Providing power to a data center
View Patent ↗Techniques for providing power to a data center includes transferring heat from a computer data center to warm a fluid stored within an energy regeneration system; circulating the warmed fluid to a flow of compressed gas stored within the energy regeneration system during a discharging process that expands the compressed gas; generating energy with the energy generation system from the discharging process; and providing at least a portion of the generated energy to the computer data center as electrical power.
1. A method of providing power to a data center, comprising:
transferring heat from a computer data center to warm a fluid stored within an energy regeneration system;
circulating the warmed fluid to a flow of compressed gas stored within the energy regeneration system during a discharging process that expands the compressed gas, wherein circulating the warmed fluid to the flow of compressed gas comprises spraying the warmed fluid into the flow of compressed gas;
generating energy with the energy generation system from the discharging process; and
providing at least a portion of the generated energy to the computer data center as electrical power.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat comprises waste heat generated from electronic devices within the computer data center, and wherein the heat is captured in an airflow circulated over servers within the computer data center to receive the heat generated by the electronic devices.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising compressing an ambient airflow with a first charger-discharger of the energy regeneration system to produce the compressed gas.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising expanding the compressed gas with the first charger-discharger of the energy regeneration system.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising expanding the compressed gas with a second charger-discharger of the energy regeneration system.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises water or glycol.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein transferring the heat from the computer data center to the fluid stored within the energy regeneration system comprises transferring the heat from the computer data center to a heat pump as low grade heat.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein heat is transferred from the heat pump to the fluid stored within the energy regeneration system as high grade heat.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the heat is transferred to a refrigerant within the heat pump.
10. A data center energy regeneration system, comprising:
a stored energy system comprising a charger-discharger operable to expand a compressed gas that is stored within the stored energy system and generate energy while expanding the compressed gas, and provide at least a portion of the generated energy to a computer data center as electrical power;
a heat pump operable to transfer heat from the computer data center to a fluid stored within the stored energy system to warm the fluid;
a pump positioned to circulate the heated fluid to a flow of the compressed gas; and
a nozzle that is positioned to spray the heated fluid into the flow of the compressed gas while the compressed gas is expanded.
11. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the computer data center comprises:
servers comprising electronic devices that generate the heat as waste heat; and
fans positioned to circulate an airflow over the electronic devices to capture the waste heat.
12. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the charger-discharger is operable to compress an ambient airflow to produce the compressed gas.
13. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the charger-discharger is a first charger-discharger, and wherein the stored energy system further comprises a second charger-discharger operable to compress an ambient airflow to produce the compressed gas.
14. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the fluid comprises water or glycol.
15. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the heat pump is operable to transfer the heat from the computer data center as low grade heat.
16. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 15 , wherein the heat pump is operable to transfer heat to the fluid stored within the energy regeneration system as high grade heat.
17. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 10 , wherein the heat pump is operable to transfer the heat from the computer data center to a refrigerant within the heat pump.
18. A data center energy regeneration system, comprising:
a stored energy system;
a heat pump fluidly coupled to the stored energy system; and
a controller electrically coupled to the stored energy system and to the heat pump, operable to:
control the stored energy system to expand a compressed gas that is stored within the stored energy system, generate energy while expanding the compressed gas, and provide at least a portion of the generated energy to a computer data center as electrical power,
control the heat pump to transfer heat from the computer data center to a fluid stored within the stored energy system to warm the fluid,
control a pump to circulate the fluid, after the fluid is warmed, to a flow of the compressed gas while the compressed gas is expanded, and
control a nozzle to spray the fluid, after the fluid is warmed, into the flow of the compressed gas while the compressed gas is expanded.
19. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 18 , wherein the stored energy system comprises a charger-discharger, and the controller is operable to control the charger-discharger to expand the compressed gas.
20. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 18 , wherein the controller is operable to control the charger-discharger to compress an ambient airflow to produce the compressed gas.
21. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 18 , wherein the computer data center comprises servers comprising electronic devices that generate the heat as waste heat, and wherein the controller is operable to control fans to circulate an airflow over the electronic devices to capture the waste heat.
22. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 18 , wherein the controller is further operable to control the heat pump to transfer the heat from the computer data center as low grade heat.
23. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 22 , wherein the controller is further operable to control the heat pump to transfer heat to the fluid stored within the energy regeneration system as high grade heat.
24. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 18 , wherein the controller is further operable to control the heat pump to transfer the heat from the computer data center to a refrigerant within the heat pump.
25. The method of claim 2 , further comprising circulating the warmed fluid to the flow of compressed gas from a warmed fluid storage tank that is fluidly coupled to a heat exchanger that receives the airflow circulated over servers within the computer data center to transfer the heat generated by the electronic devices to the warmed fluid.
26. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a heat exchanger positioned to receive the airflow circulated over the electronic devices to capture the waste heat and transfer the waste heat to the heated fluid; and
a heated fluid storage tank that is fluidly coupled to the heat exchanger to receive the heated fluid.
27. The data center energy regeneration system of claim 21 , further comprising:
a heat exchanger positioned to receive the airflow circulated over the electronic devices to capture the waste heat and transfer the waste heat to the warmed fluid; and
a warmed fluid storage tank that is fluidly coupled to the heat exchanger to receive the warmed fluid.