Patent ID: 8209993

Claim:
A method of providing cooled air to electronic equipment, comprising: capturing air from a human-occupiable workspace in a data center and controlling flow of the air through a volume containing electronic equipment so that the air rises in temperature by twenty degrees Celsius or more from an ambient temperature of the workspace as it passes through the volume, and capturing the heated air from the volume; cooling the heated air by twenty degrees Celsius or more in an air-to-water heat exchanger; supplying cooling water to the air-to-water heat exchanger at a temperature above a dew point temperature of the heated air; and controlling the water to maintain the temperature of the cooling water at the temperature above the dew point temperature of the heated air, wherein the captured air passes by parallel paths through a plurality of vertically-stacked bays defined in the volume such that the air rises in temperature by twenty degrees Celsius or more from the ambient temperature of the workspace while passing between a first side and a second side of particular ones of the plurality of bays, the first side being open to the workspace to allow access to computing devices mounted in the particular ones of the plurality of bays while the captured air passes through the plurality of bays, and at least a portion of the airflow circulates through a circulation loop that comprises an airflow path from the workspace to a respective bay of the plurality of vertically-stacked bays in the volume, then to an area of a warm air plenum positioned in the volume behind the respective bay, then from the area of the warm air plenum positioned in the volume behind the respective bay to an area of the warm air plenum in an attic space above the volume, then from the area of the warm air plenum in the attic space above the volume to the air-to-water heat exchanger positioned in the volume.