Liquid Cooled IT Room Architecture Design Tool
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IT room cooling systems face challenges in optimizing the design of liquid-cooled architectures due to the separate optimization of server hardware and room-level cooling systems, leading to inefficient cooling performance and increased complexity in managing heat transfer between immersion-cooled and air-cooled equipment.
Innovation Solution
A graphical user interface-based system that allows for real-time thermal analysis and optimization of liquid-cooled IT room architectures by simultaneously displaying configuration and results regions, enabling users to input design parameters and visualize the impact on cooling power and surface temperatures through energy balance and heat exchange equations, utilizing precomputed constants from CFD simulations to calculate thermal resistances and heat transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If separate optimization is used for server hardware cooling and room-level cooling systems, then design complexity is reduced, but cooling performance optimization is insufficient and thermal coupling between immersion-cooled and air-cooled equipment cannot be managed effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the server hardware cooling design and room-level cooling system design into a unified thermal management framework. The system simultaneously optimizes both immersion-cooled server racks and air-cooled room environment by establishing thermal coupling models that capture heat transfer interactions between the two systems, allowing coordinated optimization rather than separate design approaches
2Measurement precision
If extensive computational fluid dynamics simulations are performed for thermal analysis, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time and computational resources increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary computational fluid dynamics simulations to pre-compute thermal resistances and heat transfer coefficients for various rack configurations and environmental conditions. These pre-computed values are stored in lookup tables, allowing the design tool to quickly query and apply pre-determined thermal parameters without performing full CFD simulations during the design phase, thus achieving high precision with minimal computational time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates simplified thermal resistance models that replicate the complex CFD simulation results in a computationally efficient form. By copying the essential thermal behavior from detailed CFD simulations into reduced-order models with pre-computed constants, the system maintains measurement precision while dramatically reducing the computational resources and time required for design iterations
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
Facilitates the design of efficient liquid-cooled IT room architectures by providing a visual and interactive tool for optimizing cooling performance, reducing the need for extensive computational fluid dynamics simulations and allowing for real-time adjustments to improve cooling efficiency and reduce cooling redundancy.
Implementation Method 1
determining a dielectric fluid return temperature based on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation
Implementation Method 2
calculating an overall thermal resistance between the ambient environment and external skin of the at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack
Implementation Method 3
determining a dielectric fluid return temperature based on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation
Implementation Method 4
visualize the impact on cooling power and surface temperatures through energy balance and heat exchange equations
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for designing a liquid cooled IT room architecture for an IT room include receiving a design parameter, responsive to a user input, corresponding to at least one equipment rack in the IT room, determining a dielectric fluid return temperature Thin in the architecture based on an energy balance equation and a heat exchange equation, and responsive to receiving the design parameter and determining the dielectric fluid return temperature, dynamically calculating and displaying at least one of a surface temperature of at least one immersion-cooled equipment rack cooled by the architecture or an amount of required room cooling power per a unit of area of the IT room.