Patent ID: 9480186
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: H05K

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus comprising: a cool air plenum comprising cooled air to cool a data center; at least one tile assembly associated with the cool air plenum, and disposed within the data center external to, an electronics rack of the data center at an air inlet side thereof, each tile assembly comprising a perforated tile and at least one air-moving device associated with and disposed parallel to the perforated tile, wherein the at least one air-moving device is adjustable to control an amount of cooled air flowing from the cool air plenum through the tile assembly at the air inlet side of the electronics rack to control a wall of cooled air flowing into ambient air of the data center parallel to the air inlet side of the electronics rack, and each tile assembly of the at least one tile assembly further comprising an air-to-liquid heat exchanger disposed parallel to and between the perforated tile and the at least one air-moving device thereof, the air-to-liquid heat exchanger being sized to the at least one air-moving device, and further cooling the cooled air passing through the tile assembly into the data center external to the electronics rack, wherein the at least one air-moving device and the air-to-liquid heat exchanger are disposed within the tile assembly upstream of the perforated tile through which the cooled air flows into the data center, the at least one air-moving device and the air-to-liquid heat exchanger residing within the cool air plenum; at least one temperature sensor for sensing air temperature adjacent to or within the electronics rack at the air inlet side thereof; and a controller coupled to the at least one tile assembly and to the at least one temperature sensor, the controller automatically identifying a recirculation of hot air from an air outlet side of the electronics rack to the air inlet side thereof based on the sensed air temperature, and controlling the at least one air-moving device to adjust the cooled airflow through the at least one tile assembly associated with the electronic rack based on the air temperature sensed by the at least one temperature sensor associated with the electronics rack to facilitate rack-level tailoring of air cooling of the electronics rack within the data center and to automatically adjust the wall of further cooled air flowing into ambient air of the data center parallel to the air inlet side of the electronics rack to disrupt the identified recirculation of hot air from the air outlet side of the electronics rack to the air inlet side thereof and to be drawn, at least in part, into the air inlet side of the electronics rack.