Patent Publication Number: US-2012024515-A1

Title: Data center and heat dissipating system thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to data centers, and particularly to a container data center and a heat dissipating 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 in server racks or shelves, and one rack or shelf with some servers can be considered a server system. In a data center, some fans are arranged at appropriate locations to dissipate heat produced by the server systems. At any given time, perhaps only some of the server systems are working at high power and producing a lot of heat while the remaining systems are working at low power and producing much less heat. However, the fans only have one rotation speed regardless of whether all or some of the fans are producing a lot of heat, which wastes electricity. 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 container data center, the container data center including a plurality of server systems. 
         FIG. 2  is a front, schematic view of four server systems of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a back, schematic view of the four server systems of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a heat dissipating system used in the container data center of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure, including the accompanying drawing, 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 container data center  100  includes a plurality of server systems  20  installed in portable container  10 . In one embodiment, the server systems  20  are arranged in two rows and the number of the server systems is determined according to the size of the container  10 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , two adjacent server systems  20  share a single heat dissipating system, for example,  FIGS. 2-4  show four server systems  20  with two heat dissipating systems. 
     Each server system  20  includes two racks  22 , a plurality of servers  24  arranged on the two racks  22 , and two power distribution units (PDUs)  222  installed on the top of the two racks  22 . The PDUs  222  are used to manage power of the server system. 
     The heat dissipating system includes two fans  30 , two fan controllers  40 , two heat exchangers  50  (such as cold water), and two heat insulation boards  60 . The two fans  30  are arranged on the top of the two server systems  20  and blow down. The two heat exchangers  50  are respectively arranged on the top of the two server systems  20 . The two heat exchangers  50  are used to cool hot air from two sides of the two server systems  20 , and the cooled air is blown into the space between the two server systems  20  by the two fans  30  to dissipate heat of the two server systems  20 . The two heat insulation boards  60  are arranged between the two heat exchangers  50  and the two server systems  20 . An opening  62  is defined between the two heat insulation boards  60 , and located under and aligned with outlets of the two fans  30 . The two heat insulation boards  60  are used to insulate cooled air from heated air. 
     The two PDUs  222  are respectively connected to the two fan controllers  40 . The two PDUs  222  detect output power of the two server systems  20 , and transform the output power of the two server systems  20  to two corresponding fan rotation speed control signals transmitted to the two fan controllers  40 . The two fan controllers  40  control rotation speed of the two fans  30  according to the fan rotation speed control signals. In one embodiment, when the output power of the two server systems  20  are increased, the rotation speed of the two fans  30  are correspondingly increased. For example, the fan rotation speed control signals are pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals, when the output power of the two server systems  20  are increased, the duty cycle of the PWMs are correspondingly increased, and then the rotation speed of the two fans  30  are correspondingly increased. Therefore, the heat dissipating system of the container data center  100  can save electricity. 
     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.