JP5965787B2 - Cooling system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling system, and more particularly to a cooling system that cools a device housing rack such as a server using an air conditioner.

  In a data center where equipment storage racks such as server racks in which computers such as IT equipment and communication devices are accommodated are installed, air conditioning in the data center can be managed using a cooling system using air conditioners. It is common.

  Since data centers are different from general living rooms, secondary building members such as double floors and ceilings are not essential elements, but they are installed as a channel for the cool air output from the air conditioner. For example, in the data center 102 shown in FIG. 6, the cold air is supplied from the lower part of the air conditioner 4 and blown out from the floor outlet 52 installed near the equipment accommodating rack 3 using the underfloor space of the double floor 51 as a flow path. Is done. In addition, the warm air after cooling the equipment housing rack 3 flows into the ceiling space from the suction port 54 installed in the ceiling 53 and is returned to the air conditioner 4 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-257718A

  However, the construction of the double floor 51 and the ceiling 53 for forming the flow path of the conditioned air in the conventional cooling system has a problem of directly increasing the cost for introducing the cooling system. In addition, in the space under the double floor 51 that serves as a flow path for conditioned air and the space behind the ceiling, there are beams, piping, and wirings on the building structure, and these become the air resistance of the conditioned air. . Thereby, since a large capacity air conditioner is required, there is a problem that power consumption (running cost) increases.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the cost for introducing the system in a cooling system for cooling a rack for housing equipment installed in a data center. It is to provide a cooling system that can.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following means.
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention captures the cold air in a cooling system including one or more air conditioners and one or more cold air blowing units that blow cool air output from the air conditioners. A cold air passage is partitioned along a partition row configured to include one or a plurality of equipment housing racks, and the cold air blower blows the cold air so that the cold air is introduced into the cold air passage. And a shielding member for shielding the flow of the cold air is provided at a position opposite to the cold air blower in the cold air passage, and the flow of the cold air in the vertical direction is provided at least at a part of the upper portion of the cold air passage. A horizontal shielding plate for shielding is provided, and the horizontal shielding plate is provided in a part of the partition row and is connected to the shielding member .

  Further, according to the present invention, a warm air passage from which the warm air is discharged from the device housing rack is partitioned on a side of the partition row opposite to the cold air passage, and the cool air blowing section in the warm air passage is A warm air shielding member for blocking the flow of the cold air is provided on the side.

  Moreover, this invention is equipped with the mount frame which has an air path which ventilates the said cool air which the said 1 or several air conditioner outputs to the said 1 or several cool air ventilation part.

  According to the present invention, the cool air blower is provided so that the cool air is introduced into the cold air passage, and the shielding member for shielding the flow of the cold air is provided at a position opposite to the cold air blower in the cold air passage. The cold air introduced into the air path stays at the arrangement place of the equipment housing rack, and the equipment housing rack can be cooled without constructing a double floor.

1 is a perspective view of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the cooling system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a top view of the cooling system which concerns on another embodiment of this invention. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG. It is the schematic which shows an example of the conventional cooling system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the cooling system 1 of the present embodiment includes a data center 2 (information communication machine) in which a device housing rack 3 (hereinafter referred to as a rack) such as a server rack is installed. This is a system for managing the air conditioning of the room), and after returning the warm air (high temperature exhaust) discharged from the rack 3 to the air conditioner 4, it is cooled by the air conditioner 4 and circulated into the room again.

The data center 2 is a space that is composed of a floor, a ceiling, and walls and is rectangular in plan view.
The cooling system 1 connects two air conditioners 4, a stand 5 installed on the floor and arranged to support the two air conditioners 4, and a plurality of racks 3 (5 in this embodiment). And the shielding member 16 that prevents the diffusion of the flow of the cold air output from the air conditioner 4. In the following description, the extending direction of the divided rows 6 is called the X direction, and the direction orthogonal to the X direction is called the Y direction.

  The rack 3 has a box-shaped housing, and houses IT equipment such as a communication device therein. The rack 3 sucks air from an air inlet provided in the front surface 3a, and exhausts air from the exhaust port of the back surface 3b toward the rear. Specifically, the heat generated from the devices accommodated in the rack 3 is exhausted to the back surface 3b together with the air sucked from the front surface 3a by a cooling fan (not shown) included in each device. The height of the rack 3 is, for example, 2,000 mm.

The partition row 6 is formed by connecting the side surfaces of the racks 3 so that the front surfaces 3a (intake ports) of the racks 3 are aligned on one side. That is, the air sucked from one side of the compartment row 6 is discharged from the other side of the compartment row 6. Thereby, the hot aisle 8 which is a warm air path is defined on the back surface 3b side, and the cold aisle 9 which is a cold air path is defined on the front surface 3a side.
Note that the partition row 6 does not have to be configured entirely by the device accommodating rack 3, but may be configured by including the device accommodating rack 3. For example, shelves of the same shape for storing articles may be arranged at predetermined positions in the partition row 6.
Alternatively, the hot aisle 8 may be partitioned between the back surface 3 b of the rack 3 constituting the partition row 6 and the wall of the data center 2.

The gantry 5 is a rectangular tube-shaped member, and is formed in a size corresponding to the shape of the air conditioner 4. Specifically, it is formed by attaching a panel (side plate) to a framework having rigidity capable of withstanding the weight of the air conditioner 4 made of a plurality of section steels so as to form a square tube. In the gantry 5, cold air blown out from the air conditioner 4 is introduced into the cold air sharing air passage 7 inside the gantry 5, and the cold air is filled in the longitudinal direction of the gantry 5. It is formed to blow.
In addition, the gantry 5 can connect a plurality of air conditioners 4 (two in this embodiment). That is, the gantry 5 is made common to the plurality of air conditioners 4, and the cold air output from the plurality of air conditioners 4 is introduced into the same cold air common air passage 7.

  The shape of the gantry 5 is not limited to a rectangular tube shape, and any shape may be used as long as it supports the air conditioner 4 and can flow cool air. For example, if the leakage of cold air can be prevented, the panel facing the floor can be omitted and the U-shape can be formed.

  The cold air blowing unit 10 is formed on the side surface of the gantry 5. The cool air blower 10 is configured by a plurality of blow holes and is configured to blow cool air introduced into the gantry 5.

  The air conditioner 4 blows out cool air (cooling air) from the blowout port 12 on the lower surface, sucks warm air after cooling the rack 3 from the suction port 13 on the upper surface, cools, and then blows out cool air from the lower surface again. It is configured. The air conditioner 4 is placed on the upper surface of the gantry 5, and the air outlet 12 on the lower surface is connected to the cold air inlet 14 of the gantry 5. That is, a cold air intake 14 is formed on the upper surface of the gantry 5 at a place where the air conditioner 4 is placed.

The division rows 6 composed of a plurality of racks 3 are arranged in two rows along the X direction. In the cooling system 1 according to the present embodiment, an example in which two partition rows 6 are arranged has been shown, but the partition row 6 may be three or more rows, or may be one row.
The gantry 5 is arranged along the Y direction and slightly apart from one end of the partition row 6. That is, the side surface 5a (see FIG. 3) facing the partition row 6 of the gantry 5 and the side surface of the rack 3 arranged closest to the gantry 5 in the partition row 6 are disposed at a predetermined distance.

  The cold air blowing unit 10 is disposed on an extension line in the longitudinal direction of the cold aisle 9 along the X direction. That is, the cold air blowing unit 10 is arranged at a position where the cold air blown from the cold air blowing unit 10 is introduced into the cold aisle 9.

The shielding member 16 is a plate-like member having substantially the same height as the rack 3, and is installed at the end of the cold aisle 9 opposite to the gantry 5. Specifically, the side surfaces of the racks 3 arranged on the side farthest from the gantry 5 in the partition row 6 are arranged so as to be connected to each other.
The shielding member 16 does not need to be a plate-like member as long as the gas flow can be shielded. For example, a curtain-like member formed of cloth may be disposed.

  A horizontal shielding plate 17 that shields the flow of cold air in the vertical direction is connected to the upper end of the shielding member 16. Specifically, the horizontal shielding plate 17 is a plate-like member disposed so as to be parallel to the floor surface, and the width in the Y direction is substantially the same as that of the shielding member 16.

Further, the width in the X direction of the horizontal shielding plate 17, that is, the length along the longitudinal direction of the cold aisle 9 is substantially the same as the width in the X direction of one rack 3. That is, the horizontal shielding plate 17 is not provided over the entire width in the longitudinal direction of the cold aisle 9 but is provided in at least a part of the upper portion of the cold aisle 9.
Note that the width of the horizontal shielding plate 17 in the X direction is not limited to be substantially the same as the width of one rack 3, and can be appropriately adjusted according to the length of the partition row 6 constituted by the racks 3. . For example, when the division row 6 is composed of 10 racks, it is preferable to make the width in the X direction longer.

Further, a warm air shielding member 18 that blocks the flow of the cold air is provided at an end of the hot aisle 8 on the cold air blowing unit 10 side. The warm air shielding member 18 is a plate-like member having a height substantially equal to the height of the rack 3, and connects the side surfaces of the racks 3 arranged on the side closest to the gantry 5 in the partition row 6. Is arranged.
As with the shielding member 16, the warm air shielding member 18 may be any member as long as it can shield gas.

Next, the operation of the cooling system 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
First, the cold air output from the two air conditioners 4 is introduced into the common mount 5 and fills the mount 5. Next, the cold air filled in the gantry 5 is blown from the cold air blowing unit 10. Here, since the cold air blowing unit 10 is provided on the extension line of the cold aisle 9, the cold air is introduced into the cold aisle 9. Further, since the warm air shielding member 18 is provided, the cold air that has not been introduced into the cold aisle 9 does not leak into the hot aisle 8.

The cold air introduced into the cold aisle 9 is prevented from spreading to the surroundings by the shielding member 16. Further, the horizontal shielding plate 17 attached to the upper portion of the shielding member 16 prevents the diffusion to the height of the rack 3 or more.
Moreover, since the aperture ratio of the cool air blowing unit 10 is appropriately set and the cool air blowing speed is optimized, the cool air is filled below the height of the rack 3. In other words, the space above the height of the rack 3 is filled with warm air H (see FIG. 3), a temperature boundary layer is formed at the height of the rack 3, and mixing of cooling and heating is prevented.

  The effect of confirming that the temperature boundary layer is formed at the height of the rack 3 and mixing between cooling and heating is prevented by performing a simulation.

Next, the cool air is sucked from the front surface 3 a of the rack 3, cools the equipment accommodated in the rack 3, and then is exhausted to the back surface 3 b of the rack 3, that is, the hot aisle 8.
The warm air exhausted to the hot aisle 8 rises above the height of the rack 3 and is returned to the air conditioner 4.

  According to the above embodiment, the cold air blowing unit 10 is provided so that the cold air is introduced into the cold aisle 9, and the shielding member 16 that shields the flow of the cold air is provided at a position opposite to the cold air blowing unit 10 in the cold aisle 9. As a result, the cold air introduced into the cold aisle 9 remains at the place where the rack 3 is arranged, and the rack 3 can be cooled without constructing a double floor.

  Further, by providing the horizontal shielding plate 17, it is possible to prevent the cold air from being diffused beyond the height of the rack 3. Furthermore, since the horizontal shielding plate 17 is provided only at a part of the upper part of the cold aisle 9, the cooling system 1 can be constructed at a lower cost than when the entire cold aisle 9 is covered. .

  Further, by sharing the gantry 5 with respect to a plurality of air conditioners 4, even when some of the air conditioners 4 have a failure, the redundancy of the entire system can be ensured.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
In the above-described embodiment, the rack 3 has a structure in which air is sucked from an air intake port provided on the front surface and air is exhausted rearward from an exhaust port on the back surface, but is not limited thereto. For example, as in the cooling system 1B shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a rack 3B that introduces air from the front surface and the back surface and exhausts air from the top surface may be employed. In other words, the cold aisle 9 may be formed on both sides of the partition row 6B.

The number of air conditioners 4 is not limited to two, and may be three or more. Further, if it is not necessary to consider the redundancy, the air conditioner 4 may be one.
Further, the cold air blowing unit 10 is not necessarily installed in front of the cold aisle 9 and can be installed by being shifted from the front of the cold aisle 9 as long as the cold air can be introduced into the cold aisle 9. On the other hand, when the cool air blower 10 is provided in front of the cold aisle 9, the warm air shielding member 18 can be omitted.
Further, the shape of the data center 2 is rectangular in plan view. However, the shape is not limited to this. For example, the data center 2 may be a polygon other than a rectangle, a circle, or a combination of these.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling system 2 Data center 3 Equipment accommodation rack 4 Air conditioner 5 Stand 6 Division row 7 Cold air shared air path 8 Hot aisle (warm air path)
9 Cold aisle (cold airway)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cold air ventilation part 16 Shielding member 17 Horizontal shielding board 18 Warm air shielding member

Claims (3)

One or more air conditioners;
In a cooling system comprising: one or a plurality of cold air blowing units that blow cold air output by the air conditioner,
A cold air passage is defined along a partition line configured to include one or a plurality of equipment storage racks that take in the cold air,
The cold air blower blows the cold air so that the cold air is introduced into the cold air passage.
A shielding member for shielding the flow of the cold air is provided at a position opposite to the cold air blowing section in the cold air air passage ,
At least a part of the upper part of the cold air passage is provided with a horizontal shielding plate that shields the flow of the cold air in the vertical direction,
The said horizontal shielding board is provided in a part of said division row | line | column, and is connected to the said shielding member, The cooling system characterized by the above-mentioned . On the opposite side of the compartment row from the cold air passage, a warm air passage from which the warm air is discharged from the equipment housing rack is partitioned,
Cooling system according to claim 1, characterized in that warm air blocking member for blocking the flow of the cold air on the side of the cool air blowing portion in the warm air path is provided. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a gantry having a cold air sharing air passage that blows the cold air output from the one or more air conditioners to the one or more cold air blowing units. Cooling system.

Images