Data Center Over-Floor Air Corridor Design for Rapid Cooling Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data centers face challenges in efficiently cooling their equipment due to rapid growth in IT capacity, leading to bottlenecks and inefficiencies in cooling capacity and space, with traditional methods taking up to two years to construct new facilities and relying on high power consumption for cooling systems.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a data center design featuring controllable air circulation systems, over-floor air supply corridors acting as cooling ducts, and modular construction to enable efficient air flow and reduce the need for under-floor ducts, allowing for high air flow rates while optimizing space usage and enabling rapid expansion of IT capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional under-floor air supply ducts are used for cooling data center equipment, then cooling capacity can be provided, but construction time increases to up to two years and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from traditional under-floor air supply (horizontal/directional cooling) to overhead air supply corridors (vertical/top-down cooling). This dimensional change allows cooling air to be delivered directly from above to server racks, eliminating the need for complex under-floor ductwork while reducing construction time and maintaining cooling effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the air supply function from the under-floor infrastructure and relocates it to overhead corridors. By separating the air supply function from the traditional raised floor system, the patent simplifies construction while maintaining cooling capacity, directly addressing the contradiction between reliable cooling and construction time.
2Reliability
If refrigerant-based cooling systems are used to cool data center equipment, then cooling efficiency can be achieved, but power consumption increases and environmental harm occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical refrigerant-based cooling systems with a natural convection and forced air circulation system using overhead corridors. This substitution eliminates refrigerants and reduces power consumption by utilizing ambient air cooling through strategically designed air flow paths that rely on natural buoyancy and controlled ventilation rather than energy-intensive refrigeration cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system utilizes natural air buoyancy and convection currents created by heat rising from server equipment. The overhead corridor design allows hot air to naturally rise and be extracted, while cooler air is drawn in through controlled openings, creating a self-regulating cooling mechanism that minimizes active cooling requirements and power consumption.
3Productivity
If data center facilities are expanded to accommodate growing IT capacity, then processing capability increases, but construction time of up to two years creates bottlenecks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the cooling infrastructure into modular overhead corridor units that can be independently constructed and integrated. This segmentation allows data centers to expand cooling capacity in discrete phases matching IT equipment deployment, enabling incremental capacity expansion without requiring complete facility reconstruction and reducing overall expansion time.
Solution Approach 2:
The overhead air supply corridors can be installed and configured before server equipment is deployed to the facility. This preliminary action allows the cooling infrastructure to be ready in advance, eliminating the need for simultaneous installation of cooling and IT equipment, thereby reducing total expansion time and enabling faster commissioning of new capacity.
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 enhances cooling efficiency, reduces power consumption, and allows for quicker expansion of data center capacity by utilizing ambient air cooling and minimizing the need for refrigerant-based systems, thereby improving the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and enabling continuous operation with built-in redundancy.
Implementation Method 1
one or more controllable air circulation systems... for transporting cooling air, above the floor, to the one or more cold aisles
Implementation Method 2
one or more controllable air circulation systems... enhancing cooling efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
A data center (100) includes at least one rack room (in for example module 140) having a floor and a plurality of rack storage areas on the floor, each rack storage area being arranged to accommodate a plurality of racks (143) in which a plurality of rack-mountable electronic components may be housed, one or more controllable air circulation systems (in for example module 122), one or more cold aisles (144) in the rack room, each cold aisle being adjacent to a rack storage area, and one or more hot aisles (145) in the rack room, each hot aisle being adjacent to a rack storage area. There may be a large air duct, in the form of a personnel corridor (123), for transporting, under the control of the one or more air circulation systems, cooling air, above the floor, to the one or more cold aisles. The air supply corridor/duct (123) may have a height greater than 1.5 m above the floor and a cross-sectional area of at least 2 m2 and a maximum dimension in the plane of the cross-section of less than 3 m.