Analysis of effect of transient events on temperature in a data center

• US 9,952,103 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: VanGilder, James William, Healey, Christopher M., Zhang, Xuanhang
• Primary Examiner(s): ALKAFAWI, EMAN A
• Application Number:
  US14/366,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20140358471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• Field of Search: 702130, 702182
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/024 for remote indication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/10 Numerical modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/02 Data centres
• 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: G06F 30/18 Network design, e.g. design based on topological or interconnect aspects of utility systems, piping, heating ventilation air conditioning [HVAC] or cabling circuit design at the physical level G06F30/39; network planning tools for wireless communication networks H04W16/18

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for evaluating cooling performance of equipment in a data center. In one aspect, the method comprises receiving data related to equipment in the data center, determining first parameters related to airflow and temperature in the data center at a first period in time, receiving a description of a transient event affecting one of airflow and temperature in the data center at a second time, breaking a second time period subsequent to the second time into a plurality of time intervals, determining second parameters related to airflow in the data center during one of the time intervals, determining the parameters related to temperature in the data center at each of the time intervals based on the second parameters related to airflow, and storing, on a storage device, a representation of the parameters related to temperature in the data center during the second time period.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating cooling performance of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks and at least one cooling provider, the method comprising:

receiving data related to types of equipment and an arrangement of equipment in the data center;

determining first parameters related to airflow and parameters related to temperature in the data center at a first period in time, the first parameters related to airflow including a fraction of airflow from a rack which is captured by a cooling source and a fraction of the rack'"'"'s inlet airflow which originated from the cooling source;

receiving a description of a transient event affecting one of airflow and temperature in the data center and occurring at a second time subsequent to the first period in time, the transient event including failure of the at least one cooling provider;

breaking a second time period subsequent to the second time into a plurality of time intervals;

determining second parameters related to airflow in the data center during one of the plurality of time intervals, the second parameters related to airflow including the fraction of airflow from the rack which is captured by the cooling source and the fraction of the rack'"'"'s inlet airflow which originated from the cooling source;

determining the parameters related to temperature in the data center at each of the plurality of time intervals based on the second parameters related to airflow;

storing, on a storage device, a representation of the parameters related to temperature in the at least a portion of the data center during the second time period; and

one of controlling one or more computer room air conditioners (CRACs) to adjust airflow in the data center and controlling one or more equipment racks in the data center to reduce power based on the determined second parameters related to airflow if the airflow is not adequate to provide sufficient cooling.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the description of the transient event comprises receiving a description of a period of time over which the transient event affects one of the airflow and the temperature in the data center.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining a temperature of inlet air of each of the plurality of equipment racks during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising providing an indication of whether any of the plurality of equipment racks achieves an unacceptable temperature during a user selectable time period subsequent to the second time.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising providing an indication of time period subsequent to the second time during which an equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks receives inlet air at a temperature below a user defined acceptable temperature.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein a temperature of one of an exhaust of each of the plurality of equipment racks and a supply of the at least one cooling provider during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period is calculated using an internal thermal mass method.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising providing an indication of a change in temperature of at least one of the inlet air and an exhaust of the plurality of equipment racks during the second time period.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein one of the first parameters related to airflow and the second parameters related to airflow in the data center are determined using a computational method independent of a different computational method used to determine the parameters related to temperature in the data center.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein one of the first parameters related to airflow and the second parameters related to airflow are determined using one of a computational fluid dynamics process and a potential flow model analysis.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first parameters related to temperature includes determining temperature within the rack.

11. A system for evaluating equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider, the system comprising:

an interface; and

a controller coupled to the interface and configured to;

receive data related to types of equipment and an arrangement of equipment in the data center;

determine first parameters related to airflow and parameters related to temperature in the data center at a first period in time, the first parameters related to airflow including a fraction of airflow from a rack which is captured by a cooling source and a fraction of the rack'"'"'s inlet airflow which originated from the cooling source;

receive a description of a transient event affecting one of airflow and temperature in the data center and occurring at a second time subsequent to the first period in time, the transient event including failure of the at least one cooling provider;

break a second time period subsequent to the second time into a plurality of time intervals;

determine second parameters related to airflow in the data center during one of the plurality of time intervals, the second parameters related to airflow including the fraction of airflow from the rack which is captured by the cooling source and the fraction of the rack'"'"'s inlet airflow which originated from the cooling source;

determine the parameters related to temperature in the data center at each of the plurality of time intervals based on the second parameters related to airflow;

store, on a storage device, a representation of the parameters related to temperature in the at least a portion of the data center during the second time period; and

one of control one or more computer room air conditioners (CRACs) to adjust airflow in the data center and control one or more equipment racks in the data center to reduce power based on the determined second parameters related to airflow if the airflow is not adequate to provide sufficient cooling.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a temperature of inlet air of each of the plurality of equipment racks during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the temperature the inlet air of each of the plurality of equipment racks during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period using an internal thermal mass method.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to determine one of the first parameters related to airflow and the second parameters related to airflow in the data center using an algebraic model and to determine the parameters related to temperature in the data center using a Temperature Model.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to determine one of the first parameters related to airflow and the second parameters related to airflow using one of a computational fluid dynamics process and a potential flow model analysis.

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

receive data related to types of equipment and an arrangement of equipment in the data center;

determine first parameters related to airflow and parameters related to temperature in the data center at a first period in time;

receive a description of a transient event affecting one of airflow and temperature in the data center and occurring at a second time subsequent to the first period in time, the transient event including failure of the at least one cooling provider;

break a second time period subsequent to the second time into a plurality of time intervals;

determine second parameters related to airflow in the data center during one of the plurality of time intervals;

determine the parameters related to temperature in the data center at each of the plurality of time intervals based on the second parameters related to airflow;

store, on a storage device, a representation of the parameters related to temperature in the at least a portion of the data center during the second time period; and

one of control one or more computer room air conditioners (CRACs) to adjust airflow in the data center and control one or more equipment racks in the data center to reduce power based on the determined second parameters related to airflow if the airflow is not adequate to provide sufficient cooling.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions that will cause the processor to determine a temperature of inlet air of each of the plurality of equipment racks during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions that will cause the processor to provide an indication of whether any of the plurality of equipment racks achieves an unacceptable temperature during a user selectable time period subsequent to the second time.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions that will cause the processor to provide an indication a cooling runtime subsequent to the second time of the plurality of equipment racks.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions that will cause the processor to provide an indication of a change in temperature of at least one of the inlet air and an exhaust of the plurality of equipment racks during the second time period.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions that will cause the processor to determine the temperature of inlet air of each of the plurality of equipment racks during each of the plurality of time intervals of the second time period using an internal thermal mass method.