FUEL VAPORIZATION USING DATA CENTER WASTE HEAT |
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申请号 | US14547284 | 申请日 | 2014-11-19 | 公开(公告)号 | US20160141937A1 | 公开(公告)日 | 2016-05-19 |
申请人 | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION; | 发明人 | Levi A. CAMPBELL; Milnes P. DAVID; Dustin W. DEMETRIOU; Roger R. SCHMIDT; Robert E. SIMONS; | ||||
摘要 | Systems and methods are provided for data center cooling by vaporizing fuel using data center waste heat. The systems include, for instance, an electricity-generating assembly, a liquid fuel storage, and a heat transfer system. The electricity-generating assembly generates electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to the data center. The liquid fuel storage is coupled to supply the fuel vapor, and the heat transfer system is associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage. In an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly. The system may be implemented with the liquid fuel storage and heat transfer system being the primary fuel vapor source, or a back-up fuel vapor source. | ||||||
权利要求 | |||||||
说明书全文 | For high-density data computing, telecommunications and storage needs, computer system equipment is typically installed in open or closed equipment racks, or electronics racks, located in data centers, also known as “server farms”, where the facility environment can be controlled to maintain a proper operating temperature, relative humidity range, and particulate cleanliness. Data centers often consume a large amount of electricity and generate significant waste heat. The generated waste heat must be dissipated from the data center in order to meet operational requirements of the electronic components within the data center. Typically, electronic components are maintained in a safe operating temperature range by circulating cooled air through the equipment to cool the electronics racks, or for instance, by more directly cooling selected electronic components with a heat transfer fluid, or by a combination thereof. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Cooling Engineers (ASHRAE) develops and publishes data center cooling standards which provide industry consensus best practices for data center cooling. One approach to cooling the air or heat transfer fluid used to cool a data center, or more particularly, the equipment within the data center, is by means of a refrigeration chiller to chill air, water, or other heat transfer fluid, which is then used to cool the data center equipment. Other methods of cooling have been tried, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Operational reliability is of utmost importance in the operation of a data center. Data center outages are expensive, and an extended outage can be devastating to a data center operator, both in terms of expense and business reputation. Thus, redundant units and/or back-up units, such as back-up power supplies, data communication connections, and environment control and security apparatuses are also typically provided as part of the data center, or facility management system associated with the data center. In the realm of data center cooling and powering, commercial advantage would be obtained by providing systems to cool and power a data center which are effective in all climates, environmentally beneficial, and/or more energy efficient than existing approaches. In one aspect, shortcomings of the prior art are overcome, and additional advantages are provided, through the provision of a system which includes: an electricity-generating assembly to generate electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to a data center, the data center producing data center waste heat; a liquid fuel storage to facilitate supply of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly; and a heat transfer system associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage, wherein in an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly. In another aspect, a system is provided which includes: an electricity-generating assembly for a data center comprising at least one electronics rack and producing data center waste heat, the electricity-generating assembly generating electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to the data center; a liquid fuel storage to facilitate supply of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly; and a heat transfer system associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage, wherein in an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly, and to cool the data center by dissipating the data center waste heat in the liquid fuel storage. In a further aspect, a method is provided which includes: providing a heat transfer system coupling a data center and a liquid fuel storage, the data center producing data center waste heat, and the liquid fuel storage being coupled to facilitate supply of a fuel vapor to an electricity-generating assembly, the electricity-generating assembly generating electricity from the fuel vapor for supply to the data center, wherein in an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly. Additional features and advantages are realized through the structures and methods of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. One or more aspects of the present invention are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed as examples in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: As used herein, the terms “electronics rack” and “equipment rack” are used interchangeably, and unless otherwise specified include any open or closed housing, frame, rack, compartment, blade server system, etc., having one or more heat generating components of a computer system or electronic system, and may be, for example, a stand-alone computer processor having high, mid or low end processing capability. In one embodiment, an electronics rack may include one or more electronic systems or subsystems, each having one or more heat generating components requiring cooling. “Heat exchanger” includes any heat exchange mechanism characterized as described herein through which a coolant or heat transfer fluid can circulate; and may include, one or more discrete heat exchangers coupled either in series or in parallel. A heat exchanger may include, for example, one or more fluid flow paths, formed of thermally conductive tubing (such as copper or other tubing) in thermal communication with a plurality of heat transfer fins. Size, configuration and construction of the heat exchanger can vary without departing from the scope of the invention disclosed herein. “Heat exchanger” may be used herein to refer to various types of heat exchangers, such as an air-to-liquid heat exchanger or a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger. Further, “data center” refers to a computer installation containing one or more electronic systems, electronics racks, etc., to be cooled. As a specific example, a data center may include one or more rows of rack-mounted computing units, such as server units. One example of the heat transfer fluid employed is a liquid, such as water. However, the concepts disclosed herein are readily adapted to use with other types of fluid. For example, one or more of the fluids may comprise a brine, a fluorocarbon liquid, a liquid metal, or other similar coolant, or refrigerant, while still maintaining the advantages and unique features of the present invention. Reference is made below to the drawings, where the same or similar reference numbers used throughout different figures designate the same or similar components. A benefit of on-site power generation is the ability to re-use generating assembly waste heat 108 for providing cooling and/or heating to data center 101, or adjacent facilities, if desired. In operation, an airflow 107 may be drawn into electricity-generating assembly 102, and heated during the electricity-generating process to produce an exhaust airflow comprising generating assembly waste heat 108. Note that electricity-generating assembly 102 may comprise any of a variety of prime movers, such as a micro-turbine, a turbine, a gas generator, a fuel cell, etc., and compressor 104 may be optionally provided, depending on the pressure with which the fuel vapor is provided to electricity-generating assembly 102, and the type of assembly used within the system. Under normal operating conditions, electricity-generating assembly 102 is operated using fuel vapor from primary vapor fuel supply 106, such as a natural gas supply. The primary fuel vapor could be supplied by a pipe to the facility from a remote location, with the primary fuel vapor being employed by electricity-generating assembly 102 to provide (as noted) electricity to the data center, as well as charge and maintain charge on uninterruptible power supply 105, or other back-up battery supply. Note that in the example of Generating assembly waste heat 108 may be used to cool data center 101 via an absorption chiller (or absorption refrigeration system) 110. As illustrated, a facility coolant loop 112 and one or more pumps 113, facilitate circulating a facility coolant between data center 101 and absorption chiller 110, with extracted data center waste heat being dissipated by the absorption chiller (driven by the generating assembly waste heat). Further, unused generating assembly waste heat 108′ may be provided to a heat exchanger 115, such as an exhaust-fired heat exchanger, which may further extract heat from the remaining generating assembly waste heat 108′ to, for instance, provide selected heating to the data center, or the facility housing the data center. In one implementation, heat exchanger 115 could be used to heat water for supply of hot water to the data center via, for instance, a hot water loop 116, through which water is pumped 117 between heat exchanger 115 and data center 101. As illustrated, any still-remaining generating assembly waste heat 108″ may be rejected to the ambient environment. Note that although facility management system 100 is illustrated as external to data center 101, one or more features of facility management system 100 could be incorporated within data center 101, depending on the implementation. As noted, within the data center, cooling may be provided via one or more computer room air-conditioning units (CRACs), liquid-cooling systems, etc., exemplary embodiments of which are described below with reference to In the embodiment illustrated, system coolant supply manifold 180 provides system coolant to cooling apparatuses disposed within the electronic systems 170 (for example, to coolant-cooled cold plates) via flexible hose connections 181, which are disposed between system coolant supply manifold 180 and the respective electronic systems 170 within the equipment rack. Similarly, system coolant return manifold 190 is coupled to electronic systems 170 via flexible hose connections 191. Quick connect couplings may be employed at the interface between flexible hoses 181, 191 and the individual electronic systems 170. By way of example, these quick connect couplings may comprise various types of commercially available quick connect/disconnect couplings. Although not shown, one or more electronics racks 130 may also include an air-to-coolant heat exchanger, for example, disposed at an air outlet side thereof, which may also receive system coolant from the system coolant supply manifold 180 and return system coolant to the system coolant return manifold 190. The heat exhausted by the data center cooling solution of Disclosed herein are systems and methods for supplying fuel vapor on-site to an electricity-generating assembly, such as an on-site, co-generation system, or tri-generation system, providing power, cooling, and/or heating, to a data center. The electricity-generating assembly could be, or could include, any of a variety of electricity-generating devices or approaches, such as, for instance, a micro-turbine-based device, a gas generator device, a fuel cell device, etc. Various facility management systems and methods are presented which include heat transfer systems or mechanisms for providing fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly, such as the electricity-generating assembly of the noted on-site, co-generation or tri-generation system. Advantageously, data center waste heat may be used to vaporize or assist in vaporizing liquid fuel to provide a required flow rate of fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly. Using the data center waste heat as described herein advantageously reduces the burden on the cooling equipment, and provides a cost effective means to both deliver fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly, and cool the data center. Further, where desired, the generating assembly waste heat may be combined with the data center waste heat for use in the fuel vapor delivery system(s) described. Generally stated, a system is provided herein which includes an electricity-generating assembly to generate electricity from a fuel vapor for supply to a data center, the data center producing data center waste heat, and a liquid fuel storage to facilitate supply of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly. The system further includes a heat transfer system associated with the data center and the liquid fuel storage. In an operational mode, the heat transfer system transfers the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage to facilitate vaporization of liquid fuel in the liquid fuel storage to produce the fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly. Note that the vaporization may occur within a liquid fuel storage tank itself of the liquid fluid storage, or in an associated structure, such as an associated vaporizer structure or housing of the liquid storage coupled to receive liquid fuel from the liquid fuel storage tank. Any of these various possibilities are encompassed by the phrase “liquid fuel storage”. Advantageously, in the operational mode, the heat transfer system provides data center cooling by facilitating dissipation of the data center waste heat during vaporization of liquid fuel at the liquid fuel storage. In one or more embodiments, the heat transfer system includes a controller, and the electricity-generating assembly produces generating assembly waste heat. The controller is configured (for instance, programmed), to controllably combine the generating assembly waste heat with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage when additional heat is needed to provide a required flow rate of fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly. In implementation, the heat transfer system may include adjustable valves for selectively controlling in the operational mode an amount of generating assembly waste heat being combined with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage to vaporize the liquid fuel, with the controller automatically controlling the adjustable valves to provide the required flow rate of fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly. In the operational mode, the data center waste heat may be transferred from at least one data center heat exchanger to at least one fuel storage heat exchanger via a heat transfer fluid flow through at least one fluid loop of the heat transfer system coupling in fluid communication the at least one data center heat exchanger and the at least one fuel storage heat exchanger, such as through at least one facility fluid loop. Similarly, the generating assembly waste heat may be transferred from at least one generating assembly heat exchanger to the at least one fuel storage heat exchanger via, in part, a heat transfer fluid flow through the at least one fluid loop of the heat transfer system. In one or more embodiments, the system may include a vaporizer associated with the liquid fuel storage, with the vaporizer being, in one example, a direct-fired vaporizer. In such embodiments, in a start-up mode, the system may combine fuel vapor output of the vaporizer with fuel vapor output of the liquid fuel storage, produced from the transfer of the data center waste heat to the liquid fuel storage. A controller may be provided, configured to automatically control the output of fuel vapor from the vaporizer, that is, to control the amount of fuel vaporization within the vaporizer, with reference to the output of the fuel vapor from the liquid fuel storage, to automatically provide a required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly. Initially in start-up mode, representative, for instance, of data center start-up, the vaporizer may vaporize a greater percentage of the liquid fuel than occurring within the liquid fuel storage, but as time progresses, the liquid fuel storage outputs more of the fuel vapor required for delivery to the electricity-generating assembly. In one or more start-up mode implementations, the electricity-generating assembly produces generating assembly waste heat, and the controller selectively combines the generating assembly waste heat with the data center waste heat for transfer to the liquid fuel storage when additional heat is needed to provide the required flow rate of the fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly from the liquid fuel storage without the output of fuel vapor from the vaporizer. The controller may be programmed to automatically turn off the vaporizer when the output of the liquid fuel storage is at the required fuel vapor flow rate for the electricity-generating assembly. In certain implementations, the operational mode is a back-up operational mode, the heat transfer system comprises a controller, the liquid fuel storage comprises a back-up liquid fuel storage, and the fuel vapor comprises the back-up fuel vapor. In these implementations, based on an interruption in a primary fuel vapor supply to the electricity-generating assembly, the controller may automatically initiate the back-up operational mode, and control the heat transfer system to the direct data center waste heat to the back-up liquid fuel storage to generate the back-up fuel vapor for supply to the electricity-generating assembly for continued operation of the electricity-generating assembly. Further, the electricity-generating assembly may produce generating assembly waste heat, and the system may include an absorption chiller receiving the generating assembly waste heat. The absorption chiller may operate to dissipate the data center waste heat in a normal operational mode, when the primary fuel vapor supply is provided to the electricity-generating assembly, with the controller automatically switching the data center waste heat away from the absorption chiller and to the back-up liquid fuel storage in the back-up operational mode, facilitating both vaporization of back-up liquid fuel in the back-up liquid fuel storage, and dissipation of the data center waste heat. Referring to In the system of In If data center waste heat provided via first heat transfer fluid loop 212 is insufficient to vaporize the desired amount of liquid fuel to achieve a required liquid fuel flow rate, then the heat transfer system 210, and in the depicted example, a facility management system (FMS) controller 215 thereof, may automatically control valves V0 and V1 linking a second heat transfer fluid loop 216 (with one or more fluid pumps 213) to first heat transfer fluid loop 212, to transfer additional heat into the fuel storage heat exchanger(s) 214, with the additional heat being extracted by heat exchanger 115 from the generating assembly waste heat 108. The amount of supplemental heat provided by controller 215 will be a function of the requirements of the electricity-generating assembly 102. The system of Note that in one or more embodiments, the data center return line of the first heat transfer fluid loop 212 may be plumbed directly to the data center, that is, where enough heat has been removed to satisfy the cooling requirements of data center 101. Alternatively, the heat transfer fluid return line could be directed to absorption chiller 110 to provide additional cooling, where required. Referring to In one embodiment, the required fluid temperature (T1*) may be determined by one skilled in the art as a function of the required flow rate for the fuel vapor (mv*), a characteristic wetted surface area (AT) of the liquid fuel storage tank, and a fill volume (VT) of the liquid fuel within the liquid fuel storage tank. Processing then determines a required generating assembly waste heat flow rate (me*) 242 to be obtained from the second heat transfer fluid loop 216 ( Processing determines the required valve position (AV0) 244 for adjustable valve V0 in second heat transfer fluid loop 216 of Advantageously, use of data center waste heat, either alone or in combination with generating assembly waste heat, to vaporize fuel within the liquid fuel storage, may remove the need for an absorption chiller in the system of The controller measures flow rate (mv) of fuel vapor output from the liquid fuel storage 364, and determines whether this flow rate (mv) is at or above the required flow rate (mv*) of fuel vapor to the electricity-generating assembly 366. If “no”, then the vaporizer output is incrementally adjusted, with reference to the measured flow rate (mv) being output by the liquid fuel storage 368, and after a desired time interval, the flow rate measuring, comparing and adjusting steps 364, 366, 368 may be repeated. Once the flow rate (mv) of fuel vapor output from the liquid fuel storage exceeds the required flow rate, the vaporizer can be turned off 370, and system operation may be transitioned to normal operation mode 372, such as the mode described above in connection with Referring to Referring to The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”), and “contain” (and any form contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method or device that “comprises”, “has”, “includes” or “contains” one or more steps or elements possesses those one or more steps or elements, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps or elements. Likewise, a step of a method or an element of a device that “comprises”, “has”, “includes” or “contains” one or more features possesses those one or more features, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more features. Furthermore, a device or structure that is configured in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed. The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below, if any, are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. |