Data Center Cooling Control via Virtual Room Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer room air conditioning systems overcool rooms to accommodate the hottest devices, leading to energy inefficiencies and unnecessary cooling of other devices.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates a virtual mapping of a room using position determining devices and temperature sensors to optimize cooling by identifying the approximate positions of temperature sensors and visually representing temperature measurements, allowing for targeted cooling adjustments based on actual temperature differentials across the room.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high volume cooling air flows are introduced from all inlets to cool the room, then the hottest devices are cooled to satisfy their requirements, but many devices are overcooled and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by transitioning from uniform cooling across the entire room to localized cooling at the rack level. Temperature sensors are placed at individual racks to measure actual thermal conditions, and cooling air flows are adjusted independently for each rack based on its specific heat load. This allows each rack to receive precisely the cooling it needs without overcooling other areas, thereby reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining adequate cooling for the hottest devices.
2Temperature
If high volume cooling air flows are introduced from all inlets, then the entire room is overcooled, but this leads to unnecessary cooling of devices that do not require such low temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the cooling system from a centralized room-level approach into distributed rack-level control. Each rack is equipped with its own temperature sensor and cooling controls, allowing independent adjustment of cooling parameters for each rack. This segmentation enables the system to maintain appropriate temperatures only where needed, eliminating the energy waste associated with uniformly overcooling the entire room.
Solution Approach 2:
By implementing rack-specific temperature monitoring and control, the system applies local quality to address the temperature uniformity problem. Instead of maintaining uniform temperature throughout the room, each rack receives customized cooling based on its actual thermal conditions and device requirements, thereby preventing unnecessary cooling energy loss.
3Ease of operation
If uniform cooling is applied throughout the room, then all devices are cooled to the same temperature level, but this results in overcooling of devices with lower heat generation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cooling control into rack-level segments, with each rack having its own temperature sensor and control parameters. This segmentation transforms the complex task of optimizing cooling for individual devices into simpler, independent rack-level decisions. The control system can be configured with rack-specific parameters that reflect the heat generation characteristics of devices in each rack, enabling differentiated cooling without requiring complex device-level control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies parameter changes by allowing different temperature setpoints, air flow rates, and cooling thresholds for each rack based on its specific thermal load characteristics. This parameter differentiation enables the system to match cooling intensity to actual device requirements, reducing energy consumption for racks with lower heat generation while maintaining adequate cooling for high-load racks.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables precise temperature control, reducing energy consumption by focusing cooling efforts on devices generating excessive heat, thereby optimizing the cooling system's operation and improving energy efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of temperature sensors, each temperature sensor associated with one of the position determining devices... operatively connected to the plurality of temperature sensors to receiver temperature measurements
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of position determining devices, each position determining device operative to obtain position information and associated with one of the plurality of racks
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, devices and methods for generating a virtual mapping of a room are provided. A plurality of racks for housing servers, a plurality of position determining devices and a plurality of temperature sensors can be provided. A computer can be operatively connected to the plurality of position determining devices and the temperature sensors. Each position determining device can be associated with one or more of the temperature sensors. For each of the temperature sensors, position information can be obtained from the position determining device associated with the temperature sensor and the position information used to plot the temperature sensor in a virtual mapping of the room. The virtual mapping can then be used to visually represent a location in the room where a temperature measurement was taken.