Tile assemblies faciliating failover airflow into cold air containment aisle

• US 9,462,729 B1
• Filed: 12/01/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Campbell, Levi A., David, Milnes P., Demetriou, Dustin W., Ellsworth, Michael J. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): MATTEI, BRIAN DAVID
• Application Number:
  US14/955,275
• Time in Patent Office: 308 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2011/0002 for admittance of outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2011/0006 using low temperature external supply air to assist cooling
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device

Abstract

Tile assemblies are provided having first and second tile sections and an airflow control mechanism. The first tile section allows, in a cold air cooling mode, cold air from a cold air plenum of a data center to flow into a cold air containment aisle for supply to an electronics rack(s). The second tile section is associated with the first tile section to allow, in a failover cooling mode, ambient air external the cold air plenum to flow, via an air pathway through the second and first tile sections into the containment aisle. The airflow control mechanism is disposed within the air pathway to block cold air from the cold air plenum from passing through the second tile section in the cold air cooling mode, and to allow, in the failover cooling mode, ambient air to pass through the air pathway into the cold air containment aisle.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a tile assembly for a data center, the tile assembly comprising;

a first tile section to allow, in a cold air cooling mode, cold air from a cold air plenum of the data center to flow through the first tile section to a cold air containment aisle of the data center for supply to one or more electronics racks drawing air from the cold air containment aisle;

a second tile section associated with the first tile section to allow, in a failover cooling mode, ambient air of the data center external to the cold air plenum to flow, via an air pathway external to the cold air plenum, through the second tile section and the first tile section of the tile assembly, into the cold air containment aisle; and

an airflow control mechanism disposed within the air pathway to block cold air from the cold air plenum from passing through the second tile section into the data center in the cold air cooling mode, and to allow, in the failover cooling mode, ambient air from the data center to pass through the air pathway into the cold air containment aisle for supply to the one or more electronics racks.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first tile section and the second tile section are different portions of a common tile structure.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first tile section comprises a first set of perforations through which air passes into the cold air containment aisle in both the cold air cooling mode and the failover cooling mode, and the second tile section comprises a second set of perforations through which ambient air from the data center enters the air pathway of the tile assembly in the failover cooling mode.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first set of perforations are different in at least one of quantity or size from the second set of perforations.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first tile section is in fluid communication with the cold air plenum via one or more openings in a base of the common tile structure, the one or more openings in the base facilitating, in the cold air cooling mode, the flow of cold air from the cold air plenum through the first tile section into the cold air containment aisle.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the airflow control mechanism comprises at least one airflow diode or at least one louver, the airflow control mechanism automatically opening to allow the ambient air of the data center external to the cold air plenum to pass through the air pathway in the failover cooling mode based on a drop in cold air pressure at the first tile section.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tile assembly is sized to allow the first tile section to reside, at least in part, within the cold air aisle containment aisle, and the second tile section to reside, at least in part, external to the cold aisle containment aisle.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the air pathway through the second tile section and the first tile section is a low-pressure air pathway in the failover cooling mode, and wherein the cold air flows from the cold air plenum via a high-pressure air pathway through the first tile section into the cold air containment aisle in the cold air cooling mode, the high-pressure air pathway being of greater pressure than the low-pressure air pathway.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the air pathway is through an opening in a support bar associated with the tile assembly, the airflow control mechanism being disposed, at least in part, within the opening in the support bar, and the support bar being disposed between and dividing the first tile section and the second tile section.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second tile section is larger than the first tile section.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second tile section comprises a greater number of tiles than the first tile section.

12. A data center comprising:

at least one electronics rack to be cooled, the at least one electronics rack drawing air from a cold air containment aisle of the data center; and

a tile assembly, the tile assembly comprising;

a first tile section to allow, in a cold air cooling mode, cold air from a cold air plenum of the data center to flow through the first tile section to the cold air containment aisle for supply to the at least one electronics rack;

a second tile section associated with the first tile section to allow, in a failover cooling mode, ambient air of the data center external to the cold air plenum to flow, via an air pathway external to the cold air plenum, through the second tile section and the first tile section of the tile assembly, into the cold air containment aisle; and

an airflow control mechanism disposed within the air pathway to block cold air from the cold air plenum from passing through the second tile section into the data center in the cold air cooling mode, and to allow, in the failover cooling mode, ambient air of the data center to pass through the air pathway into the cold air containment aisle for supply to the at least one electronics rack.

13. The data center of claim 12, wherein the first tile section comprises a first set of perforations through which air passes into the cold air containment aisle in both the cold air cooling mode and the failover cooling mode, and the second tile section comprises a second set of perforations through which ambient air from the data center enters the air pathway of the tile assembly in the failover cooling mode.

14. The data center of claim 12, wherein the airflow control mechanism comprises at least one airflow diode or at least one louver, the airflow control mechanism automatically opening to allow the ambient air of the data center external to the cold air plenum to pass through the air pathway in the failover cooling mode based on a drop in cold air pressure at the first tile section.

15. The data center of claim 12, wherein the tile assembly is sized to allow the first tile section to reside, at least in part, within the cold air aisle containment aisle, and the second tile section to reside, at least in part, external to the cold aisle containment aisle.

16. The data center of claim 12, wherein the air pathway through the second tile section and the first tile section is a low-pressure air pathway in the failover cooling mode, and wherein the cold air flows from the cold air plenum via a high-pressure air pathway through the first tile section into the cold air containment aisle in the cold air cooling mode, the high-pressure air pathway being of greater pressure than the low-pressure air pathway.

17. The data center of claim 12, wherein the air pathway is through an opening in a support bar associated with the tile assembly, the airflow control mechanism being disposed, at least in part, within the opening in the support bar, and the support bar being disposed between and dividing the first tile section and the second tile section.

18. The data center of claim 12, wherein the second tile section is larger than the first tile section.

19. The data center of claim 12, wherein the second tile section comprises a greater number of tiles than the first tile section.

20. A method of facilitating cooling, the method comprising:

providing a tile assembly for a data center comprising at least one electronics rack to be cooled, the providing the tile assembly comprising;

providing a first tile section to allow, in a cold air cooling mode, cold air from a cold air plenum of the data center to flow through the first tile section to a cold air containment aisle of the data center for supply to the at least one electronics rack, which is disposed to draw air from the cold air containment aisle;

providing a second tile section associated with the first tile section to allow, in a failover cooling mode, ambient air from the data center external to the cold air plenum to flow, via an air pathway external to the cold air plenum, through the second tile section and the first tile section of the tile assembly, into the cold air containment aisle; and

providing an airflow control mechanism disposed within the air pathway to block cold air from the cold air plenum from passing through the second tile section into the data center in the cold air cooling mode, and to allow, in the failover cooling mode, ambient air from the data center to pass through the air pathway into the cold air containment aisle for supply to the one or more electronics racks.