WO2025012338A1 - Climate-control ceiling for a data centre - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of technical ceilings, in particular that of ceilings comprising a stretched fabric and more particularly technical ceilings dedicated to treating the air in spaces with large thermal loads such as data centres. The invention aims to provide a technical ceiling that allows both the extraction of hot air and the supply of treated cooled air, without the need for a technical floor. The present invention also aims to distribute a portion of the cooling power through thermal radiation emitted by the technical ceiling, ensuring better uniformity in the cooling of computer servers and thus requiring less cold energy, which leads to reduced energy consumption.

Description

[DESCRIPTION]

Title CLIMATIC CEILING FOR DATA CENTER

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of technical ceilings, in particular that of ceilings comprising a stretched canvas and more particularly technical ceilings dedicated to the air treatment of spaces with significant thermal loads such as data centers.

A data center, also called a data center or data center, is a physical facility that houses a large number of servers, data storage systems, and networking equipment. It is a centralized environment designed to collect, process, store, and distribute data, as well as host computing applications and services.

Data centers are typically equipped with sophisticated IT infrastructure, including servers, network switches, routers, storage systems, backup and recovery devices, and cooling, power, and security equipment. They are designed to provide high availability, redundancy, and scalability to ensure the smooth operation of hosted applications and services.

Data centers are used by organizations of all sizes, including enterprises, government institutions, cloud service providers, and internet service providers. They play a critical role in securely storing data, running complex computations, hosting websites and applications, delivering online content, and many other applications that require significant computing resources.

A technical ceiling is a structure that can take the form of a false ceiling, a box or an island, and which, in addition to a cladding role, has a technical role related to the purpose of the premises.

The technical ceiling according to the invention has the role, in particular, but not exclusively, of ensuring the diffusion of treated air necessary to cover the cooling needs of data centers. The energy requirement for cooling a data center is particularly significant and represents 49% of the total expenditure of the Data Center, the average consumption of a Data Center for example in France is 5.15 MWh / m2 / year.

As published by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency): sending an email with a 1 MB attachment generates a CO2 equivalent of 19 g. Thus, in the case of a company of 100 people sending an average of 33 emails per day, the carbon equivalent released over the year is 22 round trips by plane between Paris and New York.

On average, a 10,000 m2 data center consumes as much as a city of 50,000 inhabitants (Order of August 20, 2013, Dalkia

It is therefore important that the sector improves its energy efficiency.

All the more so since at present, the Data Center market for example in France is evolving very quickly (from 15 to 25% per year - according to the private research institute Xerfi economic forecasts 2012). And this for simple reasons:

- Affordable land

- Low cost of electricity compared to other countries

- Quality electricity supplied.

France is still a very centralized country and the Paris Region brings together a good number of Data Centers. The Saint-Denis plain hosts the first concentration of Data Centers in Europe. And this is only the beginning since 88% of companies have not yet outsourced all or part of their telecoms."

The technical ceiling according to the invention aims to increase the efficiency of cooling diffusion and therefore to reduce energy consumption in this regard.

STATE OF THE ART

There are many issues related to data center cooling, such as:

1. Heat generated by equipment: Servers, storage systems, and other IT equipment in a data center generate a significant amount of heat. This heat must be dissipated efficiently to prevent overheating, as it can damage electronic components and lead to failures.

2. High energy consumption: Cooling data centers requires a considerable amount of energy. Air conditioning systems, fans and cooling equipment consume a large amount of electricity, leading to high costs and environmental concerns related to energy consumption.

3. Airflow Management: Data centers require adequate airflow to maintain optimal temperatures. This can be challenging because it requires compensating for heat generated by equipment by blowing very high volumes of cold air from cooling systems. Poor airflow management can lead to areas of overheating or overcooling, compromising equipment performance and reliability.

4. Uneven heat distribution: Heat generated in data centers may not be evenly distributed, which can lead to uneven cooling issues. Some equipment may be exposed to higher temperatures than others, which can reduce its lifespan and increase the risk of failure.

5. Scalability and cooling capacity: Data centers must be able to accommodate future expansion and increase their cooling capacity as new equipment is added. Upgrading cooling systems to accommodate growth can be complex and costly.

6. Environmental impact: Data centers consume a significant amount of energy and contribute to the carbon footprint. Finding more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly cooling solutions is therefore a major challenge.

Data center managers are constantly working to address these issues by using innovative cooling techniques, such as liquid cooling, infrastructure design, airflow optimization, and the use of more efficient cooling technologies to improve data center energy efficiency and reliability.

One of the most widely used prior art techniques is hot and cold aisle containment cooling. Hot and cold aisles are physical arrangements in data centers to maximize cooling efficiency. Cold aisles supply cold air directly to equipment, while hot aisles recover hot air exhausted from equipment. This allows for better control of airflow and reduces mixing between hot and cold air streams. It is known for example from US patent 8,477,499 B2 (HILL RICHARD F et al.): which describes a hot and cold aisle containment cooling system that uses flexible containment panels to direct cold air to the cold aisles and hot air to the hot aisles. This system makes it possible to separate the hot and cold aisles, to direct fresh air from a fresh air supply source to the cold aisles, to channel hot air emanating from the equipment to the hot aisles, and to reject hot air from the hot aisles to a hot air return source.

US Patent 8,605,713 B2 (KAMPMANN DIRK et al.) describes a cooling system for a data center that uses containment curtains to separate hot and cold aisles and direct airflow more efficiently. In summary, this claim describes a cooling system for a data center that includes equipment racks arranged in hot and cold aisles. The system also includes flexible containment panels that separate the hot and cold aisles, a fresh air supply source that provides fresh air at a temperature below a predefined threshold, and an air duct arrangement that routes fresh air to the cold aisles and hot air exhausted from the equipment racks to the hot aisles. The flexible containment panels direct airflow between the hot and cold aisles.

Also known from US Patent 8,547,473 B2 (RUNGENHAGEN MATTHIAS et al.) is a specific arrangement of hot and cold aisles in a data center to optimize airflow and improve cooling efficiency. In summary, this document describes an efficient cooling arrangement for a data center that includes equipment racks arranged in hot and cold aisles. The system also includes containment curtains that spatially separate the hot and cold aisles. In addition, the arrangement includes at least one heat exchanger arranged in the hot aisles, configured to extract heat from the hot air. An air distribution system is also present, providing cool air into the cold aisles. The air circulation arrangement directs cooled air from the cold aisles to the heat exchanger in the hot aisles to cool the hot air, thereby establishing a closed-loop air circulation.

Among the main processing systems for data centers, the state of the art also includes processes using the combination of a technical ceiling with a technical floor.

An air conditioning machine (13) with a hot air intake and a cooled air blow is connected (at its blowing) to the technical floor (14) and (at its suction) to the technical ceiling (15). The computer servers (6) are arranged in a line, forming rows and thus delimiting corridors (16) between each row.

Blowing grilles (17) for cooled air are installed on the upper face of the technical floor and in every other corridor (16), said corridor then being called a cold corridor (16a).

Hot air suction grilles (18) are installed on the underside of the technical ceiling and in every other corridor (16), said corridor then being called a hot corridor (16b).

Each computer server (6) is equipped with a fan for sucking in ambient air on its vertical face (then called the suction face (24)) and for discharging the air on its opposite vertical face (then called the blowing face (23)).

The rows of computer servers are arranged so that their suction face (24) is located at a cold corridor (16a) and their blowing face (23) at a hot corridor (16b).

Thus configured, the cold air produced by the air conditioning machine (13) is blown into the volume of the technical floor then injected into each cold corridor (16a) by means of the blowing grilles (17).

The cold air is then drawn in by the computer servers (6) and heated by them before being released into the hot corridor (16b).

The heated air is then sucked in through the grilles (18) installed at the level of the technical ceiling and then passes through the volume of the technical ceiling to reach the air conditioning unit.

This system is complex to install and operates solely by thermal convection, i.e. 100% through the heat exchange carried out between the cooled treated air and the hot computer servers.

Technical stretch ceilings are also known to be associated with ventilation or ambient treatment equipment (heating, air conditioning, dehumidification) to allow air circulation linked to the air conditioning and/or ventilation of the room concerned.

As an example, the application WO 2018/037184 A1 (SCHERRER JEAN MARC [FR]; LANG DAMIEN [FR]) can be cited. The system described in this application uses hot or cold pulsed air in the plenum between the upper slab of the room and a stretched canvas mounted on peripheral profiles and which include a passage slot arranged to allow the diffusion of air from the plenum to the interior of the room. Heating and cooling are done by recycling the air from the room via an air conditioning unit. The recycled air as well as the new hygienic ventilation air are therefore blown into the plenum. The technical ceiling diffuses the heating and cooling, partly via thermal radiation from the canvas which cools or heats up on contact with the air pulsed into the plenum, but also by convection via the air flow, warmer or colder than the ambient air, blown around the edge of the room. It therefore operates on a mix of radiation and convection with a proportion of radiation generally less than 50%.

The present invention aims to propose a technical ceiling allowing both the suction of hot air and the blowing of cooled treated air, thus requiring no technical floor. The present invention also aims to diffuse part of the cooling power by means of thermal radiation emitted by the technical ceiling allowing better homogeneity of cooling of the computer servers and therefore requiring a smaller quantity of cold energy generating a saving in consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention proposes to treat the diffusion of all the flows (blowing of treated air and return of ambient air heated by the equipment), to this end the invention comprises at least one diffusion profile which can be attached to partition downspouts.

In particular, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face to partition downcomers installed on a ceiling slab of a data center premises to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas, making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors formed by computer servers arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server being equipped with a fan making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face, the space formed between each line or row of computer servers is used as an air circulation corridor, said computer servers are arranged so that their blowing faces are face to face delimiting a hot corridor and that their suction faces are also face to face face to face respectively delimiting a cold corridor, the corridor overlooking the blowing faces of the rows of computer servers is called a "hot corridor" while the corridor overlooking the suction faces of the rows of computer servers is called a "cold corridor", the cold corridors supplying cold air dedicated to cooling the computer servers, while the hot corridors recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers, said technical ceiling comprises: at least one diffusion profile which can be hung by its horizontal upper face to partition downspouts installed on the ceiling slab in alignment with each blowing and suction face of the computer servers and the height of the entire partition downspout and diffusion profile extending to the maximum so as to allow a user to circulate in said air circulation corridors, said diffusion profile comprising a face provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face, each face being provided with a groove for attaching a stretched canvas, said diffusion profile thus provided with said stretched canvas creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum with overpressure of cold air, a neutral plenum and a hot plenum with depression, an air conditioning machine sucking in ambient air is connected to each hot plenum with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum with overpressure, thus the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine is injected into each cold plenum then blown by means of the diffusion profile towards each cold corridor, the ambient air, heated by the computer servers is sucked in by the diffusion profile at the level of each hot corridor so as to join the hot plenum in depression, the neutral plenum installed at the level of the rows of computer servers is filled with air thus constituting a thermal insulator between each cold plenum and each hot plenum, characterized in that all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is treated directly by said technical ceiling.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an alternative, namely a technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face to partition drops installed on a ceiling slab of a data center premises to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas, making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors formed by computer servers arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server being provided or not with a fan making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face, the space formed between each line or row of computer servers is used as a circulation corridor, said computer servers are arranged so that their blowing faces are face to face delimiting a hot corridor and that their suction faces are also face to face face to face respectively delimiting a cold corridor, the corridor overlooking the blowing faces of the rows of computer servers is called a "hot corridor" while the corridor overlooking the suction faces of the rows of computer servers is called a "cold corridor", the cold corridors supplying cold air directly to the computer servers, while the corridors hot recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers, said technical ceiling comprises: at least one diffusion profile that can be hung by its horizontal upper face to partition downspouts installed on the ceiling slab in alignment with each blowing and suction face of the computer servers and whose height of the set of partition downspouts and diffusion profile extends to the maximum so as to allow the circulation of a user in said air circulation corridors, said diffusion profile comprising a face provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face, each face being provided with a groove for attaching a stretched canvas, said diffusion profile thus provided with said stretched canvas creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum with overpressure of cold air and a hot plenum with depression, an air conditioning machine sucking in the air is connected to each hot plenum with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum with overpressure, the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine is injected into each cold plenum and then blown by means of the diffusion profile towards each cold corridor, the ambient air, heated by the computer servers is sucked in by the diffusion profile at the level of each hot corridor so as to join the hot plenum in depression, characterized in that the entire circulation of air in the data center comprising the blowing of hot air and the suction of cold air is treated directly by said technical ceiling and in that a sealed separation element is installed vertically in alignment with the upper face of the computer servers so as to join each non-perforated sealed face of the diffusion profile thus forming a neutral plenum formed at the level of the rows of computer servers, said neutral plenum being filled with air thus representing a thermal insulator between each cold plenum and each hot plenum and the volume of which is increased so as to extend from the slab of the data center to be treated to the upper face of the computer servers.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air circulation and cooling system by thermal convection and thermal radiation for a data center operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, comprising the technical ceiling according to the invention connected to at least one air conditioning machine, where all of the air circulation in the data center comprising the blowing of hot air and the suction of cold air is treated directly by said technical ceiling.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description referring to the following illustrative figures, and to the claims associated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[Fig 1] represents for example a diffusion profile according to a first implementation of the invention, [Fig 2] for example represents a section of a data center room equipped with a technical ceiling according to the invention, [Fig 3] for example represents a section of a data center room equipped with a technical ceiling provided with watertight separation partitions according to the invention, [Fig 4] for example represents a perspective of a data center room equipped with a conventional air treatment system.

For clarity, identical or similar elements of the different embodiments are identified by identical reference signs throughout the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention proposes to treat all the flows (blowing of treated air and return of ambient air); for this purpose the invention comprises at least one diffusion profile (1) which can be attached to partition downspouts (19).

The diffusion profile (1) comprises a face (4) provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a sealed face (21).

Each side has a hanging groove (2) for a stretched canvas (20).

Advantageously, the diffusion profile (1) can include an air deflector (5) adopting a curvature to facilitate the passage of air.

The diffusion profile (1) thus installed makes it possible to create different plenum zones: a plenum (7) with overpressure of cold air, a neutral plenum (8) and a plenum (9) with depression.

The suction of the air conditioning machine (13) is connected to each plenum (9) in depression and its blowing of treated air to each cold plenum (7) in overpressure. The cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine (13) is injected into each cold plenum (7) then blown by means of the diffusion profile (1) towards each cold corridor (16a). The ambient air, heated by the computer servers (6) is sucked in by the diffusion profile (1) at the level of each hot corridor (16b) so as to reach the plenum in depression (9).

The neutral plenum (8) installed at the level of the rows of computer servers (6) is filled with air, thus constituting a thermal insulator between each cold plenum (7) and each hot plenum (9).

Advantageously, the cold plenums (7) are equipped with thermal insulation (10) installed on the underside of the ceiling slab (25).

In addition to the convective heat treatment by pulsed air, the stretched fabric (20) visible from each cold corridor (16) emits thermal radiation towards the front face of the server racks (6) and allows energy optimization as well as an improvement in the temperature homogeneity in these areas.

The large section of the hot (9) and cold (7) plenum zones generates a very low air pressure loss (resistance to the passage of air) and therefore makes it possible to reduce the consumption of the fans of the air conditioning machines (13).

Furthermore, the stretched canvases (20) respectively installed at the hot plenums (9) and cold plenums (7) can be perforated so that the diffusion of cold treated air towards the cold corridor (23) and the suction of hot air from the hot corridor (24) takes place, in addition to the passage through the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1) also through the perforations of the stretched canvases (20). These said canvas perforations can adopt any possible geometric shape, for example circles or squares and the perforated part of the canvas (20) can represent a significant proportion of the surface of said stretched canvas (20). This thus makes it possible to significantly increase the passage sections of the air flows and therefore to increase the maximum admissible air flow rate of these air flows.

The removal of the technical floor (14) makes it possible to operate with rooms of reduced height.

Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein may To be used in practice, suitable methods and materials are described below. However, the materials, methods and embodiments described are illustrative only and are not intended to be limiting.

In the event of a conflict, this description, including definitions, shall prevail.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as that generally understood by those skilled in the art to which the subject matter pertains. As used herein, the following definitions are provided to facilitate the understanding of the present invention.

The term "include or comprise" is generally used in the sense of including, that is, allowing for the presence of one or more features or components.

The presence of broad words and expressions such as "one or more", "at least", "but not limited to" or other similar expressions shall not be construed to mean that the narrowest interpretation is intended or required in cases where such broad expressions may be absent.

“Reversible” means that the system can operate in heating or cooling mode.

The “thermal conductivity” of a material refers to its ability to let heat pass through or, on the contrary, to insulate it. The higher the conductivity, the more the material lets heat pass through. Conversely, the lower the conductivity, the more insulating the material is.

Thermal conductivity, noted λ (lambda) expressed in W/m.K, is what will allow us to measure the quantity of energy, heat which propagates by conduction.

Thermal conductivity or λ is a constant, intrinsic characteristic specific to each material.

The higher the A, the more heat-conducting the material is, and the lower it is, the more insulating it is. Insulating materials typically have A values between 0.025 and 0.050 W/m.K.

The thermal transmission coefficient of a material, denoted U, is the quantity of heat passing through this material in steady state, per unit of time, per unit of surface area and per unit of temperature difference between the environments located on either side of the wall.

The thermal transmittance is the inverse of the total thermal resistance (RT) of the material. U is expressed in W/m ² K.

“Emissivity” refers to the ability of a material or surface to absorb and then re-emit heat through thermal radiation.

Emissivity is expressed by a unitless coefficient, between 0 and 1 and noted "e". It is used to indicate the quantity of energy emitted and absorbed by the material and varies essentially according to the given wavelength.

Emissivity is influenced by three elements:

• The nature of the material concerned

• The surface condition of the material (smooth, rough, colored, etc.)

• The temperature of the material

High-emissivity objects are mainly non-metallic and non-opaque objects, such as glass (0.92), plastic (0.84 to 0.94) or plexiglass (0.86) and quartz or vitreous china (0.92). Tile (0.97), polypropylene, plaster (0.86), rubber (0.95), brick (0.94) and paint are also among the most emissive materials.

Conversely, reflective materials such as aluminum (less than 0.10 most of the time), steel (from 0.16 to 0.70), silver (0.03), copper (between 0.006 and 0.88), zinc (from 0.04 to 0.20) or even lead (0.28) are among the least emissive objects.

An object of the invention is to provide a technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition drops (19) installed on a ceiling slab (25) of a data center premises to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas, making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors (16) formed by computer servers (6) arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server (6) being equipped with a fan (22) making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face (23) and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face (24), the space formed between each line or row of computer servers (6) is used as an air circulation corridor (16), said computer servers (6) are arranged so that their blowing faces (24) are opposite each other, delimiting a hot corridor (16b) and their suction faces (23) are also opposite each other, delimiting respectively a cold corridor (16a), the cold corridors (16a) providing cold air directly to the computer servers (6), while the hot corridors (16b) recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers (6), said technical ceiling comprises: at least one diffusion profile (1) which can be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition downspouts (19) installed on the ceiling slab (25) in alignment with each blowing (24) and suction (23) face of the computer servers (6) and the height of the assembly of partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the maximum so as to allow the circulation of a user in said air circulation corridors (16), said diffusion profile (1) comprising a face (4) provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face (21), each face being provided with a hanging groove (2) of a stretched canvas (20), said diffusion profile (1) thus provided with said stretched canvas (20) creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum (7) with overpressure of cold air, a neutral plenum (8) and a hot plenum (9) with depression, an air conditioning machine (13) sucking in ambient air is connected to each hot plenum (9) with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum (7) with overpressure, thus the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine (13) is injected into each cold plenum (7) then blown by means of the diffusion profile (1) towards each cold corridor (16a), the ambient air, heated by the computer servers (6) is sucked in by the diffusion profile (1) at the level of each hot corridor (16b) so as to join the hot plenum with depression (9), the neutral plenum (8) installed at the level of the rows of computer servers (6) is filled with air thus constituting a thermal insulator between each cold plenum (7) and each hot plenum (9), characterized in that all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is handled directly by said technical ceiling.

According to a preferred embodiment, the stretched canvases (20) respectively installed at the hot plenums (9) and the cold plenums (7) comprise perforations so that the diffusion of cold treated air towards the cold corridor (23) and the suction of hot air from the hot corridor (24) respectively take place through said perforations of the stretched canvases (20), in addition to the passage of air provided through the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1). These perforations can adopt any geometric shape, for example circles or squares, and the perforated part of the stretched canvas (20) can represent a significant proportion of the surface area of said stretched canvas (20). This perforation or canvas opening can represent a few percent up to more than 50% of the surface area of said stretched canvas (20), such as for example 0.5m ² for 1 m ² of canvas. Preferably, the cold plenums (7) are fitted with thermal insulation (10) installed on the underside of the ceiling slab (25).

Advantageously, the stretched canvas (20) has a thermal transmission coefficient of at least 500 W/m ² .K and a thermal emissivity coefficient of at least 0.9.

According to one embodiment, each cold plenum (7) is placed under overpressure with cooled treated air via a blowing air duct (26) connected to said air conditioning machine (13).

According to another embodiment, each hot plenum (9) is placed under vacuum with respect to the room to be treated by means of an air suction duct (27) connected to said air conditioning machine (13).

Preferably, the diffusion profile (1) comprises an air deflector (5) adopting a curvature to facilitate the passage of air.

Another alternative object of the invention is to provide a technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition drops (19) installed on a ceiling slab (25) of a data center room to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas, making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors (16) formed by computer servers (6) arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server (6) being provided or not with a fan (22) making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face (23) and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face (24), the space formed between each line or row of computer servers (6) is used as a circulation corridor (16), said servers computer servers (6) are arranged so that their blowing faces (24) are opposite each other, delimiting a hot corridor (16b) and their suction faces (23) are also opposite each other, delimiting respectively a cold corridor (16a), the cold corridors (16a) supplying cold air directly to the computer servers (6), while the hot corridors (16b) recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers (6), said technical ceiling comprises: at least one diffusion profile (1) which can be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition downspouts (19) installed on the ceiling slab (25) in alignment with each blowing face (24) and suction face (23) of the servers computer (6) and the height of the set of partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the maximum so as to allow the circulation of a user in said air circulation corridors (16), said diffusion profile (1) comprising a face (4) provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face (21), each face being provided with a hanging groove (2) for a stretched canvas (20), said diffusion profile (1) thus provided with said stretched canvas (20) creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum (7) with overpressure of cold air and a hot plenum (9) with depression, an air conditioning machine (13) sucking in the air is connected to each hot plenum (9) with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum (7) with overpressure, the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine (13) is injected in each cold plenum (7) then blown by means of the diffusion profile (1) towards each cold corridor (16a), the ambient air, heated by the computer servers (6) is sucked in by the diffusion profile (1) at the level of each hot corridor (16a) so as to join the hot plenum in depression (9), characterized in that the entire circulation of air in the data center comprising the blowing of hot air and the suction of cold air is treated directly by said technical ceiling and in that a sealed separation element (11) is installed vertically in alignment with the upper face of the computer servers (6) so as to join each non-perforated sealed face (21) of the diffusion profile (1) thus forming a neutral plenum (8) formed at the level of the rows of computer servers (6), said neutral plenum (8) being filled with air thus representing a thermal insulator between each cold plenum (7) and each hot plenum (9) and the volume of which is increased so as to extend from the slab (25) of the data center to be processed to the upper face of the computer servers (6).

According to a preferred embodiment, the stretched canvases (20) respectively installed at the hot plenums (9) and the cold plenums (7) comprise perforations so that the diffusion of cold treated air towards the cold corridor (23) and the suction of hot air from the hot corridor (24) respectively take place through said perforations of the stretched canvases (20), in addition to the passage of air provided through the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1). These perforations can adopt any geometric shape, for example circles or squares, and the perforated part of the stretched canvas (20) can represent a significant proportion of the surface area of said stretched canvas (20). This perforation or canvas opening can represent a few percent up to more than 50% of the surface area of said stretched canvas (20), such as for example 0.5m ² for 1 m ² of canvas.

Advantageously, the interior volume of the neutral plenum (8) is configured for insulation thermal as well as for airtightness to the passage of air in each cold corridor (16a) and in each hot corridor (16b) respectively.

According to a particular embodiment, the sealed separation element (11) is a stretched separation fabric installed at each suction (23) and blowing (24) face of the rows of computer servers (6), each separation fabric (11) being fixed from a hanging profile (12) installed on each upper end of said computer servers (6) and extending vertically to the hanging groove (2) of the diffusion profile (1).

According to another particular embodiment, the sealed separation element (11) is constituted by the assembly of partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the upper ends of said computer servers (6).

In this alternative object, the computer servers (6) are not equipped with or are devoid of fans (22).

Another object of the invention is to provide an air circulation and cooling system by thermal convection and thermal radiation for a data center operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, comprising the technical ceiling according to the invention or the alternative ceiling according to the invention connected to at least one air conditioning machine (13), where all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is handled directly by said technical ceiling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[Fig 1] shows a perspective view of the diffusion profile (1) according to the invention.

The diffusion profile (1) has 2 vertical wings, one of which is a wing (4) equipped with perforations allowing the passage of air.

Each of the 2 wings is equipped at the bottom with a hanging groove (2) allowing the installation of a stretched ceiling (20).

The horizontal upper face (3) allows the diffusion profile (1) to be fixed to a partition wall (19), made for example from plaster on a metal frame.

Advantageously, the diffusion profile can comprise an air deflector (5) adopting a curvature to facilitate the passage of air.

[Fig 2] represents a cross-sectional view of a room to be treated, for example a data center according to a first embodiment.

By room to be treated we mean a room intended to be cooled according to the system implemented.

The computer servers (6) are arranged in lines on the floor of the room to be processed.

Each computer server (6) is equipped with a fan (22) for sucking in ambient air on its vertical face (then called the suction face (23)) and for discharging the air on its opposite vertical face (then called the blowing face (24)).

The space formed between each line or row of computer servers (6) is used as a circulation corridor (16).

The computer servers (6) are arranged so that their blowing face (24) are face to face at the same corridor (16) and therefore their suction face (23) is also face to face at the same corridor (16).

The corridor (16) leading to the blowing faces of the rows of computer servers (6) is called the “hot corridor” (16b).

The corridor (16) leading to the suction faces of the rows of computer servers (6) is called the “cold corridor” (16a).

Above each row of computer servers (6), two vertical partition drops (19) are fixed to the slab of the room to be treated in alignment with the blowing face and the suction face of the computer servers (6).

A diffusion profile (1) is installed on each partition wall (19) so that the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1) is oriented towards the corridors (16).

A stretched canvas (20), having a high thermal transmission and a high thermal emissivity coefficient, is installed from one diffusion profile (1) to the other, i.e. above each corridor (16) and above each row of computer servers (6). The stretched canvas (20) then describes false ceiling zones separated from each other by the interior space (between the perforated wing (4) and the non-perforated wing (21)) of the diffusion profiles (1).

Hollow volumes called “plenums” are formed by the space between two partition walls (19), the slab of the room to be treated and each portion of stretched canvas (20).

The plenums located above the cold corridors are called “cold plenums” (7).

The plenums located above the hot corridors are called “hot plenums” (9).

The plenums located above the rows of computer servers (6) are called “neutral plenums” (8).

Arranged in this way, the false ceiling describes a regular alternation of cold plenum (7), neutral plenum (8), hot plenum (9).

The interior space of the room to be treated describes an alternation of cold corridor (16a), row of computer servers (6), hot corridor (16b).

Advantageously, a thermal insulator (10) is fixed to the slab within each cold plenum. Each cold plenum (7) is placed under overpressure with cooled treated air, to do this the blowing of the air conditioning machine (13) is connected via a blowing air duct (26) to each cold plenum (7).

Each hot plenum (9) is placed under negative pressure relative to the room to be treated; to do this, the air conditioning machine suction (13) is connected via a suction air duct (27) to each hot plenum (9).

Advantageously, an air conditioning machine (13) is installed for each alternation of cold corridor (16a), row of computer servers (6), hot corridor (16b). In this case, a single blowing air duct and a single suction air duct are necessary to connect the air conditioning machine (13) to each alternation. We then observe as many air conditioning machines (6) as rows of computer servers (6).

The ambient air heated by the computer servers (6) released at each hot corridor (16b) is sucked through the two perforated faces (4) of the two diffusion profiles (1) installed above each hot corridor (16b). In the case of the stretched canvas (20) located above the hot corridor (16b), the air suction can also be carried out through the perforations of said stretched canvas (20).

This hot air joins the suction of the air conditioning unit (13) by passing through the volume of the hot plenum (9) under vacuum. Once cooled by the air conditioning machine (13), the treated air is injected into the interior volume of the cold plenum (7) thus pressurized, it escapes from the cold plenum (7) through the two perforated faces (4) of the two diffusion profiles (1) installed above each cold corridor (16a). Thus configured, the system according to the invention makes it possible to blow the cooled treated air vertically, at the level of each suction face (23) of the computer servers (6).

Similarly, for the stretched canvas (20) located above the cold corridor (16a), the air injection can also be carried out through the perforations of said stretched canvas (20).

In addition to this convective heat treatment, the stretched canvas (20) acting as a false ceiling at the level of each cold plenum (7) is cooled by the circulation of treated air operating throughout the volume of each cold plenum (7). Equipped with a high thermal emissivity coefficient, the stretched canvas (20) then emits thermal radiation over its entire surface, in the direction of the cold corridors (16). This thermal radiation is an electromagnetic wave which travels in a straight line and uniformly cools all the solids visible from the surface of the stretched canvas (20), namely the suction face (23) of the computer servers (6).

The cold plenums (7) inside which the cooled treated air circulates, are thermally insulated by means of the thermal insulation (10) installed on the underside of the slab and by means of the 2 neutral plenums (8) located on either side of each cold plenum (8), in fact the neutral plenums (8) are filled with air constituting a highly effective natural insulator.

[Fig 3] shows a detailed view in longitudinal section of a room to be treated according to a second embodiment.

This embodiment allows the establishment of a seal between each cold corridor (16a) and each hot corridor (16b).

To do this, hanging profiles (12) are fixed to the upper horizontal face of each row of computer servers (6). The stretched fabric (20) installed in the configuration described in [Fig 2] at the level of each neutral plenum (8), i.e. above each row of computer servers (6) is removed. A stretched separation fabric (11) is installed at the right of each face (suction and blowing) of the rows of computer servers (6), each separation fabric (11) is fixed from the hanging profile (12) and extends vertically to the hanging groove (2) of the diffusion profile (1).

Thus implemented the volume of the neutral plenum (8) is increased so as to extend from the slab (25) of the room to be treated up to the upper face of each row of computer servers (6).

The interior volume of the neutral plenum (8) creates, in addition to thermal insulation, a separation creating an airtight seal (i.e. a seal against the passage of air) in each cold corridor (16a) and each hot corridor (16b).

This sealing makes it possible to optimize thermal efficiency by preventing any “short-cycle” phenomenon between the blown air flows and the air flows drawn in by the technical ceiling.

The sealing also makes it possible to eliminate the fans (22), conventionally installed on each computer server (6), in fact it makes it possible to put the volume of each cold corridor (16a) in overpressure of cooled treated air and the volume of each hot corridor (16b) in depression so that the cooled treated air naturally passes through each row of computer server (6) from its suction face (23) to its blowing face (24).

[Fig 4] shows a cross-section of a room to be treated, equipped with a traditional diffusion system.

An air conditioning machine (13) with a hot air intake and a cooled air blow is connected (at its blowing) to the technical floor (14) and (at its suction) to the technical ceiling (15).

The computer servers (6) are arranged in a line, forming rows and thus delimiting corridors (16) between each row.

Blowing grilles (17) for cooled air are installed on the upper face of the technical floor of each cold corridor (16a).

Hot air intake grilles (18) are installed on the lower face of the technical ceiling of each hot corridor (16b).

Each computer server (6) is equipped with a fan (22) for sucking in ambient air on its vertical face (then called the suction face (23)) and for discharging the air on its opposite vertical face (then called the blowing face (24)).

The rows of computer servers (6) are arranged so that their suction faces (23) are located at a cold corridor (16a) and their blowing faces (24) at a hot corridor (16b). Thus configured, the cold air produced by the air conditioning machine (13) is blown into the volume of the technical floor then injected into each cold corridor (16a) by means of the blowing grilles (17).

The cold air is then drawn in by the computer servers (6) and heated by them before being released into the hot corridor (16b).

The heated air is then sucked in through the grilles (18) installed at the level of the technical ceiling and then passes through the volume of the technical ceiling to reach the air conditioning unit (13).

This system is complex to install and operates solely by thermal convection, i.e. 100% thanks to the heat exchange carried out between the cooled treated air and the hot computer servers (6).

Reference numbers used in the figures:

1 diffusion profile

2 hanging grooves

3 face of fixing of the diffusion profile

4 perforated face of the diffusion profile

5 air deflector

6 computer server

7 cold plenum in overpressure

8 neutral plenum

9 hot plenum in depression

10 thermal insulation

11 waterproof separation element or canvas

12 separation canvas hanging profile

13 air conditioning machine

14 traditional technical floor

15 traditional technical ceiling

16 air circulation corridor; 16a cold corridor; 16b hot corridor

17 blowing grid

18 suction grid

19 partition descent

20 stretched canvas forming false ceiling

21 non-perforated face of the diffusion profile 22 computer server fan

23 computer server suction face

24 face blowing computer server

25 ceiling slab of the room served (or room to be treated) 26 blowing air duct

27 suction air duct

Claims

[CLAIMS] 1 . Technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition drops (19) installed on a ceiling slab (25) of a data center premises to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas (20), making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors (16) formed by computer servers (6) arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server (6) being equipped with a fan (22) making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face (23) and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face (24), the space formed between each line or row of computer servers (6) is used as an air circulation corridor (16), said computer servers (6) are arranged in such that their blowing faces (24) are opposite each other, delimiting a hot corridor (16b) and their suction faces (23) are also opposite each other, delimiting respectively a cold corridor (16a), the cold corridors (16a) supplying cold air directly to the computer servers (6), while the hot corridors (16b) recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers (6), said technical ceiling comprises at least one diffusion profile (1) which can be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition downspouts (19) installed on the ceiling slab (25) in alignment with each blowing face (24) and suction face (23) of the computer servers (6) and the height of the assembly comprising partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the maximum so as to allow a user to circulate in said air circulation corridors (16), said diffusion profile (1) comprising a face (4) provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face (21), each face being provided with a hanging groove (2) for a stretched fabric (20), said diffusion profile (1) thus provided with said stretched fabric (20) creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum (7) with overpressure of cold air, a neutral plenum (8) and a hot plenum (9) with depression, an air conditioning machine (13) sucking in ambient air is connected to each hot plenum (9) with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum (7) with overpressure, thus the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine (13) is injected into each cold plenum (7) then blown by means of the diffusion profile (1) towards each cold corridor (16a), the ambient air, heated by the computer servers (6) is sucked in by the diffusion profile (1) at the level of each corridor hot (16a) so as to join the hot plenum in depression (9), the neutral plenum (8) installed at the level of the rows of computer servers (6) is filled with air thus constituting a thermal insulator between each cold plenum (7) and each hot plenum (9), characterized in that all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is handled directly by said technical ceiling. 2. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to claim 1, characterized in that the stretched canvases (20) respectively installed at the level of the hot plenums (9) and cold plenums (7) comprise perforations so that the diffusion of cold treated air towards the cold corridor (23) and the suction of hot air from the hot corridor (24) respectively take place through these said perforations of the stretched canvases (20), in addition to the passage of air provided through the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1). 3. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cold plenums (7) are provided with thermal insulation (10) installed on the underside of the ceiling slab (25). 4. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the stretched canvas (20) has a thermal transmission coefficient of at least 500 W/m ² .K and a thermal emissivity coefficient of at least 0.9. 5. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each cold plenum (7) is placed under overpressure with cooled treated air via a blowing air duct (26) connected to said air conditioning machine (13). 6. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that each hot plenum (9) is placed under vacuum with respect to the room to be treated by means of an air suction duct (27) connected to said air conditioning machine (13). 7. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the diffusion profile (1) comprises an air deflector (5) adopting a curvature to facilitate the passage of air. 8. Technical ceiling intended to be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition drops (19) installed on a ceiling slab (25) of a data center room to be processed, said technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas (20), making it possible to ensure cooling by thermal convection and by thermal radiation as well as air circulation in data centers operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, said aisles being air circulation corridors (16) formed by computer servers (6) arranged in lines placed on the floor of the data center to be processed, each computer server (6) being equipped or not with a fan (22) making it possible to suck in ambient air on its vertical suction face (23) and to reject the heated air on its opposite vertical blowing face (24), the space formed between each line or row of computer servers (6) is used as a circulation corridor (16), said computer servers (6) are arranged so that their blowing faces (24) are opposite each other, delimiting a hot corridor (16b) and their suction faces (23) are also opposite each other, delimiting respectively a cold corridor (16a), the cold corridors (16a) supplying cold air directly to the computer servers (6), while the hot corridors (16b) recover the hot air discharged by said computer servers (6), said technical ceiling comprises at least one diffusion profile (1) which can be hung by its horizontal upper face (3) to partition downspouts (19) installed on the ceiling slab (25) in alignment with each blowing face (24) and suction face (23) of the computer servers (6) and the height of the assembly of partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the maximum so as to allow a user to circulate in said air circulation corridors (16), said profile diffusion profile (1) comprising a face (4) provided with perforations allowing the passage of air and a non-perforated sealed face (21), each face being provided with a hanging groove (2) for a stretched fabric (20), said diffusion profile (1) thus provided with said stretched fabric (20) creating different plenum zones, namely: a cold plenum (7) with overpressure of cold air and a hot plenum (9) with depression, an air conditioning machine (13) sucking in the air is connected to each hot plenum (9) with depression and its blowing of treated air is connected to each cold plenum (7) with overpressure, the cold air, treated by the air conditioning machine (13) is injected into each cold plenum (7) then blown by means of the diffusion profile (1) towards each cold corridor (16a), the ambient air, heated by the computer servers (6) is sucked in by the diffusion profile (1) at the level of each hot corridor (16a) so as to join the hot plenum in depression (9), characterized in that all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is handled directly by said technical ceiling and in that a sealed separation element (11) is installed vertically in alignment with the upper face of the computer servers (6) so as to join each non-perforated sealed face (21) of the diffusion profile (1) thus forming a neutral plenum (8) formed at the level of the rows of computer servers (6), said neutral plenum (8) being filled with air thus representing a thermal insulator between each cold plenum (7) and each hot plenum (9) and the volume of which is increased so as to extend from the slab (25) of the data center to be handled to the upper face of the computer servers (6). 9. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to claim 8, characterized in that the stretched canvases (20) respectively installed at the level of the hot plenums (9) and cold plenums (7) comprise perforations so that the diffusion of cold treated air towards the cold corridor (23) and the suction of hot air from the hot corridor (24) respectively take place through these said perforations of the stretched canvases (20), in addition to the passage of air provided through the perforated face (4) of the diffusion profile (1). 10. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the interior volume of the neutral plenum (8) is configured for thermal insulation as well as for airtightness to the passage of air in each cold corridor (16a) and in each hot corridor (16b) respectively. 11. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that the sealed separation element (11) is a stretched separation canvas installed at the level of each suction (23) and blowing (24) face of the rows of computer servers (6), each separation canvas (11) being fixed from a hanging profile (12) installed on each upper end of said computer servers (6) and extending vertically to the hanging groove (2) of the diffusion profile (1). 12. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to claims 8 to 10, characterized in that the sealed separation element (11) is constituted by the assembly of partition downspouts (19) and diffusion profile (1) extending to the upper ends of said computer servers (6). 13. Technical ceiling comprising a stretched canvas according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the computer servers (6) are devoid of fans (22). 14. Air circulation and cooling system by thermal convection and thermal radiation for data center operating by confinement of hot and cold aisles, comprising the technical ceiling according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or the technical ceiling according to any one of claims 8 to 13 connected to at least one air conditioning machine (13), characterized in that all of the air circulation in the data center including the blowing of cold air and the suction of hot air is treated directly by said technical ceiling.