Electronic equipment data center or co-location facility designs and methods of making and using the same

• US 9,788,455 B1
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Switch Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Switch Company Limited
• Inventors: Roy, Rob
• Primary Examiner(s): McAllister, Steven B
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLER, SAMANTHA A
• Application Number:
  US12/138,771
• Time in Patent Office: 3,406 Days
• Field of Search: 454184, 454187
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20 Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device

Abstract

The present invention relates to electronic equipment data center or co-location facility designs and methods of making and using the same in an environmentally aware manner, and generally provides apparatus and methods for using novel support bracket structures, and thermal panels associated with the same, that allow for distinct partitioning of air flowing in hot aisles and cold aisles, as well as for holding wiring above cabinets that are used to store electronic equipment in the facility.

Claims

1. A facility for maintaining electronic equipment disposed in at least one cluster of cage cabinets at a cool temperature using a plurality of air conditioning units, the at least one cluster of cage cabinets positioned in a back-to-back configuration in two separated rows so that the electronic equipment disposed therein emit heated air in a predetermined direction from the cage cabinets to establish a hot aisle enclosure area between the two separated rows of cage cabinets, and an opposite side of the cage cabinets each establishing a cold aisle, the plurality of air conditioning units receiving heated air and emitting cooled air, the facility comprising:

a floor on which the plurality of cage cabinets are disposed, wherein the at least one cluster of cage cabinets is disposed in the two separated rows to establish the hot aisle enclosure area, the floor being within a space that has walls that define a room;

a plurality of support brackets disposed along each of the two rows of the at least one cluster of cage cabinets, so that a portion of each of the support bracket is disposed above the at least one cluster of cage cabinets;

a thermal shield supported by the portion of at least some of the plurality of support brackets, the thermal shield providing a contiguous wall around a hot air area above the hot aisle enclosure area at a height above the two separated rows of cage cabinets to define a warm exhaust channel that traps the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area and causes substantially all the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area to rise up within the warm exhaust channel, wherein the contiguous wall fully surrounds the hot aisle enclosure area from above the at least one cluster of cage cabinets;

a warm air escape channel disposed above the warm exhaust channel, the warm air escape channel feeding the heated air to the plurality of air conditioning units, wherein the warm air escape channel is bounded at a bottom by a ceiling that provides a barrier to prevent the heated air from passing therebelow, wherein an opening exists in the ceiling corresponding to the warm exhaust channel through which the heated air passes, and wherein a top edge of the thermal shield extends from the ceiling to the cage cabinets to further prevent the heated air from escaping; and

a cool air channel that connects between the air conditioning system and the cold aisle, the cool air channel delivering cool air from the plurality of air conditioning units to the cool aisle.

2. The facility according to claim 1 wherein the warm air escape channel is further bounded at a top by an upper ceiling, and wherein a distance between the upper ceiling and the ceiling is 15 feet.

3. The facility according to claim 1 further including marking on the floor, the marking including a central area marking that corresponds to the hot aisle enclosure area and a perimeter area marking that corresponds to a position over which the at least one cluster of cage cabinets are installed.

4. The facility according to claim 3 wherein the marking further includes an outer area marking that surrounds the perimeter area marking.

5. The facility according to claim 4 wherein the central area marking is one color;

the perimeter area marking is another color different from the one color, and the outer area marking is a further color that is different from the one color and the another color.

6. The facility according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of support brackets each further include a plurality of tiered ladder rack supports having ladder racks thereover disposed above each of the two separated rows of cage cabinets to establish a plurality of different tiers outside the contiguous wall, so that each of the different tiers is adapted to hold a different type of transmission line that is substantially shielded from the heated air, and wherein the plurality of support brackets are connected to and supported by the at least one cluster of cage cabinets.

7. The facility according to claim 1, wherein the thermal shield is formed from a plurality of thermal shield plates that are each supported by a thermal shield support beam disposed on at least some of the plurality of support brackets, and wherein the at least some of the plurality of support brackets are connected to and supported by the at least one cluster of cage cabinets.

8. The facility according to claim 7 wherein at least some of the thermal shields have a hole disposed therein that allows for the passage of wires therethrough while being sufficiently small to only allow a small amount of airflow to pass therethrough.

9. The facility according to claim 1, wherein the thermal shield is formed from a plurality of thermal shield plates that are each supported by a thermal shield support beam disposed on at least some of the plurality of support brackets.

10. The facility according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cluster is a plurality of clusters, each of the plurality of clusters being configured as the at least one cluster, and wherein the hot aisle enclosure area and the cold aisle of at least some of the plurality of clusters are aligned.

11. The facility according to claim 10 further including marking on the floor, the marking including a central area marking that corresponds to the hot aisle enclosure area for each of the plurality of clusters of cage cabinets and a perimeter area marking that corresponds to a position over which the cage cabinets for each of the plurality of clusters are installed.

12. The facility according to claim 11 wherein the marking further includes an outer area marking that surrounds the perimeter area marking.

13. The facility according to claim 12 wherein the central area marking is one color;

the perimeter area marking is another color different from the one color, and the outer area marking is a further color that is different from the one color and the another color.

14. The facility according to claim 10 wherein the plurality of support brackets each further include a plurality of tiered ladder rack supports having ladder racks thereover disposed above each of the two separated rows of cage cabinets for each of the plurality of clusters to establish a plurality of different tiers outside the contiguous wall, so that each of the different tiers is adapted to hold a different type of transmission line that is substantially shielded from the heated air, and wherein the plurality of support brackets are connected to and supported by the cage cabinets of the associated cluster.

15. The facility according to claim 14, wherein the thermal shield is formed from a plurality of thermal shield plates that are each supported by a thermal shield support beam disposed on at least some of the plurality of support brackets, and wherein the at least some of the plurality of support brackets are connected to and supported by the cage cabinets of the associated cluster.

16. The facility according to claim 15 wherein at least some of the thermal shields have a hole disposed therein that allows for the passage of wires therethrough while being sufficiently small to only allow a small amount of airflow to pass therethrough.

17. The facility according to claim 14, wherein adjacent cabinet clusters having adjacent ladder racks are aligned, and wherein at least one of the aligned ladder racks carry a common transmission line.

18. The facility of claim 10 wherein a plurality of clusters are configured in an array of at least four clusters, with the at least four clusters sharing a common cold aisle, two clusters on one side of the common cold aisle and another two clusters on another side of the common cold aisle, and wherein the hot air enclosure area of each of the two clusters are aligned and parallel to the common cold aisle, and wherein the hot air enclosure area of each of the another two clusters are aligned and parallel to the common cold aisle.

19. The facility according to claim 10 wherein the warm air escape channel is further bounded at a top by an upper ceiling, and wherein a distance between the upper ceiling and the ceiling is 15 feet.

20. The facility according to claim 10, wherein the thermal shield for each of the plurality of clusters is fanned from a plurality of thermal shield plates that are each supported by a thermal shield support beam disposed on at least some of the plurality of support brackets.

21. The facility according to claim 10, further including a thermal barrier at an end of each of the two separated rows cabinet cages in each of the plurality of clusters, thereby maintaining a contiguous sealed barrier, other than where the two separated rows of cabinet cages are disposed, around the hot aisle enclosure area of each associated cluster, thereby further ensuring that substantially all the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area rises up within the warm exhaust channel.

22. The facility according to claim 21, wherein each of the at least one thermal barriers includes a door that permits access into the hot aisle enclosure area of the associated cluster.

23. The facility according to claim 1, further including a thermal barrier at an end of each of the two separated rows cabinet cages of the at least one cluster, thereby maintaining a contiguous sealed barrier, other than where the two separated rows of cabinet cages are disposed, around the hot aisle enclosure area, thereby further ensuring that substantially all the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area rises up within the warm exhaust channel.

24. The facility according to claim 23, wherein at least one thermal barrier includes a door that permits access into the hot aisle enclosure area.

25. A facility for maintaining electronic equipment disposed in at least one cluster of cage cabinets at a cool temperature using a plurality of air conditioning units, the at least one cluster of cage cabinets positioned in a back-to-back configuration in two separated rows so that the electronic equipment disposed therein emit heated air in a predetermined direction from the cage cabinets to establish a hot aisle enclosure area between the two separated rows of cage cabinets, and an opposite side of the cage cabinets thereby establishing a cold aisle, the plurality of air conditioning units receiving heated air and emitting cooled air, the facility comprising:

a floor on which the plurality of cage cabinets are disposed, wherein the at least one cluster of cage cabinets is disposed in the two separated rows to establish the hot aisle enclosure area, the hot aisle enclosure area is free from obstruction thereby allowing air flow between cage cabinets in the two separated rows of cage cabinets, the floor being within a space that has walls that define a room;

a plurality of support brackets disposed along the two rows of the at least one cluster of cage cabinets, so that a portion of the support bracket is disposed above the at least one cluster of cage cabinets;

a thermal shield supported by the portion of at least some of the plurality of support brackets, the thermal shield providing a contiguous wall around a hot air area above the hot aisle enclosure area at a height above the two separated rows of cage cabinets to define a warm air exhaust channel that traps the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area and causes substantially all the heated air within the hot aisle enclosure area to rise up within the warm air exhaust channel, wherein the contiguous wall fully surrounds the hot aisle enclosure area from above the at least one cluster of cage cabinets and the contiguous wall contacts the top of the cabinet cages to enclose the warm exhaust channel;

a thermal barrier ceiling separating the cold aisle from a thermal barrier ceiling separating the cold aisle from a warm air escape channel, the thermal barrier ceiling disposed above the warm air exhaust channel such that the thermal barrier ceiling forms the bottom of the warm air escape channel and the top of the cold aisle, the thermal barrier ceiling having an opening to the warm air exhaust channel through which heated air, from the warm air exhaust channel, flows into the warm air escape channel to thereby feed the heated air to the plurality of air conditioning units, wherein the warm air escape channel is bounded at a bottom by the thermal barrier ceiling thereby forming a barrier which prevents the heated air from passing therebelow into the cold aisle, wherein a top edge of the thermal shield extends from the ceiling the thermal barrier ceiling to the cage cabinets to further prevent the heated air from escaping from the warm air exhaust channel; and

a cool air channel that connects between the air conditioning system and the cold aisle, the cool air channel delivering cool air from the plurality of air conditioning units to the cool aisle.