Air dam for a datacenter facility
A method, apparatus, and system in which an air dam is incorporated into an air ventilation stream of a datacenter to control the temperature of an interior space of the datacenter. The datacenter may include a raised floor in which the ventilation stream is injected through perforations within the raised floor. An air dam may be positioned at an entry region of the under floor plenum to obstruct the flow of air from a supply air plenum. The air dam is used to create a positive pressure across the raised floor at a substantially constant pressure distribution.
1. A datacenter, comprising:
a cooling system configured to cool computing systems including servers and storage devices housed in hot and cool zones of the datacenter, as well as routers and switches that transport data between the servers and computers exterior to the datacenter;
a supply-air plenum between an exterior wall and an interior wall of the datacenter fluidly connected to the cooling system;
an under-floor plenum between a raised floor and a bottommost floor of the datacenter fluidly connected to the supply-air plenum,
wherein the under-floor plenum is coextensive with an area of the raised floor, and the raised floor includes tiles including a plurality of perforations configured to permit air from the cooling system to enter the datacenter from the under-floor plenum; and
an actuatable air dam extending from the bottommost floor along a length of the under-floor plenum configured to obstruct a flow of incoming air from the supply-air plenum causing the air to slow down for a constant air flow through the plurality of perforations of the raised floor, wherein the air dam is positioned in a transition region between the supply-air plenum and the under-floor plenum, the air dam offset toward an interior of the datacenter from the interior wall of the datacenter by less than half a width of the supply-air plenum as measured between the exterior wall and the interior wall.
2. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the bottommost floor is one or more slabs of a foundation, the air dam fixed to the foundation by an actuator configured to actuate the air dam from at least a 45° angle of the air dam to the bottommost floor to no more than a 135° angle of the air dam to the bottommost floor.
3. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam extending along the length of the under-floor plenum extends along an entire length of the under-floor plenum from one side of the datacenter to an opposing side of the datacenter.
4. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam is rectangular in cross section.
5. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam is triangular in cross section.
6. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam is offset toward the interior of the datacenter from the interior wall of the datacenter by at least 25% of the width of the supply-air plenum between the exterior wall and the interior wall.
7. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam is configured to obstruct the flow of incoming air from the supply-air plenum by passing the air through an opening between a top of the air dam and a bottom of the raised floor.
8. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein a height of the air dam is between about 40% and 60% of a height of the under floor plenum.
9. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the air dam is further configured to induce a turbulent air flow to the flow of incoming air entering the under-floor plenum for the constant air flow through the plurality of perforations of the raised floor.
10. The datacenter of claim 1 ,
wherein the cooling system includes one or more rooftop-mounted heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“HVAC”) units.
11. A datacenter, comprising:
a cooling system configured to cool computing systems including servers and storage devices housed in hot and cool zones of the datacenter, as well as routers and switches that transport data between the servers and computers exterior to the datacenter;
a supply-air plenum between an exterior wall and an interior wall of the datacenter fluidly connected to the cooling system;
an under-floor plenum between a raised floor and a bottommost floor of the datacenter fluidly connected to the supply-air plenum,
wherein the under-floor plenum is coextensive with an area of the raised floor, and the raised floor includes tiles including a plurality of perforations configured to permit air from the cooling system to enter the datacenter from the under-floor plenum; and
an actuatable air dam extending from the bottommost floor along a length of the under-floor plenum configured to obstruct a flow of incoming air from the supply-air plenum causing the air to slow down for a constant air flow through the plurality of perforations of the raised floor, wherein the tiles of the raised floor include one or more patterns in the plurality of perforations, the one or more patterns including a pattern of consolidated perforations permitting the air to pass into the cool zones of the datacenter and relatively fewer perforations permitting the air to pass into the hot zones of the datacenter, wherein an air pressure of the air across the raised floor of the datacenter is 0.06 to 0.07 inches water.
12. The datacenter of claim 11 ,
wherein the cool zones have a width of 4 feet or less, and the hot zones have a width of 3 feet or less.
13. A method of ventilating a datacenter, comprising:
directing air from a cooling system through the datacenter to cool computing systems including servers and storage devices housed in hot and cool zones of the datacenter, as well as routers and switches that transport data between the servers and computers exterior to the datacenter,
wherein directing the air from the cooling system includes
directing the air into a supply-air plenum between an exterior wall and an interior wall of the datacenter,
directing the air over an actuatable air dam and into an under-floor plenum between a raised floor and a bottommost floor of the datacenter,
directing the air through tiles of the raised floor including a plurality of perforations configured to permit the air from the cooling system to enter the datacenter from the under-floor plenum,
wherein the under-floor plenum is coextensive with an area of the raised floor,
wherein the air dam extends from the bottommost floor along a length of the under-floor plenum obstructing a flow of the air from the supply-air plenum and causing the air to slow down for a constant air flow through the plurality of perforations of the raised floor, and
positioning the air dam in a transition region between the supply-air plenum and the under-floor plenum with an offset toward an interior of the datacenter from the interior wall of the datacenter by less than half a width of the supply-air plenum as measured between the exterior wall and the interior wall.
14. The method of ventilating the datacenter of claim 13 ,
wherein the offset toward the interior of the datacenter from the interior wall of the datacenter is at least 25% of the width of the supply-air plenum between the exterior wall and the interior wall.
15. The method of ventilating the datacenter of claim 13 , further comprising:
actuating the air dam to have an angle from at least a 45° angle of the air dam to the bottommost floor to no more than a 135° angle of the air dam to the bottommost floor,
wherein the bottommost floor is one or more slabs of a foundation, the air dam fixed to the foundation by an actuator configured to actuate the air dam between the 45° angle and the 135° angle.
16. The method of ventilating the datacenter of claim 13 ,
wherein obstructing the flow of the air from the supply-air plenum includes passing the air through an opening between a top of the air dam and a bottom of the raised floor.