SYSTEM AND METHOD TO CONTROL DATA CENTER AIR HANDLING SYSTEMS

• US 20100010678A1
• Filed: 07/11/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kendzierski, Michael D., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Diluoffo, Vincenzo V., DAWSON, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/47 Responding to energy costs
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium being operable to determine at least one data center condition and determine or estimate a current energy cost. Additionally, the method includes dynamically control a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the data center based on the determined at least one data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure comprising computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium being operable to:

determine at least one data center condition;

determine or estimate a current energy cost; and

dynamically control a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the data center based on the determined at least one data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one data center condition comprises at least one of:

an environmental condition;

a workload condition; and

a job schedule condition.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the environmental condition comprises at least one of:

outdoor temperature;

data center temperature;

time of day;

mean temperature within a data center region;

humidity;

moisture;

airflow; and

carbon emissions.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the workload condition comprises at least one of:

current workload levels;

power usage;

application priority;

job scheduling; and

application type.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the job schedule condition comprises at least one of:

a future workload level;

application priority;

job scheduling; and

application type.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating at least one of the determined at least one data center condition, the determined or estimated current energy cost and the dynamic control of the HVAC system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the updating is performed based on at least one of:

an expiration of a predetermined time period;

a manual direction; and

an occurrence of a triggering event.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

at least one of the determined at least one data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost is monitored in real-time, and

the triggering event comprises a change in the at least one of the determined at least data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost exceeding a previously determined data center condition value or a previously determined or estimated current energy cost value, respectively, by a predetermined threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the HVAC system is dynamically controlled to proactively pre-cool the data center.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the HVAC system is dynamically controlled to cool the data center during periods of lower energy costs.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing and utilizing at least one of environmental and system snapshots to at least one of establish a baseline and perform the dynamic control of the HVAC system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one data center conditions comprises at least one of:

receiving data center environmental data from at least one environmental sensor;

receiving data center workload information; and

receiving data center job schedule information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining or the estimating the current energy cost comprises at least one of:

receiving real-time energy demand information from at least one energy demand sensor and determining or estimating the current energy cost based on the real-time energy demand information; and

utilizing a historical database of energy cost/demand data for the data center.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 1.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

16. A system, comprising:

at least one of;

an environmental data monitoring tool configured to perform an environmental analysis of a data center;

a workload measurement tool configured to determine a current data center workload;

a job schedule monitoring tool configured to determine and track a scheduled data center job; and

an energy cost monitoring tool configured to determine or estimate a current energy cost; and

further comprising

a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control tool configured to dynamically control a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the data center based on information received from the at least one of the environmental data monitoring tool, the workload measurement tool, the job schedule monitoring tool and the energy cost monitoring tool.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the HVAC system is dynamically controllable to proactively pre-cool the data center.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the HVAC system is dynamically controllable to cool the data center during periods of lower energy costs.

19. The system of claim 16, comprising a computer infrastructure operable to implement the environmental data monitoring tool, the workload measurement tool, the job schedule monitoring tool, the energy cost monitoring tool and the HVAC control tool.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the system is operable on software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

determine at least one data center condition;

determine or estimate a current energy cost; and

dynamically control a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the data center based on the determined at least one data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost to at least one of;

proactively pre-cool the data center; and

cool the data center during periods of lower energy costs.

23. A method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to;

determine at least one data center condition;

determine or estimate a current energy cost;

dynamically control a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the data center based on the determined at least one data center condition and the determined or estimated current energy cost to at least one of;

proactively pre-cool the data center; and

cool the data center during periods of lower energy costs; and

update at least one of the determined at least one data center condition, the determined or estimated current energy cost and the dynamic control of the HVAC system based on at least one of;

an expiration of a predetermined time period;

a manual direction; and

an occurrence of a triggering event.