Data Center Sustainability Quantification Module

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Data center designers lack quantitative information for evaluating the sustainability impact of different architectures, leading to varying environmental and cost implications despite similar availability numbers, and existing metrics fail to accurately indicate sustainability.

Innovation Solution

A quantification hardware module that assesses data center architectures by evaluating functional parameters such as availability, energy consumption, carbon footprint, and toxicity impact, generating a quantified judgment to guide design choices and adjustments.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If redundancy is introduced to enhance availability, then availability is improved, but sustainability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveavailabilityVSAvoidenergy consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting operational parameters of data center components based on real-time sustainability metrics. The system monitors energy consumption, carbon footprint, and toxicity impact, then modifies operational parameters such as workload distribution, cooling strategies, and resource allocation to optimize the balance between availability and sustainability without requiring additional redundant hardware.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If redundancy is introduced to enhance availability, then availability is improved, but environmental impact worsens

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveavailabilityVSAvoidenvironmental impact

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor environmental impact metrics including carbon footprint and toxicity impact. The system uses this feedback to dynamically adjust data center operations, workload routing, and resource utilization to minimize environmental harm while maintaining required availability levels, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliability and environmental protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Ease of operation

If existing sustainability metrics are used, then evaluation is simplified, but measurement precision deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveevaluation simplicityVSAvoidsustainability indication accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments sustainability evaluation into multiple distinct functional parameters including availability, energy consumption, carbon footprint, and toxicity impact. Each parameter is measured and reported separately with specific precision, allowing designers to evaluate each aspect independently while maintaining overall simplicity through standardized measurement protocols and integrated reporting.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS9081880B2Determining sustainability of a data center

Publication Date: 2015.07.14 HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEV LP

AI summary

Determining a sustainability impact for available data center architectures. A data center is accessed by a computer. Two or more functional parameters of the data center are then evaluated by the computer. Then, the computer combines the two or more evaluated functional parameters into a quantified judgment to determine a sustainability impact of available architectures of the data center.