying the at least one new position including an indication of the cooling metric.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to reposition the at least one perforated tile to the at least one new position.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for presenting a cooling model of a data center, the cooling model including representations of at least one cooling provider, at least one cooling consumer and at least one perforated tile, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements, the cooling model having a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers being a bounded space within the cooling model and including one or more modeled components located within the bounded space, the sequences of instructions including instructions that instruct at least one processor to:

receive an indication to position a first layer of the plurality of layers relative to a second layer of the plurality of layers, the first layer including the at least one perforated tile, the second layer including the at least one cooling consumer;

determine, in response to the indication and based upon positions of the first layer and the second layer, at least one new position for the at least one perforated tile relative to the at least one cooling consumer;

calculate cool air available in a model space adjacent to the at least one perforated tile, the act of calculating the cool air including calculating an airflow to the model space adjacent to the at least one perforated tile as a function of an airflow rate of the cooling provider, a rate of leakage of airflow and a number of perforated tiles supplied by the cooling provider; and

display the model on a computer system, the model having a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers being a bounded space within the model and including one or more modeled components located within the bounded space, the plurality of layers having a first layer that includes the at least one perforated tile and a second layer that includes the at least one cooling consumer and an indication of the available cool air.

21. The computer readable medium according to claim 20, wherein the instructions will further cause a processor to receive the indication responsive to a user dragging and dropping the first layer relative to the second layer.

22. The computer readable medium according to claim 20, wherein the instructions will further cause a processor to retrieve a user defined rate of airflow associated with at least one other perforated tile.

23. The computer readable medium according to claim 22, wherein the instructions will further cause a processor to display an indication of cool air available in a model space adjacent the at least one other perforated tile using the user defined rate of airflow.