JP6275959B2 - Equipment cooling system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus cooling system suitable for cooling an ICT apparatus (information communication apparatus).

  An air conditioner that cools a stored ICT device is provided in a data center or the like. The air conditioner blows cold air to the vicinity of the rack in which the ICT device is housed, and the ICT device is cooled by taking the cold air inside. In the ICT device, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a power transformer, and other devices are generally housed. The heat generated from these accommodated devices is radiated to the above-mentioned cold directly or via a heat radiation fin or the like (hereinafter referred to as “air cooling method”).

  In recent years, the density of ICT devices has been increased, and the amount of heat generated from each device tends to increase. In order to operate the ICT apparatus stably, it is necessary to keep each device at a predetermined temperature. For this reason, when the amount of heat generation increases, it is necessary to increase the amount of cold air taken away from the ICT device by taking away the generated heat. However, it has been known that the heat dissipation method using air has a limit due to physical properties such as heat transfer coefficient of air.

  As a technique corresponding to this, a technique for directly cooling a device such as a CPU housed in an ICT apparatus with circulating water or a refrigerant (hereinafter referred to as “liquid cooling method”) has been proposed (for example, (See Patent Documents 1 and 2.) Since the liquid cooling method has a higher heat transfer coefficient than air, it is easier to increase the amount of heat dissipation than the air cooling method. Furthermore, the liquid cooling system can transfer heat directly outside the ICT device without air, the point that the temperature of the refrigerant can be set high, and the use of outside air heat is easy, and it is absorbed and recovered from the equipment. It has the advantage that heat can be used in other facilities and spaces, and is characterized by higher energy saving than air cooling.

  The liquid cooling method is further characterized in that the operating temperature of the refrigerant can be set higher than that of the air cooling method. For this reason, in the liquid cooling system, it becomes easy to introduce a system that uses outside air cooling such as free cooling, and the operation time using outside air can be increased. As a result, there is an effect that the year-round running cost can be reduced as compared with the air cooling system.

JP 2013-008888 A JP2013-003636A

  However, since the above-described liquid cooling system includes a cooling unit that comes into contact with a heat generating device such as a CPU, it is difficult to arrange a spare cooling unit used as a backup when a failure occurs in a cooling system including the cooling unit. In other words, since the space that can contact the heat generating device is limited, it is difficult to secure a space for arranging the spare cooling unit in addition to the cooling unit. Therefore, when the liquid cooling method is adopted, there is a problem that it is difficult to prevent the occurrence of a high temperature failure by continuously cooling the ICT device when a failure occurs in the cooling method.

  A cooling method using outside air cooling such as free cooling is desirable in that the running cost can be reduced throughout the year as described above. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to continuously provide a certain cooling capacity. In other words, there is a problem that it is difficult to prevent the occurrence of a high temperature failure by continuously cooling the ICT device.

  Therefore, it is possible to continuously provide a certain cooling capacity, and in order to prevent the occurrence of a high temperature failure, etc., each of the liquid medium circuits for cooling the ICT device is different from free cooling. It is possible to add an auxiliary cooling device. However, since a number of auxiliary cooling devices are additionally provided, there is a problem that the initial cost, which is a cost spent for installing the equipment, is higher than when only the cooling method by free cooling is performed. .

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus cooling system capable of suppressing the occurrence of defects such as a high-temperature failure and suppressing an increase in initial investment. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The apparatus cooling system of the present invention includes a circulation circuit that circulates a liquid-cooled refrigerant used for cooling an arithmetic device disposed in a predetermined section, and a liquid-cooled heat exchange unit that thermally contacts the arithmetic device and the liquid-cooled refrigerant. A plurality of liquid-cooled cooling devices having at least a distribution section for branching a part of the liquid-cooled refrigerant circulating in the circulation circuit, and an auxiliary refrigerant used for cooling the liquid-cooled refrigerant branched from the plurality of circulation circuits An auxiliary cooling device that supplies the liquid cooling medium, an intermediate heat exchange unit that performs heat exchange between the liquid-cooled refrigerant branched from the circulation circuit and the auxiliary refrigerant, and cools the liquid-cooled refrigerant, and the distribution unit And a control unit for controlling the flow rate of the liquid-cooled refrigerant branched by the above and the cooling capacity of the auxiliary cooling device.

  According to the apparatus cooling system of the present invention, by including a plurality of liquid cooling type cooling apparatuses that directly cool the arithmetic unit, an auxiliary cooling apparatus that cools the liquid cooling refrigerant using the auxiliary refrigerant, and an intermediate heat exchange unit. Even if a malfunction occurs in the liquid cooling type cooling device and a high temperature failure or the like occurs in the arithmetic device, the auxiliary cooling device and the intermediate heat exchanger can continue cooling the arithmetic device.

  By adding a distribution unit, auxiliary cooling unit, and intermediate heat exchange unit to the circulation circuit of the liquid cooling type cooling unit, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of high temperature faults in the arithmetic unit, so there is no need to newly install the entire system. Increase in investment can be suppressed. Furthermore, since a plurality of liquid cooling type cooling devices are provided with a pair of auxiliary cooling devices and intermediate heat exchange units, the liquid cooling type cooling device is provided with an auxiliary cooling device and an intermediate heat exchange unit on a one-to-one basis. In comparison, an increase in initial investment can be suppressed.

  In the above invention, when it is determined that the value obtained by multiplying the cooling load, which is the amount of heat generated from the arithmetic device, by a predetermined safety factor, is greater than the cooling processing amount of the liquid cooling type cooling device, It is preferable to start cooling the liquid-cooled refrigerant by the auxiliary cooling device and the intermediate heat exchange unit.

  When the value obtained by multiplying the cooling load by the safety factor becomes larger than the cooling processing amount of the liquid cooling type cooling device, the cooling of the liquid cooling refrigerant by the auxiliary cooling device and the intermediate heat exchange unit is started. The auxiliary cooling device is operated only in a situation where there is a high possibility that a high-temperature failure or the like will occur in the arithmetic device. Therefore, when assistance by the auxiliary cooling device is unnecessary, cooling is performed only by the liquid cooling type cooling device, and an increase in operating cost required for cooling the arithmetic device can be suppressed.

  In the above invention, the auxiliary cooling device includes a compression unit that pressurizes the auxiliary refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchange unit that exchanges heat between the auxiliary refrigerant and outdoor air, and the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit. A switching unit that switches between the inflow destination of the outdoor heat exchange unit or the intermediate heat exchange unit, a decompression unit that depressurizes the auxiliary refrigerant radiated in the outdoor heat exchanger or the intermediate heat exchange unit, It is preferable that an auxiliary heat exchange unit that is disposed between the intermediate heat exchange unit and the decompression unit to exchange heat between room air and the auxiliary refrigerant is provided.

  By configuring the auxiliary cooling device in this way, the auxiliary cooling device not only assists the cooling process of the liquid cooling type cooling device, but also has a partition other than the predetermined partition (for example, a data center arithmetic device is arranged). Air conditioning of non-office parts and common areas). That is, another compartment can be cooled by guiding the auxiliary refrigerant decompressed by the decompression unit to the auxiliary heat exchange unit. On the other hand, the other section can be heated by guiding the refrigerant discharged from the compression section to the auxiliary heat exchange section.

  When the air to be heat exchanged in the auxiliary heat exchanging section is used as room air in a predetermined section, the auxiliary cooling device can also cool the arithmetic device by an air method. That is, the indoor air cooled by the auxiliary heat exchange unit is taken into the arithmetic device and used for cooling the arithmetic device.

  According to the apparatus cooling system of the present invention, the apparatus includes a plurality of liquid-cooled cooling apparatuses that directly cool the arithmetic device, and an auxiliary cooling apparatus that cools the liquid-cooled refrigerant using the auxiliary refrigerant and an intermediate heat exchange unit. There exists an effect that generation | occurrence | production of malfunctions, such as a high temperature fault, can be suppressed. Furthermore, the addition of a distribution unit, auxiliary cooling device, and intermediate heat exchange unit to the circulation circuit of the liquid cooling type cooling device can suppress the occurrence of high temperature failure etc. in the arithmetic unit, so it is necessary to newly install the entire system. There is an effect that an increase in initial investment can be suppressed.

It is a mimetic diagram explaining an outline of a device cooling system concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the control part of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining control of the apparatus cooling system of FIG. It is a schematic diagram explaining the principal part of the apparatus cooling system which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining control of the auxiliary | assistant cooling device of FIG.

[First Embodiment]
The apparatus cooling system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In the present embodiment, description will be made by applying to an example in which the apparatus cooling system 1 according to the present invention is used for air conditioning of a data center. As shown in FIG. 1, a computing unit 70 such as a server or a computer constituting an IT (information technology) device or an ICT (information communication technology) device is arranged in a floor (predetermined section) F in the data center. Stored in a rack 71. The device cooling system 1 is used to process a large amount of heat generated from the arithmetic device 70.

  The apparatus cooling system 1 includes a plurality of liquid-cooled cooling apparatuses 10 that cool the arithmetic unit 70, an auxiliary cooling apparatus 20 that cools the liquid-cooled refrigerant, an intermediate heat exchanger 30, and at least a part of the liquid-cooled refrigerant. A bypass channel (distribution unit) 40 and a three-way valve (distribution unit) 41 that lead to the heat exchange unit 30; a control unit 50 that controls the arithmetic device 70, the liquid cooling type cooling device 10, the auxiliary cooling device 20, and the three way valve 41; Are mainly provided.

  The liquid cooling type cooling device 10 cools the arithmetic unit 70 accommodated in the rack 71 by a liquid cooling method. In the present embodiment, the description is applied to an example in which three liquid-cooled cooling apparatuses 10 are arranged in the apparatus cooling system 1, but the number of liquid-cooled cooling apparatuses 10 is not limited.

  The liquid cooling type cooling device 10 includes a circulation circuit 11 in which the liquid cooling refrigerant circulates, a liquid cooling pump 12 in which the liquid cooling refrigerant circulates, and a liquid that performs heat exchange between the arithmetic device 70 and the liquid cooling refrigerant. A cold heat exchanger 13 and a cooling unit 14 that discharges the heat of the liquid-cooled refrigerant to the outside of the data center are mainly provided.

  The cooling unit 14 is shared by the three liquid-cooled cooling devices 10 and is installed outside the data center. The cooling unit 14 is mainly provided with a cooling heat exchanger 15 that radiates the heat of the liquid-cooled refrigerant to the outdoor air, and a cooling fan 16 that guides the outdoor air to the cooling heat exchanger 15.

  In the auxiliary cooling device 20 and the intermediate heat exchanging unit 30, the cooling processing amount by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 is smaller than a value obtained by multiplying the cooling load, which is the amount of heat generated from the arithmetic device 70, by a predetermined safety factor. In addition, cooling by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 is assisted.

  The auxiliary cooling device 20 includes an auxiliary circuit 21 in which an auxiliary refrigerant that absorbs or releases heat by phase change circulates, a compression unit 22 that compresses and boosts the auxiliary refrigerant, and heat of the compressed auxiliary refrigerant outdoors. An outdoor part 23 that radiates heat to the air and an expansion valve (decompression unit) 24 that depressurizes the radiated auxiliary refrigerant are mainly provided. The intermediate heat exchanger 30 is mainly provided with an intermediate heat exchanger 31 that absorbs the heat of the liquid-cooled refrigerant by the decompressed auxiliary refrigerant.

  The bypass passage 40 and the three-way valve 41 guide at least part of the liquid-cooled refrigerant flowing through the circulation circuit 11 to the intermediate heat exchange unit 30. The bypass channel 40 has one end and the other end connected so as to allow the liquid-cooled refrigerant to circulate with the circulation circuit 11, and further, heat can be exchanged with the auxiliary refrigerant in the intermediate heat exchanger 30. It is the made flow path. The three-way valve 41 is a valve disposed at a connection portion between the circulation circuit 11 and the bypass flow path 40, and adjusts the flow rate of the liquid-cooled refrigerant flowing into the bypass flow path 40.

  The control unit 50 controls the apparatus cooling system 1 in an integrated manner, and is a microcomputer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM, RAM, input / output interface and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the control program stored in the ROM or the like causes the CPU to function as the calculation unit 51 and causes the ROM or the like to function as the storage unit 52. Detailed control of the device cooling system 1 by the control unit 50 will be described later.

  The control unit 50 includes a measurement signal of the liquid-cooled refrigerant temperature flowing into the cooling unit 14 measured by the refrigerant temperature sensor 61, a measurement signal of the liquid-cooled refrigerant temperature flowing out of the cooling unit 14 measured by the refrigerant temperature sensor 62, Measurement signals such as the outside air temperature and humidity around the cooling unit 14 measured by the outside air temperature sensor 63 and the humidity sensor 64 are input. The control unit 50 also receives a measurement signal of the surface temperature of the portion cooled by the liquid cooling heat exchange unit 13 in the arithmetic device 70 measured by the surface temperature sensor 65.

  From the control unit 50, a control signal for controlling the operation state of the liquid cooling pump 12, a control signal for controlling the operation state of the cooling unit 14, a control signal for controlling the valve opening degree of the three-way valve 41, and compression of the auxiliary cooling device 20 A control signal for controlling the unit 22 and the like, a control signal for controlling distribution of data processing among the arithmetic devices 70 belonging to the same cluster, and the like are output.

Next, cooling of the arithmetic unit 70 in the apparatus cooling system 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
When the operation of the device cooling system 1 is started, the control unit controls the total amount of data processing in the arithmetic device 70 housed in the rack 71 belonging to the same cluster so as to be equal to or less than a predetermined upper limit (S11). Here, the same cluster is a group to which data processing is distributed by the same control unit 50, and in the present embodiment, description will be made by applying to an example in which three racks 71 belong to the same cluster. An example of the predetermined upper limit is 80%.

  Thereafter, the data processing amount (load amount) in the arithmetic device 70 alone belonging to the same cluster varies depending on the convenience of the arithmetic device 70 (S12). In other words, the control unit 50 does not output a control signal for controlling data processing distribution to the arithmetic device 70.

  The calculation unit 51 of the control unit 50 performs calculation for estimating heat generation in the calculation device 70 (cooling load when viewed from the device cooling system 1 side) based on the data processing amount in the calculation device 70 (S13). For the calculation of estimation, a predetermined known calculation formula can be used, and the type is not particularly limited.

  In the following embodiment, the calculation for calculating the actual cooling load is performed in order to explain and apply to an example in which an increase or decrease in the data processing amount in the arithmetic device 70 cannot be detected in advance. On the other hand, when the increase or decrease in the data processing amount can be detected in advance, the same processing may be performed using the estimated cooling load instead of the actual cooling load, and there is no particular limitation.

When the heat generation amount is estimated, the calculation unit 51 performs a calculation for obtaining the actual cooling load (S14). The actual cooling load Φ _ICT is the surface temperature input from the surface temperature sensor 65, the difference in the return temperature of the liquid refrigerant measured by the refrigerant temperature sensor 61 and the refrigerant temperature sensor 62, the gas-liquid state of the liquid refrigerant, the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant, etc. Is calculated based on The calculation unit 51 compares the calculated actual cooling load with the estimated cooling load, and corrects the calculation formula used for the estimation calculation.

Further, the control unit 50 performs control to increase or decrease the flow rate of the liquid cooling refrigerant so as to satisfy the cooling load estimated by the cooling actual load Φ _ICT . Specifically, a control signal for increasing / decreasing the rotation frequency of the liquid cooling pump 12 is output to increase / decrease the flow rate of the liquid cooling refrigerant.

When the actual cooling load Φ _ICT is calculated, the calculation unit 51 determines the maximum cooling processing amount Φ _FCMAX by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 based on signals input from the outside air temperature sensor 63 and the humidity sensor 64, in other words, free. A process of estimating the maximum coolable processing amount in the cooling is performed (S15).

Thereafter, the calculation unit 51 performs a process of determining whether or not the following equation (1) is satisfied (S16).
Φ _FCMAX <Φ _ICT × k (1)
Here, k is a predetermined safety factor and has a value of 1 or more. When it is determined that the formula (1) is not satisfied (in the case of NO), the control unit 50 performs free cooling by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 (S17). Then, it returns to S11 and repeats the above-mentioned process.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the formula (1) is satisfied (in the case of YES), it is determined whether or not the specific condition is satisfied (S18). Here, the specific condition refers to a condition in which cooling by free cooling by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 is possible by distributing the data processing amount of the arithmetic device 70. Specifically, the amount of data processing in some of the arithmetic devices 70 is prominent, and the amount of heat generated by the arithmetic devices 70 is enormous, while the amount of data processing of the remaining arithmetic devices 70 is small, and the heat generated by the arithmetic devices 70 is large. A case where there is almost no amount can be exemplified.

  When it is determined that the specific condition is satisfied (in the case of YES), the control unit 50 outputs a control signal for controlling distribution of data processing to the arithmetic device 70 (S19). In other words, control for canceling the event control for the arithmetic device 70 is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to S13, and the above-described processing is repeated.

  When it is determined that the specific condition is not satisfied (in the case of NO), the control unit 50 outputs a control signal for opening the three-way valve 41 and a control signal for starting the operation of the auxiliary cooling device 20 (S20). ). In other words, the operation of the auxiliary cycle is started.

When the operation of the auxiliary cooling device 20 is started, the calculation unit 51 performs a process of calculating a cooling processing amount required for the auxiliary cooling device 20 (S21). The calculation is performed based on the following equation (2).
a × (Φ _ICT −Φ _FCMAX ) (2)
Here, a is a correction coefficient.

  Further, the calculation unit 51 calculates the amount of the liquid-cooled refrigerant to be branched into the bypass channel 40 in the three-way valve 41 while taking into consideration the temperature of the liquid-cooled refrigerant, the gas-liquid state of the liquid-cooled refrigerant, and the flow rate of the liquid-cooled refrigerant ( S22). The branch amount is Honmaru and the control unit 50 outputs a control signal for controlling the valve opening degree of the three-way valve 41 (S23).

  The operation of the auxiliary cooling device 20 is controlled based on the branch amount of the liquid-cooled refrigerant in the three-way valve 41 and the required cooling processing amount (S24). For example, the flow rate of the auxiliary refrigerant that circulates is controlled by controlling the rotation frequency of the compression unit 22.

  According to the apparatus cooling system 1 having the above-described configuration, the auxiliary cooling apparatus 20 and the intermediate heat exchange that include the plurality of liquid cooling type cooling apparatuses 10 that directly cool the arithmetic device 70 and that cool the liquid cooling refrigerant using the auxiliary refrigerant. By providing the unit 30, even if the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 has a problem or the like and a high-temperature failure or the like occurs in the computing device 70, the auxiliary cooling device 20 and the intermediate heat exchange unit 30 cool the computing device. Can continue.

  The addition of the bypass flow path 40, the three-way valve 41, the auxiliary cooling device 20, and the intermediate heat exchanging unit 30 to the circulation circuit 11 of the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 can suppress the occurrence of a high-temperature failure or the like of the arithmetic device 70. Therefore, it is not necessary to newly install the entire system, and increase in initial investment can be suppressed. Further, since the plurality of liquid cooling type cooling devices 10 are provided with the pair of auxiliary cooling devices 20 and the intermediate heat exchange unit 30, the auxiliary cooling device 20 and the intermediate heat exchange unit 30 are provided for the liquid cooling type cooling device 10. Compared with the case of one-on-one provision, an increase in initial investment can be suppressed.

When the value obtained by multiplying the cooling load Φ _ICT by the safety factor k becomes larger than the cooling processing amount Φ _{FCMAX of} the liquid cooling type cooling device 10, the cooling of the liquid cooling refrigerant by the auxiliary cooling device 20 and the intermediate heat exchange unit 30 is performed. By starting the operation, the auxiliary cooling device 20 is operated only in a situation where there is a high possibility that a high temperature failure or the like will occur in the arithmetic device 70. Therefore, when the assistance by the auxiliary cooling device 20 is unnecessary, the cooling is performed only by the liquid cooling type cooling device 10, and an increase in operation cost required for cooling the arithmetic device 70 can be suppressed.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an apparatus cooling system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The basic configuration of the apparatus cooling system of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the configuration of the auxiliary cooling apparatus is different from that of the first embodiment. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the auxiliary cooling device will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, and description of other components and the like will be omitted.

  The auxiliary cooling device 120 of the apparatus cooling system 101 of the present embodiment is configured to be capable of cooling and heating, compared to the auxiliary cooling device 120 of the first embodiment, a data center office or shared section It is different in that indoor air conditioning is performed.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the auxiliary cooling device 120 compresses the auxiliary refrigerant and the auxiliary circuit 21 through which the auxiliary refrigerant that absorbs or releases heat by phase change circulates. A compression unit 22 for boosting pressure, a four-way valve (switching unit) 125 for controlling a flow destination of refrigerant sucked into the compression unit 22 while controlling a flow destination of refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22, and a compressed auxiliary Between the outdoor part (outdoor heat exchange part) 23 that radiates the heat of the refrigerant to the outdoor air, the expansion valve (decompression part) 24 that decompresses the radiated auxiliary refrigerant, and the auxiliary refrigerant and the indoor air such as the office room An auxiliary heat exchanging unit 126 that performs heat exchange is mainly provided.

  The four-way valve 125 guides the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22 to the outdoor portion 23 and guides the auxiliary refrigerant flowing out from the intermediate heat exchange unit 30 to the compression unit 22 (in the case shown in FIG. 4A). The refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22 can be switched to the intermediate heat exchange unit 30 and the auxiliary refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor portion 23 can be guided to the compression unit 22 (shown in FIG. 4B). Is.

  The control unit 50 controls the operation state of the auxiliary cooling device 120 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the control unit 50 determines whether or not there is an operation request for the auxiliary cooling device 120 (S31). This operation request is an operation request for assisting the liquid cooling and cooling device 10 as described in the first embodiment.

  When there is an operation request (in the case of YES), the control unit 50 performs control to start the cooling operation by the auxiliary cooling device 120 (S32). Specifically, the four-way valve 125 is controlled to the state shown in FIG. 4A, and control for starting the operation of the compression unit 22 is performed.

  As a result, the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22 flows into the outdoor portion 23 and releases heat to the outdoor air to condense. The condensed liquid refrigerant is decompressed by the expansion valve 24 and flows into the auxiliary heat exchange unit 126. In the auxiliary heat exchange unit 126, a part of the auxiliary refrigerant absorbs the heat of the indoor air of the office or the like and vaporizes. Thereafter, the auxiliary refrigerant further flows into the intermediate heat exchange unit 30, absorbs the heat of the liquid-cooled refrigerant, and vaporizes the remaining liquid refrigerant. The vaporized refrigerant is sucked into the compression unit 22 and repeats the above cycle.

  When there is no operation request (in the case of NO), the controller 50 further determines whether or not there is a request for heating operation (S33). When there is a request for heating operation (in the case of YES), the control unit 50 performs control to start the heating operation by the auxiliary cooling device 120 (S32). Specifically, the four-way valve 125 is controlled to the state shown in FIG. 4B, and control for starting the operation of the compression unit 22 is performed.

  As a result, the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22 flows into the auxiliary heat exchange unit 126 via the intermediate heat exchange unit 30. In the auxiliary heat exchanging unit 126, the auxiliary refrigerant releases heat into the indoor air of the office or the like and condenses. In other words, the room air is warmed. The condensed liquid refrigerant is decompressed by the expansion valve 24 and flows into the outdoor portion 23. The auxiliary refrigerant absorbs the heat of the outdoor air and vaporizes outside the room. The vaporized auxiliary refrigerant is sucked into the compression unit 22 and the above-described cycle is repeated.

  When the heating operation is not requested (NO), the control unit 50 outputs a control signal for stopping the operation of the auxiliary cooling device 120 (S35). Thereafter, the process returns to S31 and the above process is repeated.

  According to the apparatus cooling system 101 having the above configuration, by configuring the auxiliary cooling apparatus 120 as described above, the auxiliary cooling apparatus 120 not only assists the cooling process of the liquid cooling type cooling apparatus 10 but also the floor F and Can air-condition an office part or a common part where a processing unit of another data center is not arranged. In other words, by guiding the auxiliary refrigerant decompressed by the expansion valve 24 to the auxiliary heat exchanging unit 126, the office or the like can be cooled. On the other hand, by heating the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit 22 to the auxiliary heat exchange unit 126, the office or the like can be heated.

  The auxiliary cooling device 120 assists the cooling process of the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 mainly in the summer when the outside air temperature is high. In other intermediate periods and winter seasons, there is little demand for the above-mentioned cooling treatment assistance. At this time, by making use of the auxiliary cooling device 120 for heating the office or the like without playing it, the investment amount related to air conditioning as the entire data center can be suppressed.

  Further, the air conditioning of the floor F may be performed instead of the air conditioning of the office or the like by the auxiliary cooling device 120 as in the above-described embodiment. In this case, the auxiliary cooling device 120 not only assists the cooling process of the liquid cooling type cooling device 10 but also performs the cooling process of the air cooling air conditioner that cools the computing device 70 via the indoor air of the floor F (air cooling type). You can also help.

  Specifically, the indoor air cooled by the auxiliary cooling device 120 is introduced into the computing device 70 by a fan provided in the computing device 70. The introduced air cools the electronic parts that generate heat, and then is discharged from the arithmetic unit 70 and is cooled again by the auxiliary cooling unit 120.

In some cases, the floor F may have a section that performs liquid cooling, but the auxiliary cooling device 120 may perform air conditioning of the section that performs the liquid cooling.
In addition, as mentioned above, when air-conditioning the floor F with the auxiliary cooling device 120, the driving | operation which cools indoor air becomes a center. In this case, the auxiliary cooling device 120 may not include the four-way valve 125.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,101 ... Apparatus cooling system, 10 ... Liquid cooling type cooling device, 11 ... Circulation circuit, 13 ... Liquid cooling heat exchange part, 20, 120 ... Auxiliary cooling device, 22 ... Compression part, 24 ... Expansion valve (decompression part), DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 23 ... Outside (outdoor heat exchange part), 30 ... Intermediate heat exchange part, 40 ... Bypass flow path (distribution part), 41 ... Three-way valve (distribution part), 50 ... Control part, 70 ... Arithmetic unit, 125 ... Four-way Valve (switching unit), 126 ... auxiliary heat exchange unit, F ... floor (predetermined section)

Claims (3)

A plurality of liquid-cooled cooling systems including at least a circulation circuit that circulates a liquid-cooled refrigerant used for cooling an arithmetic device disposed in a predetermined section and a liquid-cooled heat exchange unit that thermally contacts the arithmetic device and the liquid-cooled refrigerant. Equipment,
A distributor for branching a part of the liquid-cooled refrigerant circulating in the circulation circuit;
An auxiliary cooling device for supplying auxiliary refrigerant used for cooling the liquid-cooled refrigerant branched from the plurality of circulation circuits;
An intermediate heat exchanging unit that performs heat exchange between the liquid-cooled refrigerant branched from the plurality of circulation circuits and the auxiliary refrigerant, and cools the liquid-cooled refrigerant;
The auxiliary cooling device calculates the cooling processing amount required for the calculating the flow rate of the liquid cooling refrigerant is branched by the distributor, the cooling amount of processing flow and the request of the calculated the liquid cooling refrigerant A control unit for controlling the cooling capacity of the auxiliary cooling device by controlling the flow rate of the auxiliary refrigerant based on
The apparatus cooling system characterized by the above-mentioned.

Wherein, when the value obtained by multiplying a predetermined safety factor to the cooling load is the amount of heat generated from the arithmetic unit is determined to become larger than the cooling process of the liquid-cooling type cooling device, the The apparatus cooling system according to claim 1, wherein cooling of the liquid-cooled refrigerant by the auxiliary cooling device and the intermediate heat exchange unit is started. In the auxiliary cooling device,
A compression unit that pressurizes the auxiliary refrigerant;
An outdoor heat exchange unit that exchanges heat between the auxiliary refrigerant and outdoor air;
A switching unit that switches an inflow destination of the auxiliary refrigerant discharged from the compression unit between the outdoor heat exchange unit or the intermediate heat exchange unit;
A decompression section for decompressing the auxiliary refrigerant radiated in the outdoor heat exchange section or the intermediate heat exchange section;
An auxiliary heat exchange unit disposed between the intermediate heat exchange unit and the decompression unit to exchange heat between room air and the auxiliary refrigerant;
The apparatus cooling system according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus cooling system is provided.

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