Cooling apparatus and method

Abstract

Cooling apparatus providing two independent heat exchangers (18, 20) serially arranged with respect to a heat flow (42), each heat exchanger being connected to a respective independent chiller (32, 34). The apparatus incorporates an element of redundancy in order to effect an increase in operational efficiency, by being switchable between a first operation mode in which both chillers operate in a free cooling mode and a second operation mode in which a first chiller operates in a free cooling mode and a second chiller operates in a forced cooling mode.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to cooling equipment, e.g. for air conditioners, electrical appliances or the like, in which fluid coolant is circulated between a absorbing region where it absorbs energy from the surrounding environment and a cooling region where it emits energy to the surrounding environment.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Electrical appliances, e.g. televisions, PCs, servers and the like, emit heating during operation. In the case of information technology (IT) equipment it is often necessary for operation to be continuous. Problems, e.g. malfunction, may occur if the equipment overheats, so it is important to control the temperature of the surrounding environment.[0003]Air conditioning may be used to control the temperature of a space, e.g. room, warehouse or the like, that contained heat generating equipment. Conventional air conditioning apparatus operates to cool air, which is subsequently circulated in the space to control the temperature....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]The second chiller may include an auxiliary cooling circuit that is independent of the coolant distribution circuit connected to the second heat exchanger. The auxiliary cooling circuit may convey auxiliary coolant that is in thermal communication with the coolant distribution circuit connected to the second heat exchanger to cool the coolant in the coolant distribution circuit connected to the second heat exchanger. The coolant in the coolant distribution circuit may thus be isolated, which may prevent contamination. Indeed, the coolant distribution circuit may in itself be a passive circuit; a compressor may be connected into the auxiliary cooling circuit when the second chiller operates in a forced cooling mode. The auxiliary cooling circuit may be part of a conventional, e.g. off the shelf, cooling device.

[0022]In another aspect, the invention may provide a server rack comprising: one or more servers mounted therein; an air circulation unit arranged to direct a flow of air through the rack to draw heat away from the servers; and apparatus as described above arranged to cool the flow of air, wherein the heat source is the server(s) and the first and second heat exchangers are arranged serially to receive the flow of air, the first heat exchanger being closer to the servers than the second heat exchanger. In this aspect the cooling occurs at the rack itself, whereby the heat flow does not substantially affect the surrounding air temperature. Such targeted cooling may be more efficient.

[0024]In yet another aspect, the invention may provide apparatus for cooling heat flow from a heat source, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of first heat exchangers and a plurality of second heat exchangers arranged as a plurality of first and second heat exchanger pairs serially mounted relative to respect to the heat flow, the first heat exchanger in each pair being closer to the heat source than the second heat exchanger; a first common coolant distribution circuit connected to the plurality of first heat exchangers to transfer coolant therethrough; a second common coolant distribution circuit connected to the plurality of second heat exchangers to transfer coolant therethrough; and a first chiller arrangement and a second chiller arrangement for cooling the coolant output from the plurality of first heat exchangers and the plurality of second heat exchangers respectively, wherein the apparatus is switchable between: a first operation mode in which both the first and second chiller arrangements operate in the free cooling mode; and a second operation mode in which the first chiller arrangement operates in the free cooling mode and the second chiller arrangement operates in the forced cooling mode. This aspect is similar to the first aspect mentioned above, but may further provide scalability and / or additional redundancy.

[0031]The invention incorporates redundancy in a modular architecture by cooling each heat source with a passive or forced heat flow redundant evaporator. This redundancy also acts to improve operational efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

Problems, e.g. malfunction, may occur if the equipment overheats, so it is important to control the temperature of the surrounding environment.

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