Data center facility and process that utilizes a closed-looped heat management system

• US 9,784,460 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2014
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nautilus True LLC
• Original Assignee: Nautilus Data Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Magcale, Arnold C., Kekai, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Adam
• Application Number:
  US14/200,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20170198928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 5/0046 using natural energy, e.g. solar energy, energy from the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/42 for ships or vessels
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1497 Rooms for data centers; Shipping containers therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/2079 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/30 Energy from the sea, e.g. using wave energy or salinity gradient

Abstract

A waterborne data center facility that utilizes a closed-looped heat management system that is both energy-efficient and cost-effective is disclosed. Embodiments employ a closed-looped, energy efficient, cost effective thermal management system that leverages natural resources to control thermal conditions and reduce the overall requirement for cooling power.

Claims

1. A self-sustained data center facility comprising:

a marine vessel;

a reconfigurable thermal containment system contained in the marine vessel;

a computer data center comprised in the thermal containment system, wherein the computer data center comprises

a plurality of racks which comprise a corresponding plurality of pallet jack slots and recessed wheels,

a plurality of rack-mounted computer systems, and

a plurality of corresponding water-based closed-loop cooling units coupled to each rack in the plurality of racks;

a first power source resident on the marine vessel;

a second grid-based power source comprising a plurality of power elements external and connected to the marine vessel;

wherein the reconfigurable thermal containment system is configured to pump water from an environment surrounding the data center facility through filtered water intake pipes, and the plurality of closed-loop cooling units absorb heat generated by the computer systems via a single or plurality of heat exchangers comprised in the thermal containment system;

a software management suite configured to;

continuously collect environmental data and reconfigurable thermal containment system data via a plurality of wireless sensors; and

continuously collect data from a plurality of applications comprised in one or more of the plurality of rack-mounted computer systems, the first and second power sources, virtual machines comprised in the one or more of the plurality of rack-mounted computer systems, and utility energy markets via a data collection layer;

based on the data collected by the plurality of wireless sensors and the data collection layer, automatically, and without manual intervention, enable dynamic data center facility operation actions for migrating application loads and power loads from the data center facility to another data center facility over a network; and

a predictive analytics engine comprised in the software management suite configured to dynamically control the thermal containment system based on the application and power load migration and data center facility operational states to sustain optimal data center facility efficiency.

2. The data center facility of claim 1 wherein the closed loop cooling units are further comprised in a water-based closed loop cooling system.

3. The data center facility of claim 1 wherein the reconfigurable thermal containment system further comprises:

a single deployment of cooling input, wherein the cooling input is the surrounding water;

a single or plurality of filtered water exhaust pipes;

a single or plurality of water pumps, coolant heat exchange piping, and coolant distribution piping;

a closed-loop coolant distribution unit; and

wherein the coolant distribution unit is caused to pass heated coolant through the coolant heat exchange piping, and wherein the surrounding water pumped through the filtered water intake pipes is caused to absorb heat from the heated coolant via the single or plurality of heat exchangers.

4. The data center facility of claim 3 wherein, the filtered water intake pipes and filtered water exhaust pipes are comprised in the bow (front) or stern (back) section of the marine vessel.

5. The data center facility of claim 3 wherein the filtered water intake pipes and filtered water exhaust pipes are comprised in the starboard (right) or port (left) section of the marine vessel.

6. The data center facility of claim 3 wherein the closed-loop coolant distribution unit is connected to the single or plurality of heat exchangers.

7. A method comprising:

generating electrical power;

providing the generated electrical power to a data center facility, wherein any power not used by the data center facility is stored as back-up or transmitted through a grid network;

pumping water surrounding the data center facility, wherein the data center facility comprises a marine vessel, the marine vessel comprises a reconfigurable thermal containment system, the thermal containment system comprises a computer data center, the computer data center comprises a plurality of racks which comprise a corresponding plurality of pallet jack slots and recessed wheels, a plurality of rack-mounted computer systems and a plurality of corresponding water-based closed-loop cooling units coupled to each rack in the plurality of racks, wherein the configurable thermal containment system circulates the pumped water;

wherein the reconfigurable thermal containment system further comprises a single or plurality of heat exchangers;

wherein the surrounding water is pumped by water pumps through filtered water intake pipes and pumped through a first side of the single or plurality of heat exchangers to cool hot coolant pumped through a second side of the single or plurality of heat exchangers;

expelling the pumped water after absorbing the heat from the hot coolant through filtered water exhaust pipes; and

via a software management suite;

continuously collecting environmental data and reconfigurable thermal containment system data via a plurality of wireless sensors; and

continuously collecting data from a plurality of applications in a single or plurality of the rack-mounted computer systems comprised in the data center facility, a first power source resident on the marine vessel, a second grid-based power source external and connected to the marine vessel, virtual machines in the single or plurality of the rack-mounted computer systems, and utility energy markets via a data collection layer; and

based on the data collected via the plurality of wireless sensors and the data collection layer, automatically and without manual intervention enabling dynamic data center facility operation actions for migrating application loads and power loads from the data center facility to another data center facility over a network; and

via a predictive analytics engine comprised in the software management suite, dynamically controlling the thermal containment system based on the application and power load migration and data center facility operational states to sustain optimal data center facility efficiency.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

capturing hot exhaust air and returning cooled air to the data center facility; and

wherein the hot exhaust air is captured via a reconfigurable thermal air flow system and the thermal airflow system is utilized to move the captured hot exhaust air through the closed loop cooling units, and return the cooled air.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

based on the data collected from energy markets automatically managing data center facility and application disaster recovery from utility energy market outages, which comprises moving the application loads and power loads from the data center facility to the another data center facility, and enabling disaster recovery from the utility energy market outages.

10. In a data center facility, a method of monitoring and managing the facility, the method comprising:

continuously collecting environmental data and data center facility data by a plurality of wireless sensors;

continuously collecting data by a data collection layer from a plurality of applications in a single or plurality of computing units comprised in the data center facility, a first power source resident on the data center facility, a second grid-based power source external and connected to the data center facility, virtual machines in the single or plurality of computing units, and utility energy markets;

storing the collected data from the wireless sensors and the data collection layer in a database; and

analyzing the stored data by a predictive analytics engine, wherein the analyzed data is employed by a software management suite to manage operational states of the data center facility, the applications, the first and second power sources, and the virtual machines;

dynamically migrating application data loads and power loads from the data center facility to another datacenter facility over a network based on the analyzed data; and

dynamically controlling a reconfigurable thermal containment system based on the dynamic migration to sustain optimal data center facility efficiency, wherein the data center facility comprises a marine vessel, the marine vessel comprises the thermal containment system, the thermal containment system comprises a plurality of racks which comprise a corresponding plurality of pallet jack slots and recessed wheels, a plurality of rack-mounted computer systems, and a plurality of corresponding water-based closed-loop cooling units coupled to each rack in the plurality of racks.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

accessing the software management suite over a secure network wherein presentation software comprised in the software management suite enables display of all the collected and analyzed data.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

connecting via the network, the data center facility to a single or plurality of the utility energy markets such that an energy market analysis layer comprised in the software management suite uses data collected from the single or plurality of the energy markets to automatically manage data center facility and application disaster recovery from utility energy market outages.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

in intelligent data center facility power management and energy market disaster recovery, monitoring and analyzing utility energy market status for data center facility load balancing; and

wherein the said load balancing comprises moving application loads and power loads from one data center facility location using power during peak energy hours to another data center facility location using power during off-peak hours over the network.