Abstract:
A method and system of utilizing waste heat from a plurality of data center equipment comprising the steps of collecting waste heat from a plurality of data center equipment and utilizing said waste heat as the driving heat input for a heat driven engine. Heat recovery means collects waste heat from heat-producing equipment and transfers it in the form of hot water to drive a heat driven engine such as a chiller or heat pump. The output of the heat driven engine may be put to many productive uses, thereby reducing the over all energy load on the data center.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to increasing the efficiently of energy utilization of data centers. Specifically, this invention relates to a method of utilizing the waste heat generated by data centers to increase the overall energy efficiency of the facility of which the data center is a part. This is accomplished by using such waste heat to drive a heat driven engine, such as a heat driven chiller or heat pump. 
     A heat driven chiller or heat pump may be understood as a “three temperature machine.” Driving heat is input at high temperature, heat is rejected at a medium temperature and heat is adsorbed at a low temperature. In a chiller, the heat adsorbed at the low temperature provides the useful cooling. For purposes of this disclosure, the term “heat pump” will be used to refer to a heat driven engine that provides rejected heat as the useful product. 
     A data center, sometimes called a server farm, is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It may be an entire building, a single room, or one or more floors or other separate portions of a building. In addition to computer systems and associated components, data centers typically house one or more redundant backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning systems, fire suppression systems) and security devices. 
     Adequate environmental controls are a priority for data centers because such systems must continually provide environmental conditions suitable for the computer and server equipment used to store and manipulate a business&#39; electronic data and information systems. For example, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., in its “2008 AHSRAE Environmental Guidelines for Datacom Equipment,” recommends an environmental temperature range of 20-25° C. (68-75° F.) and a relative humidity range of 40-55%. [These stats are correct as per latest guidelines, is there anything later than the report cited here?]. 
     As the amount of equipment in a data center increases, and as the number computations or operations per component increase and the speed of individual components increase, the computer and other electronic components will generate increasing amounts of waste heat. Growth in the size, complexity and sophistication of data centers and the components housed therein have required correspondingly larger and more powerful air cooling and dehumidification systems to keep the data center and the equipment it houses sufficiently cool. Keeping an area and the devices within it cool can also be conceptualized as rejecting the heat generated by the equipment within the area out of the area, in this case, taking heat out of the data center. 
     There are over 60,000 data centers in the U.S. and Canada. Data centers consume approximately 1.7% of the U.S.&#39;s electricity (costing about U.S. $5B per year). Large data centers can consume up to 30-40 MW in energy each year, 10 MW or more of which goes to cooling. U.S. data centers consumed 66 million MW-Hrs of electricity in 2007, and this number is growing at 12% per year (doubling every 5 years), with at least one third of this going to cooling. The present invention provides a novel method of reducing the energy demands of this cooling load and putting heat energy previously rejected as waste to use. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a method and means of using a portion or all of the waste heat that is currently rejected as waste from data centers as the heat input to a heat driven engine, such as a heat driven chiller or heat pump. Specifically, the heat generated by the plurality of computer systems and associated components, boards, electronics, telecommunications equipment, data storage systems, racks, cabinets and other related equipment typically found in data centers is captured and utilized as the heat input for a heat driven engine. In one preferred embodiment, the method has been found compatible with driving an adsorption chiller consisting of a sorbate-sorbent working pair, preferably a silica gel-water working pair adsorption chiller. 
     Currently, the heat output of a data center is generally considered only as waste heat which must be eliminated, typically by exhausting it directly to the atmosphere. The present invention extracts useful work or output from this waste heat. The useful output of the heat engine chiller (cold water) or heat pump (rejected heat) can be used for a variety of useful purposes such as the de-humidification and air conditioning required to cool the equipment within the data center. 
     The removal of heat from equipment in a data center may be accomplished through the use of liquid heat exchangers mounted on critical heat producing components of the equipment within a data center, such as CPU, drives, video cards, etc. (the details of this heat exchanger mechanism is not proposed herein). Alternatively, spray-direct contact devices are also being developed to apply directly to critical heat producing data center components to remove heat by means of a fluid. 
     Advanced liquid heat exchanger technologies currently in development are expected to produce from the plurality of data center components an output fluid having a temperature in the range of about 140° F. to about 170° F. Output fluids having a temperature in this range are well suited for use as the heat input for a heat driven engine, and especially for a silica gel-water working pair adsorption chiller. 
     In the method of the present invention, a heat driven engine, such as an adsorption chiller, may be driven by using the waste heat from the data center as the sole source of the driving heat input. Stated with more specificity, it is the waste heat of the plurality of components, boards, rack/cabinet, equipment, etc. within the data center that may be used to heat a working fluid which is then used to drive the chiller, either directly or indirectly. Alternatively, the waste heat from the equipment in a data center may be combined with other sources of heat to drive a heat driven chiller or heat pump, thereby reducing the overall load on the alternate heat sources and improving the efficiency of the facility&#39;s systems. For example, waste heat from a data center may be used to augment the heat from solar panels, fuel cell exhaust, combined cycle plants consisting of one or more diesel engines or gas turbines or steam turbines, or from other boiler processes fired by fuel choices such as coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear power, or it may be combined with the waste heat of other processes. 
     It is anticipated that the waste heat generated by typical data centers, alone or augmented, can provide adequate heat energy to the chiller such that the chiller could produce sufficient cold water output to satisfy other cooling needs of the facility, such as auxiliary equipment cooling or industrial process cooling. 
     It is therefore a purpose of the present invention to provide a method of utilizing the low quality heat currently rejected from data center equipment to derive meaningful work by using it as the input to drive a heat driven engine, such as a chiller or heat pump. No other device, method, process or application has been identified where such low quality waste heat can be utilized as a meaningful work input to drive a heat driven chiller or heat pump. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a typical data center and data center equipment. 
         FIG. 2  is perspective view of a data center rack illustrating an alternative heat recovery means for capturing waste heat from data center equipment for use in the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic representation of one embodiment of a heat driven chiller through which the method of the present invention may be practiced. 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of a data center rack illustrating an alternative heat recovery means for capturing waste heat from data center equipment for use in the method of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Data centers and the multiplicity of types of data center equipment located therein are well known in the art. It is also well known that data center equipment generates a significant amount of heat that must be controlled by various means to maintain the data center equipment in working order. While it is not practical to include an exhaustive list of the function and type of every potential type of equipment that might be found in a data center of a business or other organization, for purposes of this disclosure, the term “data center equipment” will be used to refer to any type of heat generating component that one may find useful to locate within a protected environment of an organization&#39;s data center or other facility for the collection and installation of computer systems, electronics or controls. Such data center equipment typically comprises, but is not limited to, computer systems, electronics, data storage systems, communications equipment, networking equipment, information technology equipment and components and parts therefor, such as, but not limited to, servers, chips, processors, motherboards, sound cards, graphics cards, memory devices, data storage devices, modems, and any other equipment or component that now or may in the future be found useful in the field. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a view of a typical data center  5  comprising a plurality of rack style cabinets  10  arranged in single rows forming corridors between them for ease of access. Cabinets  10  house a plurality of numerous types of data center equipment  11  such as servers  20 , boards  21 , storage devices such as hard drives  18 , tape drives  63 , computer power supplies  65  and other related equipment typically found in data centers. Some larger data center equipment  11 , such as mainframe computers  13  and some storage devices  14  are often as big as the racks  10  themselves, and are placed along side them. 
     Data centers  5  are normally located in a separate building  15  or portion thereof equipped with redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls, such one or more cooling systems and fire suppression systems, and security devices (not shown). The cooling system typically used would consist of one or more normal industrial air conditioning systems, usually with redundancy. 
     Each of the cabinets  10  can house a plurality of disk drives  18  and computers  19 , such as, but not limited to, the common “blade style” servers  20 . The cabinets  10  may also contain communications equipment  62 , tape drives  63  and networking equipment  64 . A single server blade  20 , when extracted from the rack  10  by pulling it forward, reveals one or more boards  21  holding one or more integrated circuit chip components  16 . Many of these chip components  16  produce large amounts of heat that must be extracted from the cabinet  10  to prevent overheating of the data center equipment  11 . This discussion presents a new method of utilizing the heat generated by such data center equipment  11 , thereby increasing the efficiency of energy utilization of the data center  5  and the facility or building  15  in which it is located. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates one alternative heat recovery means for collecting waste heat from the data center equipment  11  of a data center  5 . One of a plurality of servers  20  is shown extracted or pulled out of the rack  10  revealing one or more boards  21  holding one or more integrated circuit chip components  16 . As is known in the industry, certain of these chip components  16 , such as central processing unit (CPU)  22 , video chips  23 , or memory (not shown) produce comparatively greater amounts of heat than do less heat-producing chips  16  such as input or output controllers  27  or individual electrical components  28 , such as capacitors or resistors. All of these integrated circuit chip components  16 , would normally be cooled by applying an air-based heat exchanger (i.e., air conditioning (not shown). Often, a separate fan (not shown) is also used to circulate cool air forcefully and rapidly across the hottest chip components  16  among the heat-producing data center equipment  11 . 
     The present invention provides a method of utilizing the output of a fluid-based heat exchanger  35  operatively mounted on a plurality of the higher heat-producing chips  22 ,  23  of data center equipment  11  to provide the hot water input to drive a heat driven engine (not shown in  FIG. 2 ). 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , on each server  20 , a fluid-based heat exchanger  35  is affixed to each of one or more of the higher heat producing chips  22 ,  23 . In practice, a single fluid-based heat exchanger  35  would be operatively mounted upon or be associated with or correspond to each chip  22 ,  23  from which the waste heat will be collected. A plurality of fluid-carrying tubing sections  24 ,  25 ,  26  are provided for circulating fluid, such as water or any other suitable refrigerant or coolant fluid, from an inlet line  38  to one or more fluid-based heat exchangers  35  and back to an outlet line  39 . Many alternate arrangements of circulation systems comprising interconnecting tubing sections  24 ,  25 ,  26  and one or more fluid-based heat exchangers  35  are within the contemplation of the present invention. The specific circulation system configuration depends upon the different types of data center equipment  11  being cooled and the number of fluid-based heat exchangers  35  affixed to the different components  16  of each piece of data center equipment  11 . It is also recognized that the fluid-based heat exchanger  35  may be permanently mounted onto the chip  16 , or it may be detachably mounted. Having detachable fluid-based heat exchangers  35  would allow the associated circuit board  21  or the corresponding heat producing chip  22  or  23  to be replaced without replacing or disconnecting the fluid-based heat exchanger  35 . 
     Inlet line  38  supplies cooling fluid to the fluid-based heat exchangers  35 . Cooling fluid directed into the data center equipment  11  circulation system may be of any suitable temperature capable of receiving heat from data center equipment  11 . When practiced in connection with a heat driven chiller (not shown), cooling fluid supplied through inlet line  38  has a temperature in the range of about 120° F. to about 170° F., preferably in the range of about 130° F. to about 150° F. After passing or being circulated through one or more fluid-based heat exchangers  35  on data center equipment  11 , the temperature of the refrigerant fluid would be raised by the fluid-based heat exchangers  35  to a temperature in the range of about 125° F. to about 180° F., preferably in the range of about 150° F. to about 170° F. 
     Refrigerant fluid thus heated would be circulated to the outlet line  39  where it is passed out of the data center equipment  11  circulation system for use as the driving heat input into the heat engine, which, as shown in  FIG. 3 , may comprise an adsorption chiller  30 . The specific temperature of fluid exiting the data center equipment  11  circulation system can be regulated by using a pumping means  34  to adjust the flow rate of fluid across the fluid-based heat exchangers  35 . 
     Other, less heat-producing computer chips  27 ,  28  on the same server  20  that do not generate sufficient heat to warrant individual heat exchangers  35  will continue to be cooled by general air flow through the racks and cabinets of the data center  5 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a data center equipment  11  circulation system would typically comprise one or more inlet lines  38  and outlet lines  39  associated with each cabinet  10  or other piece of data center equipment  11  housed within the data center  5 . Appropriate plumbing connects all of the inlet lines  38  within a data center  5  to one or more return lines  32  operatively connected to a heat driven engine, such as chiller  30 . Appropriate plumbing connects all of the outlet lines  39  within a data center  5  to one or more chiller feeder lines  29  operatively connected to a heat driven engine, such as chiller  30 . 
       FIG. 3  is a drawing of one embodiment of one type of heat engine, a heat driven chiller  30 , through which the method of the present invention may be practiced. Heat recovered by suitable heat recovery means from a data center  5  is utilized to power a heat driven chiller  30 , preferably a silica gel-water adsorption chiller. Adsorption chillers are well known in the art. A typical adsorption chiller  30  comprises four chambers: an evaporator  81 , a condenser  82 , and two adsorption chambers  83 ,  84 . All four chambers are operated at nearly a full vacuum. The adsorption chiller  30  cycles the adsorption chambers  83 ,  84  between adsorbing and desorbing cycles. In  FIG. 3 , adsorption chamber  83  is shown in the adsorption cycle and adsorption chamber  84  is shown in the desorption cycle. 
     The full vacuum of the evaporator  81  causes water  58  to boil and flash off of the surfaces of the evaporator  81  into water vapor. This creates a chilling effect in the evaporator heat exchanger  47  that chills the fluid, typically water, entering the evaporator  81  through a cold water return line  46 , to the evaporator heat exchanger  47 . In the evaporator heat exchanger  47 , the fluid is chilled by the evaporative process occurring in the evaporator  81 , producing cold water which is output from the evaporator heat exchanger  47  into the cold water output line  45 . 
     The water vapor enters adsorption chamber  83  from the evaporator  81  through one or more open valves  87  communicating between evaporator  81  and adsorption chamber  83 , and is adsorbed into the sorbent  88 , such as silica gel, in the adsorption chamber  83 . In the adsorption cycle, chilling water is circulated into adsorption chamber  83  through a chilling water return line  52  connected to an internal heat exchanger  51 . The internal heat exchanger  51  removes the heat that was deposited in this chamber  83  by the adsorption process. The internal heat exchanger  51  warms up the chilling water, which then exits the chamber  83  through a chilling water output line  53  connected to internal heat exchanger  51 . 
     Contemporaneously, during the desorption cycle depicted in adsorption chamber  84 , water vapor previously adsorbed into the sorbent  88  is driven from the sorbent  88  by hot fluid, typically water, generated using heat recovery means from the data center  5 . Hot water, at least partially generated by heat recovery means from the data center  5  and the data center equipment  11  therein, enters adsorption chamber  84  through chiller feeder line  29  which is connected to internal heat exchanger  33 . Heat from the hot water in the internal heat exchanger  33  raises the temperature of the sorbent  88 , thereby driving water vapor previously adsorbed in the sorbent  88  back into water vapor. Running hot water through internal heat exchanger  33  cools the hot water which, having lost heat, flows out of the internal heat exchanger  33  through a connected return line  32  that passes out of the adsorption chamber  84 . In practice it may be desirable to use one or more fluid-to-fluid heat exchangers (not shown) on the chiller feeder line  29  and return line intermediate the data center equipment circulation system if the fluids used to recover heat from the data center equipment circulation system and the driving fluid of the heat driven engine cannot be intermixed or must be kept separate for some reason, or if some temperature regulation between the two fluids is necessary based upon operating parameters. 
     Desorbed water vapor passes through one or more valves  89  communicating between the adsorption chamber  84  and the condenser  82  into the condenser  82 , where it is condensed by chilling water running through a condenser inlet line  92  to a condenser heat exchanger  93  to a condenser output line  94 . The condensed water is recycled to the evaporator  81  through a drain  95 , where it is immediately available for reuse. Appropriate plumbing is typically employed to operatively connect the chilling water output line  53  to condenser inlet line  92  for each adsorption chamber  83 ,  84  when it is in the adsorption cycle. Condenser output line  94  is also plumbed appropriately to feed chilling water to the heat sink  50 . 
     During this adsorption cycle, the water vapor pressure in adsorption chamber  83  is slightly lower than in the evaporator  81 . A portion of the refrigerant, normal water, evaporates and is pulled or flows along the vapor pressure gradient to adsorption chamber  83 . At the same time, the vapor pressure in adsorption chamber  84  is slightly elevated as the water vapor is driven from the silica gel. Water vapor in adsorption chamber  84  is pulled into the condenser  82  which has a relatively lower vapor pressure due to the condensation taking place. 
     When the silica gel in adsorption chamber  83  is substantially saturated with water and the silica gel in adsorption chamber  84  is substantially dry, the chiller  30  automatically reverses, shifting adsorption chamber  83  into the desorption cycle and adsorption chamber  84  into the adsorption cycle. The first step of this switch is to open all the valves  87 ,  89 ,  90 ,  91  between the various chambers  81 ,  82 ,  83 ,  84  of the chiller  30 , thereby allowing the vapor pressure to equalize. Then the flows of cool water and hot water (or driving fluid) through the adsorption chambers  83 ,  84  are switched in order to begin the adsorption and desorption cycles in those chambers  83 ,  84 . 
     The adsorption chiller  30  process is capable of operating with a wide range of temperatures for the hot, the chilling, and the cold water. It easily regulates itself and balances the performance using multiple control programs, shifting to the program best suited for the present conditions. For the best performance of a typical adsorption chiller  30 , the hot water has a temperature in the range of about 125° F. to about 195° F., the chilling water has a temperature in the range of about 50° F. to about 100° F. preferably in the range of about 70° F. to about 85° F. and the output cold water has a temperature in the range of about 35° F. to about 50° F., preferably in the range of about 38° F. to 40° F. 
     Adsorption chillers  30  may also utilize other substances as the working pair, such as water and zeolite, ammonia and water, hydrogen and certain metal hydrides, activated carbon and a number of fluids. While each type of working pair could theoretically be used, the silica gel-water working pair has been found to be preferable for the present invention based upon its range of working temperatures and the simplicity of its chemistry. 
     Hot water powering or driving a heat driven chiller of the silica gel-water type could range from 125° F. to 195° F. and still be useful. However, it is expected that heat recovery means capturing heat from data center equipment  11  will produce hot water having a temperature in the range of about 125° F. to about 180° F., preferably about 160° F. The hot water generated from the data center  5  and the data center equipment  11  therein is extracted through an chiller feeder line  29  by a circulator pump  34 . This hot water is used to drive the heat exchangers  33  or  51  of the adsorption chambers  83  or  84  in the desorption cycle. The hot water is returned to the data center  5 , cooled to a temperature in the range of about 120° F. to about 170° F., preferably in the range of about 130° F. to about 150° F. through a return line  32 . 
     The output of a heat driven chiller  30  is cold water that typically has a temperature of between about 35° F. to about 50° F. This cold water is produced in the cold water heat exchanger  47  of the evaporator  81  of the chiller  30 . The cold water is circulated by a circulator pump  48  through a cold water output line  45 . The cold water derived from a chiller  30  may be put to many different useful purposes as desired, but in one embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the cold water is circulated to a water-to-air heat exchanger  42  for cooling the data center  5 . The heat exchanger  42  is located in a plenum chamber  40  that allows air to be circulated by a circulation fan  41  through the data center  5  to cool the data center  5  and the data center equipment  11 . After passing through the water-to-air heat exchanger  42 , the temperature of the cold water is typically increased about 8° F. to about 15° F. from the temperature at which it entered, and is returned to the chiller  30  by a cold water return  46 . 
     The chilled water produced from the chiller  30  may also be used for other well known out-of-process or auxiliary applications within the data center  5  or facility within the data center  5  is located. Beyond the data center  5  itself, the chilled water can be put to a wide variety of other uses including air conditioning, process cooling for industrial or food preparation processes or machine cooling. 
     The heat that drives the chiller  30  and the heat extracted from the cold water are both ultimately rejected to a suitable heat sink. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the heat sink is represented as a water tower  50  where the heat is rejected to the air flow created by a circulator fan  55 . The heat sink may comprise any number of well known heat sink devices such as an evaporative water tower, a dry water tower, a body of water or any other well known industrial process. As shown, the heat is dissipated from a water-to-air heat exchanger  54  containing the flow of chilling water from the chiller  30 . This flow might be at a temperature as high as 100° F., arriving from the chiller  30  by way of the condenser output line  94 . Once cooled in the heat sink, the chilling water is returned to the chiller  30  by way of the chilled water return line  52 , forced along by a circulator pump  56 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates another alternative heat recovery means and method of capturing heat from data center equipment  11 . Alternative heat recovery means, such as one or more air-to-fluid heat exchanger, preferably an air-to-water heat exchanger  73 , is configured to be affixed to, adjoin or be housed within a rack style computer cabinet  10  housing multiple computer or server boards  72 . An air flow  70  is pulled through the cabinet  10  and around the data center equipment  11  by one or more circulation fans  71 , drawing the heated air from around the data center equipment  11 , such as the servers boards  72  in the cabinet  10 . The air flow  70  is directed about the air-to-water heat exchanger  73  to capture the heat being generated by the data center equipment  11 . Incoming heat transfer fluid, such as water, enters the air-to-water heat exchanger  73  through an input tube  75  at a temperature not greater than about 140° F. The incoming water flows through the heat exchanger  73  and extracts heat from the air flow  70 . The rate of water flow through the heat exchanger  73  may be adjusted to produce output water having a temperature in the range of about 125° F. to about 180° F., preferably in the range of about 150° F. to about 170° F. The output water is returned to drive the heat driven engine (not shown) through an output tube  74 . 
     If desired, a cabinet  10  may be fitted with one or more air-to-fluid heat exchangers, such as air-to-water heat exchanger  76 . 
     Although this invention has been disclosed and described in its preferred forms with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred forms is only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of operation and in the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.