US20130133357A1

US20130133357A1 - Container data center

Info

Publication number: US20130133357A1
Application number: US13/326,239
Authority: US
Inventors: Chao-Ke Wei
Original assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-11-24
Filing date: 2011-12-14
Publication date: 2013-05-30
Also published as: TW201322902A

Abstract

A container data center includes a container and a number of racks containing a number of computer servers. The racks divide the container into a first space and a second space. The container further includes a heat dissipation system including a first portion. The first portion includes a first intake communicating with the first space, an evaporator, and a first outlet communicating with the second space. The evaporator cools the airflow coming from the first space through the first intake, and the first outlet exhaust the cooled airflow to the second space.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to container data centers, and particularly, to a container data center with a heat dissipation system.
2. Description of Related Art
With increasing use of online applications, the need for computer data centers has increased rapidly. Data centers are centralized computing facilities that include many servers, often arranged on server racks, with one rack containing a number of servers. In a working state, the servers generate a large amount of heat in the data center. Air conditioners are usually employed to dissipate the heat. However, the conventional air conditioners take up a lot of space in the container, which is unfit for a container data center with limited space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure should be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The units in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding portions throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a container data center in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the container data center of FIG. 1, showing airflow within the container data center.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a container data center 100 includes a container 10 and a number of racks 20 arranged in at least one row. A number of computer servers (not shown) are arranged in racks 20.
Referring to FIG. 2, the container 10 is hollow and includes a front panel 12, a back panel 13, a top panel 14, and a spacing plate 15. The spacing plate 15 is spaced a preset distance from the top panel 14. The container 10 is divided by the racks 20 into a first space 101 and a second space 102.
The data center 100 further includes a heat dissipation system 30 arranged in the top portion of the container 10, to dissipate the heat generated by the computer servers in the container 10.
The heat dissipation system 30 includes a first portion 31 arranged on the bottom side of the spacing plate 15 and a second portion 32 arranged on the top side of the spacing plate 15. The first portion 31 includes a first intake 311 communicating with the first space 101, a first outlet 312 communicating with the second space 102, a first fan 313 and an evaporator 314. The second portion 32 includes a second intake 321, a second outlet 322, a second fan 323 and a condenser 324. A valve 35 and a compressor 36 are connected between the condenser 324 and the evaporator 314 by a first pipe 33 and a second pipe 34. Thus, the valve 35, the compressor 36, the condenser 324 and the evaporator 314 form a loop. The loop is filled with refrigerant, in this embodiment, the refrigerant is Freon. The evaporator 314 allows compressed refrigerant to evaporate from its liquid state to gaseous, which absorbs a lot of heat. Thus, the hot airflow from the first space 101 through the first intake 311 can be cooled by the evaporator 314, and then, the cooled airflow flows into the second space 102 via the first outlet 322. Thus, the heat generated by the servers is dissipated. Simultaneously, the gaseous refrigerant flows from the evaporator 413 to the condenser 324 which is used to condense the refrigerant from its gaseous to its liquid state. The cooled air flow from the second space 102 to the first space 101 through the racks 20 to bring the heat away from the racks 20. The compressor 36 increases the pressure of the gaseous refrigerant to circulate the refrigerant in the loop. The valve 35 controls the flow of the refrigerant.
In this embodiment, the first fan 313 is arranged adjacent to at least one of the first intake 311 or the first outlet 312 to accelerate the air flow between the first portion 31 and the first space 101 and the second space 102.
The second fan 323 is arranged adjacent to at least one of the second intake 321 or the second outlet 322, to accelerate the air flow from outside of the container 10 to the second portion 32 through the second intake 321 and to accelerate the air flow from the second portion 32 to the outside of the container 10 through the second outlet 322 to cool the condenser 324.
It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A container data center comprising:

a plurality of racks accomodating a plurality of computer servers and arranged in at least one row; and

a container containing the plurality of racks and divided by the racks into a first space and a second space;

a heat dissipation system arranged in a top portion of the container, the heat dissipation system comprising a first portion defining a first intake communicating with the first space, a first outlet communicating with the second space, and an evaporator, wherein the evaporator cools airflow from the first space flowing through the first intake, and the first outlet exhausts the cooled airflow to the second space.

2. The container data center as described in claim 1, wherein the first portion further comprises a fan arranged adjacent to the first intake or the first outlet.

3. The container data center as described in claim 1, wherein the container further comprises a top panel and a spacing plate, the spacing plate is spaced a preset distance from the top panel, the heat dissipation system further comprises a second portion, the first portion is arranged on a bottom side of the spacing plate and the second portion is arranged on a top side of the spacing plate, the second portion comprises a condenser connected with the evaporator by a first pipe and a second pipe; the condenser, the evaporator, the first pipe, and the second pipe form a loop which is filled with refrigerant, the evaporator allows compressed refrigerant to evaporate from its liquid state to gaseous state to cool hot airflow coming from the first space, the gaseous refrigerant flows from the evaporator to the condenser, the condenser is configured to condense the refrigerant from gaseous state to liquid state.

4. The container data center as described in claim 3, wherein the second portion further defines a second intake communicating with an outside of the container, a second outlet communicating with the outside, and comprises a second fan arranged adjacent to the second intake or the second outlet, to accelerate airflow from outside of the container to the second portion through the second intake, and to accelerate airflow from the second portion to the outside of the container through the second outlet to cool the condenser.

5. The container data center as described in claim 3, wherein the container further comprises a compressor connected between the evaporator and the condenser, the compressor is configured to increase the pressure of the gaseous refrigerant to circulate the refrigerant in the loop.

6. The container data center as described in claim 3, wherein the container further comprises a valve connected between the evaporator and the condenser to control the flow of the refrigerant.