Patent ID: 7830657

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating cooling of an electronics rack, the apparatus comprising: a heat exchange assembly configured to mount to an outlet door cover for an electronics rack, wherein air moves through the electronics rack from an air inlet side to an air outlet side thereof and the outlet door cover is hingedly mounted along one edge to the electronics rack at the air outlet side of the electronics rack, and wherein the heat exchange assembly comprises: a support frame for facilitating mounting of the heat exchange assembly to the outlet door cover, wherein when mounted to the outlet door cover, the heat exchange assembly covers at least a portion of an opening in the outlet door cover; an air-to-liquid heat exchanger supported by the support frame, the air-to-liquid heat exchanger having an inlet plenum and an outlet plenum disposed adjacent to the edge of the outlet door cover hingedly mounted to the electronics rack when the heat exchange assembly is mounted to the outlet door cover, wherein the inlet plenum and the outlet plenum are each in fluid communication with a respective connect coupling of the heat exchange assembly, the respective connect couplings residing adjacent to the edge of the outlet door cover hingedly mounted to the electronics rack when the heat exchange assembly is mounted to the outlet door cover, and wherein the air-to-liquid heat exchanger further comprises at least one heat horizontally-oriented exchange tube section, each heat exchange tube section comprising a coolant channel having an inlet and an outlet, each coolant channel inlet being coupled to the inlet plenum and each coolant channel outlet being coupled to the outlet plenum, and wherein the air-to-liquid heat exchanger further comprises a plurality of fins extending from the at least one horizontally-oriented heat exchange tube section and wherein each heat exchange tube section comprises at least one tube having a first diameter, and wherein the inlet plenum and the outlet plenum each comprise a tube having a second diameter, wherein the second diameter is greater than the first diameter, and wherein the inlet plenum and outlet plenum each extend vertically and adjacent to the edge of the outlet door cover hingedly mounted to the electronics rack, and wherein inlet-to-outlet air flow through the electronics rack is horizontal; at least one of a first perforated surface covering a first main side of the air-to-liquid heat exchanger or a second perforated surface covering a second main side of the air-to-liquid heat exchanger, each perforated surface containing air flow openings to allow inlet-to-outlet air flow through the electronics rack to pass through the heat exchange assembly; and wherein the air-to-liquid heat exchanger is configured and positioned to cool air exhausting from the electronics rack into a data center containing the electronics rack, and thereby reduce demand on one or more data center air-conditioning units.