Patent ID: 8157626

Claim:
A data center system including: a heat exchanger; a cooling mechanism including an impeller array comprising a plurality of vertically arranged impellers such that the impellers are arranged vertically one above another in use; and a substantially sealed, substantially airtight cabinet sized for housing a vertical array of heat-producing units, the cabinet having an exterior shell and the system including an interior divider wall disposed inside the cabinet, the shell and divider wall providing a heat exchanger chamber in which the heat exchanger is disposed, the shell and divider wall providing an equipment chamber separate from the heat exchanger chamber and adapted to support the array of heat-producing units such that the array of heat-producing units cooperates with the shell and divider wall in use to define a first plenum, the first plenum having a first inlet defined by the divider wall for receiving a flow of cooling gas and having a first outlet defined by a plurality of openings through the array whereby the first plenum communicates with the openings in use to exhaust substantially all of the flow of cooling gas through the openings and hence through the array, wherein the divider wall is configured such that the first inlet at least partially vertically overlaps with the plurality of openings through the array to allow the first inlet to admit the gas through the first plenum in a substantially horizontal direction; wherein the plurality of vertically arranged impellers are disposed in the heat exchanger chamber vertically overlapping with the first inlet, the plurality of vertically arranged impellers configured to horizontally impel a substantially uniform curtain of gas directly to or directly from the heat exchanger and to the first inlet and impel the gas substantially horizontally during an entire circulation of the gas through the equipment chamber and the heat exchanger chamber; and wherein the impellers provide N+1 redundancy of gas impelling.