Controlled Warm Air Capture

Abstract

A system for providing air circulation to rack-mounted computers can include a plurality of rack-mounted computers on a plurality of motherboards, each motherboard having a front end near a work space and a back end; one or more fans associated with the plurality of motherboards and adapted to deliver heated air from the computers to a common warm-air plenum; and one or more motor controllers coupled to the plurality of fans and adapted to maintain a substantially constant sensed exhaust temperature for air moved by the fans.

1 - 48 . (canceled) 
     
     
         49 . A system for cooling a computer data center, comprising:
 a data center building that defines a workspace and an attic space;   a ceiling of the workspace that physically separates the workspace form the attic space;   a plurality of computer racks housing computer systems and arranged in the workspace to receive supply air circulated from the workspace;   a warm air capture plenum fluidly connected to the attic space and arranged to receive warmed air from the computer racks and;   one or more outdoor air intakes arranged to receive outside air into the data center building; and   one or more exhaust fans arranged to remove warmed air from the data center building.   
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising one or more differential pressure sensors to control operation of one or more air circulation fans that circulate the supply air, wherein the differential pressure sensors are positioned to sense relative pressure between the attic space and the workspace. 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the supply air circulated over the computers is received from walkways in the workspace inside the data center building. 
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the workspace defines a cool air plenum that is thermally isolated from the warm air capture plenum. 
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the warm air capture plenum is located between back sides of adjacent, parallel rows of computer racks. 
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising motor-controlled air intake mechanisms arranged to cause outside air to be taken into the data center building based on outdoor atmospheric conditions. 
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising one or more air blenders arranged to blend outdoor air with the heated air exhausted from the data center building, wherein the blended air is circulated to the workspace and through plurality of computer racks. 
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein a roof of the data center building is sloped along two planes symmetrically about the midline of the data center building. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the warm air capture plenum is in fluid communication with the attic space via one or more chimneys located above the warm air capture plenum. 
     
     
         58 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the warm air capture plenum is one of a plurality of warm air capture plenums arranged along an entire length of a row of computer racks. 
     
     
         59 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising a fan unit located in the attic space to circulate the heated air form the warm air capture plenums. 
     
     
         60 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising a controller to operate the system in an airside economizer mode. 
     
     
         61 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising a plurality of trays in each of the computer racks, the plurality of trays each open to the workspace and adjacent to the warm air capture plenum and having a computer motherboard. 
     
     
         62 . The system of  claim 61 , wherein particular ones of the plurality of computer trays are fanless computer trays. 
     
     
         63 . A method of cooling a computer data center, comprising:
 receiving outdoor air into a data center building;   circulating cool air over computers mounted in a plurality of computer racks and into a warm air capture plenum adjacent the computer racks to warm the cool air;   circulating the warm air from the warm air capture plenum into an attic space above the computer racks; and   exhausting at least some of the warm air to outside of the data center building.   
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising using one or more differential pressure sensors to control operation of one or more air circulation fans that circulate the air. 
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein the differential pressure sensors sense relative pressure between the attic space and the workspace. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising circulating the supply air from walkways in a workspace of the data center building over the computers mounted in the plurality of computer racks. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the workspace defines a cool air plenum that is thermally isolated from the warm air capture plenum. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein the warm air capture plenum is located between back sides of adjacent, parallel rows of computer racks. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising circulating the warm air from the warm air capture plenum to the attic space through a chimney located above the warm air capture plenum and fluidly connecting the warm air plenum with the attic space. 
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 69 , further comprising circulating all of the warm air received into the warm air capture plenum from the computer racks through the chimney and to the attic space. 
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein a temperature of the warm air entering the attic space from the warm air capture plenum exceeds a temperature of the outdoor air. 
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising circulating the warm air from the warm air capture plenum to the attic space via a fan unit located in the attic space. 
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising:
 setting a control system of the data center building to an airside economizer mode; and   in the airside economizer mode, circulating the outside air over computers mounted in the plurality of computer racks and into the warm air capture plenum adjacent the computer racks.   
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 73 , wherein only outside air is circulated over computers mounted in the plurality of computer racks in the airside economizer mode. 
     
     
         75 . A system for cooling a computer data center, comprising:
 a data center building that defines a workspace and an attic space;   a ceiling of the workspace that physically separates the workspace form the attic space;   a plurality of computer racks housing computer systems and arranged in the workspace to receive supply air from the workspace;   means for circulating cool air from the workspace across computers in the computer racks to heat the cool air, and into a warm air capture plenum that is fluidly connected to the attic space;   one or more outdoor air intakes arranged to take outside air into the data center building; and   one or more exhaust fans arranged to remove the heated air from the data center building.   
     
     
         76 . The system of  claim 75 , wherein the cool air circulated across the computers is received from walkways in a workspace inside the data center building. 
     
     
         77 . The system of  claim 75 , further comprising a chimney arranged along a length of one or more rows of the computer racks that fluidly connects the warm air capture plenum to the attic space. 
     
     
         78 . The system of  claim 75 , further comprising a fan located in the attic space to circulate the heated air from the warm air capture plenum.