Data center with streamlined power and cooling

• US 9,485,887 B1
• Filed: 06/15/2012
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eichelberg, John W., Schulz, Andrew Robert, Czamara, Michael P., Phillips, Matthew T., Gillooly, Alan D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Courtney
• Assistant Examiner(s): Feng, Zhengfu
• Application Number:
  US13/525,060
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 361/679.48, 361/679.46, 361/679.47, 361/679.49, 361/679.5, 361/695, 62/89, 62/91, 165/104.33, 454/184
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1497 Rooms for data centers; Shipping containers therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20 Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20009 using a gaseous coolant in electronic enclosures in cabinets of standardized dimensions H05K7/20536; in server cabinets H05K7/20709; in vehicle electronic casings H05K7/20845; in power control electronics H05K7/2089; in displays H05K7/20954
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20136 Forced ventilation, e.g. by fans H05K7/202 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20536 for racks or cabinets of standardised dimensions, e.g. electronic racks for aircraft or telecommunication equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20709 for server racks or cabinets; for data centers, e.g. 19-inch computer racks
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20827 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. air conditioning devices

Abstract

A data center includes two or more rack computing systems, a free cooling system, and an electrical power system. The free air cooling system includes air moving devices external to the rack computing systems. The electrical power system includes switchgear and one or more power panels. The switchgear receives power from a utility power feed. The power panels receive power from the switchgear. The power panels supply electrical power to the computing devices.

Claims

1. A data center, comprising:

two or more rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the rack computing systems comprises a rack and one or more computing devices mounted in the rack;

a cooling system, wherein the cooling system comprises one or more air moving devices external to the rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the air moving devices is arranged to create a negative pressure to draw air through computing devices in at least one of the rack computing systems, and wherein the cooling system does not include a mechanical cooler; and

an electrical power system comprising;

switchgear arranged to receive power from a utility power feed, and

one or more power panels coupled to the switchgear, wherein the one or more power panels are arranged to receive power from the switchgear,

wherein at least one of the computing devices of the one or more rack computing systems is coupled to at least one of the power panels,

wherein the at least one power panel is designed to supply electrical power to the at least one computing device, and

wherein the at least one computing device is not electrically coupled to any uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and cannot be switched to be coupled to any UPS via operation of any switching device, such that the at least one computing device is arranged to receive power without back-up from any UPS.

2. The data center of claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device is arranged to receive power from the utility power feed without a back-up power source.

3. The data center of claim 1, further comprising a direct evaporative cooling system designed to cool at least a portion of the air before the air is drawn through at least some of the computing devices.

4. The data center of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more air moving devices is arranged to pull air through at least one row of racks at a rate of at least 3,000 cubic feet per minute.

5. The data center of claim 1, further comprising one or more air moving devices upstream from at least one of the rack computing systems.

6. A data center, comprising:

two or more rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the rack computing systems comprises a rack and one or more computing devices mounted in the rack;

a cooling system designed to provide cooling of the one or more computing devices in the at least one of the rack computing systems, wherein the cooling system comprises;

a free cooling system, wherein the free cooling system comprises one or more air moving devices external to the rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the air moving devices is arranged to create a negative pressure to draw air through the one or more computing devices in the at least one of the rack computing systems;

wherein the cooling system does not include a mechanical cooler; and

an electrical power system arranged to receive power from a utility feed, wherein;

the electrical power system comprises at least one power panel which is arranged to receive power from the utility feed,

least one of the computing devices of the one or more rack computing systems is coupled to the at least one power panel,

the at least one power panel is further designed to supply electrical power to the at least one computing device which is coupled to the at least one power panel, and

the at least one computing device is not electrically coupled to any uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and cannot be switched to be coupled to any UPS via operation of any switching device, such that the at least one computing device is arranged to receive power without back-up from any UPS.

7. The data center of claim 6, wherein the at least one computing device is arranged receive power from the utility power feed without a back-up power source.

8. The data center of claim 6, wherein the electrical power system comprises a UPS, wherein at least one of the computing devices is arranged to receive back-up power from the UPS.

9. The data center of claim 6, wherein the electrical power system comprises a primary power system and a reserve power system, wherein the electrical power system is designed to switch at least one of the computing devices from the primary power system to the reserve power system in response to a failure of the primary power system.

10. The data center of claim 6, wherein the electrical power system comprises a transformer between the utility power feed and at least one of the computing devices, wherein the transformer is designed to transform electrical power to at least one of computing devices.

11. The data center of claim 6, wherein the electrical power system comprises a surge suppression device, wherein the surge suppression device is designed to protect at least one of the computing devices.

12. The data center of claim 6, further comprising a direct evaporative cooling system designed to cool at least a portion of the air before the air is drawn through at least some of the computing devices.

13. The data center of claim 12, wherein the free cooling system is designed to selectively bypass the direct evaporative cooling system, such that air drawn through the one or more computing devices in the at least one of the rack computing systems, by the at least one of the air moving devices, bypasses the direct evaporative cooling system.

14. The data center of claim 6, further comprising one or more filters arranged to filter outside air before the air is drawn through at least some of the computing devices.

15. The data center of claim 6, further comprising one or more air moving devices upstream from at least one of the rack computing systems.

16. The data center of claim 6, wherein at least a portion of the data center comprises one or more infrastructure elements configurable to elevate the portion of data center to meet a more stringent set of infrastructure specifications.

17. The data center of claim 16, wherein the at least a portion of the data center is a row of computing systems in the data center.

18. The data center of claim 16, wherein the one or more infrastructure elements comprise power lines.

19. A data center, comprising:

two or more rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the rack computing systems comprises a rack and one or more computing devices mounted in the rack;

a free cooling system, wherein the free cooling system comprises one or more air moving devices external to the rack computing systems, wherein at least one of the air moving devices is arranged to move air through computing devices in at least one of the rack computing systems; and

an electrical power system designed to supply electrical power to at least one of the computing devices,

wherein at least one of the computing devices is not electrically coupled to any uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and cannot be switched to be coupled to any UPS via operation of any switching device, such that the at least one computing device is arranged to receive power without back-up from any UPS.

26. The data center of claim 19, wherein the at least one of the computing devices is arranged to receive power from the utility power feed without a back-up power source.

27. The data center of claim 19, wherein the electrical power system comprises a UPS, wherein at least another one of the computing devices is arranged to receive back-up power from the UPS.

20. A method of providing computing services from a data center, comprising:

free cooling one or more computing devices in one or more racks in a data center, wherein free cooling at least one of the computing devices comprises creating a negative pressure relative to at least one air inlet in a rack to draw air through the at least one computing device; and

supplying electrical power from a utility feed to one or more of the computing devices, wherein at least one of the computing devices is not electrically coupled to any uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and cannot be switched to be coupled to any UPS via operation of any switching device, such that the at least one computing device receives power without back-up from any UPS.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein creating a negative pressure relative at one or more air inlets comprises creating a negative pressure in a hot aisle adjacent to at least one of the racks.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising evaporating a liquid into at least a portion of the air before the air is drawn through at least some of the computing devices.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

recirculating at least a portion of the air after the air has been heated by the heat producing components in the computing devices.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

recirculating at least a portion of the air after the air has been heated by the heat producing components in the computing devices; and

mixing at least a portion the recirculated air with outside air.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein free cooling the one or more computing devices comprises to pulling air through at least one row of racks at a rate of at least 3,000 cubic feet per minute.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one computing device receives power from the utility power feed without being connected to a back-up power source.