An exhaust air removal system and method for use with a rack or enclosure containing equipment is provided. The system and method are configured for removal of exhaust air vented from equipment during operation to thereby remove heat from the equipment. In one aspect, the system includes a fan unit preferably configured to serve as a back door of an equipment rack or enclosure and configured to provide access to an interior of the rack or enclosure. The fan unit provides multiple fans coupled to internal exhaust ducts that are arranged to draw and to remove exhaust air vented from rack-mounted equipment. The fan unit is further configured to vent exhaust air to an area external to a rack or enclosure, such as an external exhaust duct or plenum. Removal of hot and warm exhaust air vented from rack-mounted equipment enables the equipment to operate effectively, drawing sufficient amounts of cooling air to meet its cooling requirements. The fan unit is constructed for portability and for easy attachment to and removal from a rack or enclosure, providing flexibility in handling equipment exhaust needs.

Exhaust air removal system

An air conditioning cooling apparatus and method which includes the steps of supplying cooling air generated from a cooling apparatus into an air passageway formed below a floor; guiding the cooling air in a controlled manner within the air passageway into an equipment assembly disposed on the floor through an opening located in the floor; communicating the cooling air introduced into the equipment assembly in a controlled manner into a plenum and introducing the air released from within the equipment into the plenum and communicating the released air through the cooling apparatus for cooling the released air. The method can permit temperature differential between the air supplied to the air passageway and the air introduced into the plenum from the equipment assembly to be 45° F. to substantially 40° F. so as to reduce the power necessary for operating on the fan of the blowing apparatus, and can also permit a controlled, uniform flow of air to and from the equipment in the equipment assembly.

Computer rack heat extraction device

A system includes a substantially sealed, substantially airtight cabinet sized for housing a vertical array of heat-producing units, the cabinet having an exterior shell and the system including an interior divider wall disposed inside the cabinet, the shell and divider wall providing an equipment chamber adapted to support the array such that the array cooperates with the shell and divider wall in use to define a first plenum, the first plenum having a first inlet defined by the divider wall for receiving a flow of cooling gas and having a first outlet defined by a plurality of openings through the array whereby the first plenum communicates with the openings in use to exhaust substantially all of the flow of cooling fluid through the openings and hence through the array, wherein the divider wall is configured to allow the first inlet to admit the gas to the first plenum in a substantially horizontal direction.

Data center cooling

A data center includes an electronic equipment rack having a front face and a back face and a cooling unit positioned adjacent to the rack, the cooling unit having a front face and a back face, the cooling unit being configured to exhaust cooled air from the front face of the cooling unit to cool the rack. The cooling unit is configured to release the cooled air along a substantial portion of a height of the front face of the rack.

Rack height cooling

A cooling solution is provided for a modular data center. The modular data center includes a plurality of racks, each of the racks having a front face and a back face, wherein the plurality of racks is arranged in a first row and a second row, such that the back faces of racks of the first row are facing the second row, and the back faces of the racks of the second row are facing the first row, a first end panel coupled between a first rack of the first row and a first rack of the second row, the first end panel having a bottom edge and a tope edge, a second end panel coupled between a second rack of the first row and a second rack of the second row, the second end panel having a top edge and a bottom edge, and a roof panel coupled between the top edge of the first panel and the top edge of the second panel. Cooling equipment within at least one of the equipment racks draws hot air from between the rows of racks and delivers cooled air out of the front face of one of the racks.

Data center cooling system

An enclosed mini-plenum is inserted between printed circuit boards to direct cooling air of various amounts into selected areas of the printed circuit board. The mini-plenum provides orifices of varying sizes to direct amounts of cooling airflow to aligned heat sinks on the printed circuit board. Certain orifices may have raised foils or leaves which can further direct selected amounts of airflow through the orifices. This system provides specifically controlled amounts of cooling facilities to printed circuit board areas having different heat dissipation requirements.

Directed air management system for cooling multiple heat sinks

A heat sink device assembly providing a radially finned heat sink with a tapered base is provided for application to surface-encumbered integrated circuit packages for heat dissipation purposes. The device involves a patterned set of radial fin elements, through which cooling air flow may pass, mounted on a baseplate. A taper or reduction in cross sectional area of the baseplate is provided in order to maximize the surface area for heat dissipation while constraining the area of attachment, thus avoiding physical or electrical contact with peripheral objects or areas placed on the surface edges of the integrated circuit package.

Heat sink device assembly for encumbered IC package

A segmented heat sink device is provided for application to integrated circuit packages for heat dissipation purposes. The segmented heat sink device involves four duplicate sectors, each of which has a patterned set of radial fin elements through which cooling air flow may run. The reduction of the base length of each segment provides for reduction in expansion/contraction stress due to the heating and cooling cycles involved.

Segmented heat sink device

A heat sink for adhesive attachment to an integrated circuit package has a base plate with gapped areas dividing the plate into sectors. A series of radial fin elements extend from the base plate except at the gapped areas where a bridging fin element spans the gap to effectively help reduce the stresses caused by heat cycling and permit the adhesive bond to be relatively undisturbed.

Paul G. Gabuzda

Papers

Directed air management system for cooling multiple heat sinks

Heat sink device assembly for encumbered IC package

Segmented heat sink device

Reduced-stress heat sink device