Integrated management of cooling resources in air-cooled data centers

To accommodate the dynamic environment within raised floor data centers, cooling capacity is tuned during operation through zonal control means, e.g., active management of air conditioning resources. However, due to the spatial variance of cooling efficiency and time-varying cooling demand within zones, zonal adjustments alone are not able to maximize the thermal capacity of data centers. Without making local adjustments to the physical structure, such as altering vent tile openings, a data center can suffer significant reduction in thermal capacity and cooling efficiency, and such that facility lifespan. In this paper, we present active cooling technologies using both local and zonal actuators that improve overall cooling efficiency. Experimental evaluation in a data center shows that the integrated controller can adapt to changes to the system under control, significantly improve the controllability of the temperatures and reduce the energy consumption of the cooling facility.