Patent ID: 8218322

Claim:
A modular data center comprising: a connecting hub having a plurality of docking regions and configured to provide to each docking region electrical power, a data network interface, a cooling fluid supply and a cooling fluid return; and a plurality of containers, each container enclosing a modular computing environment having a plurality of computing devices that collectively add a predetermined amount of computing power to the modular data center, each container having: a) a first heat exchange circuit configured to transfer heat from the computing devices to a heat exchanger; b) a second heat exchange circuit comprising the heat exchanger, the cooling fluid supply and cooling fluid return, the second heat exchange circuit being configured to transfer heat from the heat exchanger inside of the container to a system outside of the container via cooling fluid in the cooling fluid supply and cooling fluid return; and c) docking members that releaseably connect to the connecting hub at one of the plurality of docking regions to receive electrical power, connect to the data network interface, receive cooling fluid from the cooling fluid supply, and discharge return cooling fluid to the cooling fluid return, wherein the modular computing environment is configured to accommodate human occupancy and comprises (i) a plurality of microprocessor boards that receive power from the connecting hub and receive data from a network coupled to the data network interface, process the received data and transmit the processed data to the network via the data network interface; and (ii) an air recirculating system that draws air from a cold air plenum adjacent to the plurality of racks, across the plurality of microprocessor boards, and into a warm air plenum, and the heat exchanger cools air from the warm air plenum and discharges the cooled air into the cold air plenum.