Patent ID: 8949091
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: G06F,H05K,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method for facilitating thermal management of a data center comprising a plurality of components, the method comprising: selecting, by a processor having a non-transitory computer readable storage, a source component and a target component from the plurality of components, wherein the source component is selected from the group consisting of tiles, parts of racks, cooling units and flow generating devices, and the target component is selected from the group consisting of tiles, parts of racks, sensors, cooling units, and flow generating devices; defining, by the processor, influence indices for the source component and the target component, wherein the influence indices correspond to a pre-defined parameter of a plurality of pre-defined parameters, wherein the predefined parameters include design parameters and operational parameters, the design parameters and the operational parameters being related to cooling infrastructure, cooling units, parts of racks, heat generating equipment, and air flow altering components, the design parameter include configuration of the data center, and the operational parameters include air flow, power consumption by the source component and by the target component, and temperature and heat pertaining to the source component and the target component, quantifying, by the processor, the influence indices using a quantification method to obtain quantified influence indices, normalizing the quantified influence indices into a predefined scale to obtain normalized influence indices; comparing, by the processor, the normalized influence indices with a predefined influence index; determining, by the processor, cooling characteristics of the source component and the target component based upon the comparison, wherein the cooling characteristics include at least one of hot air recirculation, cold air short-circuiting, loading of the source component and of the target component, and influence region of the source component and of the target component; identifying, by the processor, thermal inefficiencies associated with the source component and in the target component using the cooling characteristics; and optimizing configuration of the data center based upon the thermal inefficiencies, thereby facilitating thermal management of the data center.