System and method for assessing and managing data center airflow and energy usage

• US 9,494,985 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Neil, VanGilder, James W., Zhang, Xuanhang
• Primary Examiner(s): Ortiz Rodriguez, Carlos
• Application Number:
  US13/532,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20130030585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,603 Days
• Field of Search: 700/275, 700/276, 700/286, 700/291
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/10 Numerical modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/14 Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/08 Thermal analysis or thermal optimisation
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system and method for providing energy assessment and optimization in a data center that includes at least one cooling provider, and at least one cooling consumer, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements. The method according to one aspect includes receiving data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, and a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, storing the received data, determining airflow distribution effectiveness between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, and displaying at least one value representative of the effectiveness of the distribution of airflow in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing energy assessment and optimization in a data center that includes at least one cooling provider, and at least one cooling consumer, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements, the method comprising:

receiving data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, at least one temperature measurement including a temperature of air at an inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and a temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, and data representative of a coupling factor relating to the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, wherein the received data regarding the physical relationship is based on configuration and layout of the at least one cooling provider and the at least one cooling consumer;

storing the received data;

computing an air ratio based on the data representative of the coupling factor, wherein the air ratio is based on airflow from the at least one cooling provider and airflow of the at least one cooling consumer;

computing, by a processor, at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider based on the received data regarding the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, the received data regarding the power consumption of the at least one cooling consumer, at least one calculation using the received data regarding the at least one temperature measurement including a difference between the temperature of air at the inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and the temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, and the air ratio; and

computing, by the processor, at least one cooling setting for the at least one cooling provider based on the at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness, including the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, which results in a reduction in energy usage of the data center while satisfying the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data includes receiving data regarding temperature of a coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying a graphical representation of energy savings of the data center based on the air ratio and the temperature of the coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein computing the at least one cooling setting includes computing an optimized air ratio setting of the at least one cooling provider.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein computing at least one cooling setting includes computing an optimized temperature of the coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying a graphical representation of energy savings of the data center based on the optimized air ratio and the optimized temperature of the coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising as a result of computing at least one cooling setting, determining at least one of an optimized return temperature of the at least one cooling provider, an optimized supply temperature of the at least one cooling provider, an optimized input temperature of the at least one cooling consumer, and an optimized exhaust temperature of the at least one cooling consumer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a bypass ratio representative of a proportion of bypass airflow relating to airflow delivered to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider; and

displaying a graphical representation of the proportion of airflow that bypasses the at least one cooling consumer, relating to airflow delivered to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

computing a recirculation ratio representative of a proportion of recirculated airflow relating to airflow delivered directly to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider; and

displaying a graphical representation of the proportion of recirculated airflow from an output of the at least one cooling consumer relating to airflow delivered directly to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the at least one cooling setting includes computing a fan power setting, which results in a fractional power savings in the data center while satisfying the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer.

11. A system for presenting a cooling model of a data center that includes at least one cooling provider, and at least one cooling consumer, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements, the system comprising:

an interface; and

a controller configured to;

receive data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, at least one temperature measurement including a temperature of air at an inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and a temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, and data representative of a coupling factor relating to the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, wherein the received data regarding the physical relationship is based on configuration and layout of the at least one cooling provider and the at least one cooling consumer;

store the received data;

compute an air ratio based on the data representative of the coupling factor, wherein the air ratio is based on airflow from the at least one cooling provider and airflow of the at least one cooling consumer;

compute at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider based on the received data regarding the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, the received data regarding the power consumption of the at least one cooling consumer, at least one calculation using the received data regarding the at least one temperature measurement including a difference between the temperature of air at the inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and the temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, and the air ratio; and

compute at least one cooling setting for the at least one cooling provider based on the at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness, including the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, which results in a reduction in energy usage of the data center while satisfying the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to receive data regarding temperature of a coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the controller configured to compute the at least one cooling setting is further configured to compute an optimized air ratio setting of the at least one cooling provider.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the controller configured to compute the at least one cooling setting is further configured to compute an optimized temperature of the coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to display a graphical representation of energy savings of the data center based on the optimized air ratio and the optimized temperature of the coolant supplied to the at least one cooling provider.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine a bypass ratio representative of a proportion of bypass airflow relating to airflow delivered to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider; and

display a graphical representation of the proportion of airflow that bypasses the at least one cooling consumer, relating to airflow delivered to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to:

compute a recirculation ratio representative of a proportion of recirculated airflow relating to airflow delivered directly to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider; and

display a graphical representation of the proportion of recirculated airflow from an output of the at least one cooling consumer relating to airflow delivered directly to the at least one cooling consumer from the at least one cooling provider.

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

receive data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, at least one temperature measurement including a temperature of air at an inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and a temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, and data representative of a coupling factor relating to the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, wherein the received data regarding the physical relationship is based on configuration and layout of the at least one cooling provider and the at least one cooling consumer;

store the received data;

compute an air ratio based on the data representative of the coupling factor, wherein the air ratio is based on airflow from the at least one cooling provider and airflow of the at least one cooling consumer;

compute at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider based on the received data regarding the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, the received data regarding the power consumption of the at least one cooling consumer, at least one calculation using the received data regarding the at least one temperature measurement including a difference between the temperature of air at the inlet side of the at least one cooling consumer and the temperature of air at the outlet side of the at least one cooling provider, and the air ratio; and

compute at least one cooling setting for the at least one cooling provider based on the at least one value representative of airflow distribution effectiveness, including the physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, which results in a reduction in energy usage of the data center while satisfying the cooling requirements of the at least one cooling consumer.