US20120048512A1

US20120048512A1 - Data center and heat dissipating control system thereof

Info

Publication number: US20120048512A1
Application number: US12/875,096
Authority: US
Inventors: Hung-Chou Chan
Original assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2010-08-25
Filing date: 2010-09-02
Publication date: 2012-03-01
Also published as: TWI469729B; TW201210456A

Abstract

A data center includes a portable container, a number of server systems, and a number of nozzles. The server systems are installed in the container. Two opposite sides of each server system are respectively a hot aisle and a cold aisle. The nozzles are arranged in the ground under the cold aisles to supply cold airflow. The nozzles of each cold aisle are arranged in a number of rows parallel to two adjacent server systems. Heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles of each cold aisle form a step mode from the two adjacent server systems to the middle of the corresponding cold aisle.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to data centers, and particularly to a container data center and a heat dissipating control system thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
With increasing heavy duty use of on-line applications, the need for computer data centers has increased rapidly. Data centers are centralized computing facilities that include many servers, often arranged on server racks or shelves, and one rack or shelf with some servers can be considered a server system. In a data center, there are some cold aisles and some hot aisles each defined between two adjacent server systems, and the cold aisles are used to supply cold airflow for the server systems. One common heat dissipating control system in the cold aisles is to arrange a lot of nozzles under the ground, and some cold airflow is supplied from under the ground and blow to the cold aisles through the nozzles. The heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles are generally the same, but the heat dissipating requirements of different servers in different height layers are different, for example, the heat dissipating requirement of a lower server is greater than the heat dissipating requirement of a higher server. Therefore, if the heights of the cold airflow are very high, the highest server which may not need so much cold airflow would waste more electricity than needed. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, all the views are schematic, and like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a data center, the data center including a head dissipating control system.

FIG. 2 is a partial, schematic view of the head dissipating control system of FIG. 1, the head dissipating control system including a plurality of nozzles.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of one of the nozzles of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a data center 100 includes a plurality of server systems 20. In one embodiment, the data center 100 is a container data center, and the server systems 20 are installed in a portable container 10. The server systems 20 are arranged in two rows and the number of the server systems 20 is determined according to the size of the container 10.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the data center 100, two opposite sides of each server system 20 respectively has a hot aisle 40 and a cold aisle 50 (large hollow arrows, identified as an outlined white arrow, stand for hot airflow, and small solid arrows identified as a small black arrow, stands for cold airflow in FIG. 2). In the cold aisle 50, a plurality of nozzles 30 are arranged under the ground, to supply cold airflow to the cold aisle 50. It may be understood that some cold airflow generators (not shown) can also be used to generate cold airflow. These cold airflow generators fall within well-known technologies, and are therefore not described here. The cold airflow generators and the nozzles 30 compose a heat dissipating control system of the data center 100.
In one embodiment, the nozzles 30 are arranged in a plurality of rows parallel to the server systems 20 (In FIG. 2, only six rows are shown, and each row only uses one nozzle 30 to give an example). The heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles 30 form a step mode from the server systems 20 to the middle of cold aisle 50. Namely, in the middle of the cold aisle 50, the heights of cold airflow from the nozzles 30 are highest, and the heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles 30 nearest to the server systems 20 are lowest. The heat dissipating requirement of a lower server of the server systems 20 is greater than the heat dissipating requirement of a higher server of the server systems 20, therefore, the step mode of the cold airflow in the cold aisle 50 can satisfy all of the servers of the server systems 20 and in the meanwhile save electricity.
Referring to FIG. 3, to achieve the above step mode of the cold airflow in the cold aisle 50, the heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles 30 need to be controlled correctly. In one embodiment, each nozzle 30 is a hollow circular truncated cone. An upper opening of the nozzle 30 is an airflow outlet 31 and a lower opening of the nozzle 30 is an airflow intake 32. Suppose an initial speed of the cold airflow at the airflow outlet 31 is V1, an shooting speed of the cold airflow at the airflow intake 32 is V2, an area of the airflow outlet 31 is A1, an area of the airflow intake 32 is A2, a mass of the cold airflow is m, the acceleration of gravity is g, a height of the cold airflow from the nozzle 30 is h, there are two formulas:
A1*V1=A2*V2
1/2*m*V2² =m*g*h (friction ignored)
Therefore:
V2=A1*V1/A2; V2=√{square root over (2gh)}
And
h=(V1*A1/A2)²/2g.
As we know, the initial speed V1 of the cold airflow at the airflow outlet 31 is known, therefore, the height h of the cold airflow from the nozzle 30 can be controlled by adjusting the relationship between the two areas A1 and A2 according the above last formula, which is very convenient.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the embodiments to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A data center comprising:

a portable container;

a plurality of server systems installed in the container, wherein two opposite sides of each of the plurality of server systems respectively has a hot aisle and a cold aisle; and

a plurality of nozzles arranged in the ground under the cold aisles to supply cold airflow to the cold aisles, wherein the nozzles of each of the cold aisles are arranged in a plurality of rows parallel to two corresponding adjacent server systems, heights of the cold airflow from the nozzles of each of the cold aisles form a step mode from the two adjacent server systems to the middle of the corresponding cold aisle.

2. The data center of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of nozzles is a hollow circular truncated cone, an upper opening of each of the plurality of nozzles is an airflow outlet and a lower opening of each of the plurality of nozzles is an airflow intake.

3. The data center of claim 2, wherein a height h of the cold airflow from one of the plurality of nozzles is adjusted by the following formula: h=(V1*A1/A2)²/2g, where V1 is an initial speed of the cold airflow at the airflow outlet, A1 is an area of the airflow outlet, A2 is an area of the airflow intake, g is the acceleration of gravity.

4. A heat dissipating control system used to dissipate heat for a server system, the heat dissipating control system comprising:

a plurality of nozzles arranged in the ground of one side of the server system, to supply cold airflow to the side of the sever system;

wherein the plurality of nozzles are arranged in a plurality of rows parallel to the server system, heights of the cold airflow from the plurality of nozzles form a step mode from the server system.

5. The heat dissipating control system of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of nozzles is a hollow circular truncated cone, an upper opening of each of the plurality of nozzles is an airflow outlet and a lower opening of each of the plurality of nozzles is an airflow intake.

6. The heat dissipating control system of claim 5, wherein a height h of the cold airflow from one of the plurality of nozzles is adjusted by the following formula: h=(V1*A1/A2)²/2g, where V1 is an initial speed of the cold airflow at the airflow outlet, A1 is an area of the airflow outlet, A2 is an area of the airflow intake, g is the acceleration of gravity.