The USPTO has awarded Google patent #8,320,125

United States Patent 8,320,125

Hamburgen , et al. November 27, 2012

Modular data center cooling

Abstract
A datacenter cooling apparatus includes a portable housing having lifting and transporting structures for moving the apparatus, opposed sides in the housing, at least one of the opposed sides defining one or more air passage openings arranged to capture warmed air from rack-mounted electronics, opposed ends in the housing, at least one of the opposed ends defining one or more air passage openings positioned to allow lateral passage of captured air into and out of the housing, and one or more cooling coils associated with the housing to receive and cool the captured warm air, and provide the cooled air for circulation into a datacenter workspace.

Inventors: Hamburgen; William (Palo Alto, CA), Clidaras; Jimmy (Los Altos, CA), Leung; Winnie (Palo Alto, CA), Stiver; David W. (Santa Clara, CA), Beck; Jonathan D. (Mountain View, CA), Carlson; Andrew B. (Atherton, CA), Chow; Steven T. Y. (Foster City, CA), Imwalle; Gregory P. (Sunnyvale, CA), Michael; Amir M. (San Mateo, CA)

Assignee: Exaflop LLC (Mountain View, CA)

Appl. No.: 12/631,644

Filed: December 4, 2009

Unfortunately, the patent approval is so new, the images are not available yet.

There are 60 claims in the patent. Here are some of the highlights.

1. A datacenter cooling apparatus, comprising: a portable housing having lifting and transporting structures for moving the apparatus, opposed sides in the housing, at least one of the opposed sides defining one or more air passage openings arranged to capture warmed air from rack-mounted electronics; opposed ends in the housing, at least one of the opposed ends defining one or more air passage openings positioned to allow lateral passage of captured air into and out of the housing; and one or more cooling coils associated with the housing to receive and cool the captured warm air, and provide the cooled air for circulation into a datacenter workspace, wherein the opposed sides each define one or more openings to engage with back-to-back computer racks.

20. A data center cooling system, comprising: a plurality of cooling modules aligned end-to-end in one or more rows; sides on the cooling modules defining openings for capturing warm air from electronics racks mounted to the cooling modules; and ends on the cooling modules defining openings for passing air into and out of the cooling modules along a row of cooling modules, wherein the cooling modules in a row are positioned to have open spaces between adjacent cooling modules and wherein the spaces are sufficiently sealed from a data center workspace to form a warm air capture zone.

43. A data center cooling system, comprising: a frame comprising four side openings, a top opening, and a bottom opening defining an interior volume; at least one cooling coil mounted within the interior volume and securable to the frame, the cooling coil thermally separating the interior volume into a cold air plenum adjacent a first face of the cooling coil and a warm air plenum adjacent a second face of the cooling coil opposite the first face; at least one sealing member mounted on the frame to substantially prevent airflow between the bottom opening and the top opening; and one or more fans mounted to the frame and arranged to generate airflow through one or more computer racks supporting electronics adjacent at least two of the side openings and through the at least two side openings to the top opening.

60. The system of claim 43, wherein the frame is sized for transport by truck from a manufacturing facility to a data center.

Here are the reference to Drawings that I can't see yet.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows a perspective view of a modular data center cooling apparatus.

FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of a cable rack for use in a data center.

FIG. 1C shows the cable rack of FIG. 1B mounted to the top of the data center cooling apparatus of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a data center cooling apparatus providing cooling to a number of computer racks.

FIG. 3A shows a front view of a data center cooling apparatus with a single computer rack.

FIG. 3B shows a data center cooling apparatus with a pair of back-to-back computer racks.

FIG. 4, shows a plan view of two rows in a computer data center.

FIG. 5A shows a plan of an empty computer data center facility.

FIG. 5B shows the facility of FIG. 5A with computers and cooling systems installed.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic side view of an example data center facility.

FIG. 7 shows an alternative base for a cooling module.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a process for locating rows in a data center so as to hide structural columns in the data center.