Patent ID: 7878889

Claim:
A data center system including: an impeller array comprising a plurality of vertically arranged impellers; and a substantially scaled, substantially airtight cabinet sized for housing an equipment rack and the impeller array, the equipment rack configured to house 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 first chamber in which the impeller array is disposed, the shell and divider wall providing a second chamber separate from the first chamber and adapted to support the equipment rack such that the equipment rack 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 equipment rack 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 equipment rack, wherein the divider wall is configured to allow the first inlet to admit the gas through the first plenum in a substantially horizontal direction; wherein the impellers are disposed in the first chamber vertically overlapping with the first inlet and configured to horizontally impel a substantially uniform curtain of gas to the first plenum and impel the gas substantially horizontally during an entire circulation of the gas through the first chamber and the second chamber.