JP5939268B2 - Device storage device and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for housing equipment, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for housing equipment having a high cooling effect on the equipment.

  A large number of electronic devices such as server computers and disk array devices are installed in data centers and machine rooms. These electronic devices generate heat. An air conditioner is provided in the data center and the machine room so that the electronic device does not malfunction due to this heat. This air conditioner generally supplies cold air to equipment installed on the floor and exhausts warm air heated by heat generated by the electronic equipment from the ceiling side.

  On the other hand, the electronic device sucks air from the front side and discharges internal heat to the back side. Electronic devices are installed in racks and installed in data centers and machine rooms.

  As described above, the electronic device exhausts heat to the back surface, while the data center and the machine room exhaust air from the ceiling side. For this reason, it becomes a problem how efficiently the heat exhausted backward by the electronic device is exhausted to the ceiling side. In relation to this, the following techniques are disclosed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a rack housing that holds a plurality of insertion components. The rack housing has an exhaust unit including a storage cabinet and two ventilator units. Components are inserted into the front part of the rack. The air heated by the components is sucked into the rear part of the rack and then released to the outside by the ventilator unit.

  Patent document 2 discloses an electronic device housing apparatus. In this apparatus, air blown from an outlet of an underfloor air conditioner is sent to an air control duct in the apparatus by a cold air supply fan. A part of the sent cool air is sent to the electronic device by a cool air induction flap provided in the air control duct, and is discharged to the opposite side as warm air. This cold air induction flap is provided corresponding to the stored electronic device. A part of the cool air that has not been sent to the electronic device is discharged to the outside from the air control duct by the cool air exhaust fan.

JP 2013-526070 A JP 2008-159747 A

  The rack housing of Patent Document 1 includes a ventilator unit only on the top of the rack housing. For this reason, the rack housing cannot sufficiently lower the pressure in the pressure reducing passage, and the cooling effect may not be sufficiently obtained.

  The device of Patent Document 2 requires a cold air induction flap corresponding to an electronic device in an exhaust duct. Therefore, it is necessary to increase / decrease the cool air induction flap in accordance with the number of electronic devices accommodated, which is inconvenient.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a device accommodating apparatus and method that solve the above problems.

  An accommodation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention accommodates a device inserted from the front, a rack that discharges air heated by the device from a heat radiating hole provided in a back surface, and is attached to the back side of the rack And a duct frame serving as a passage for air discharged from the heat radiating hole, and attached to the opening of the bottom surface and the ceiling surface of the duct frame to create an upward or downward air flow in the duct frame. And a fan.

  The method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a device that is inserted from the front surface, and discharges air that has been heated by the device from the heat dissipation hole to the back side of the rack that discharges air from the heat dissipation hole provided on the back surface. A duct frame serving as an air passage is attached, and a fan that creates an upward or downward air flow in the duct frame is attached to the bottom and ceiling openings of the duct frame.

  The housing device for equipment according to the present invention is easy to use and can sufficiently obtain the cooling effect of the equipment.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the storage device 50. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure when the storage device 50 is disassembled. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the flow of cooling air in the storage device 50.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage device 50 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The accommodation device 50 includes the rack 20 and the duct frame 30. The accommodation device 50 is installed in a machine room equipped with an air conditioner, for example.

  The rack 20 is a housing for accommodating the electronic device 10 therein. The electronic device 10 is, for example, a computer called a blade server, and usually a plurality of devices are stored. The front surface of the rack 20 is open, and the electronic device 10 is inserted from the front surface. The front portion of the rack 20 may be provided with an openable / closable door (not shown) having good air permeability. For example, the electronic device 10 takes in cooling air from the front surface and discharges the warmed air after cooling from the back surface.

  The electronic device 10 inserted in the rack 20 is kept substantially horizontal and accommodated by a mechanism provided in the rack 20, for example, guide rails provided on both side surfaces inside. When a plurality of electronic devices 10 are inserted, the electronic devices 10 are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction. This interval is used for the flow of cooling air that takes heat away from the casing of the electronic device 10.

  In the machine room, for example, the cool air 41 of the air conditioner is supplied from the front surface of the rack 20, and the air heated by the electronic device 10 is exhausted from the ceiling. The rack 20 may be installed with legs 21 installed at the four corners so that the bottom surface is higher than the floor surface (installation surface 60) by, for example, about several tens of centimeters.

  The duct frame 30 is attached to the back surface of the rack 20. The duct frame 30 is, for example, a box having substantially the same width and height as the rack 20. The duct frame 30 has an opening on the ceiling surface and an opening on the bottom surface (not shown in the figure). For example, a fan 32 is provided in each opening.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure when the storage device 50 is disassembled. The intake plate 23 is a back plate of the rack 20. The exhaust plate 33 is a back plate of the duct frame 30. The front surface of the duct frame 30 is open.

  The air intake plate 23 is provided with a heat radiating hole 25 that is a through hole for radiating the heat of the electronic device 10 accommodated in the rack 20. The heat radiating holes 25 may be provided throughout the entire surface of the intake plate 23. Alternatively, in order to prevent the fan 32 from diffusing the air flow from the bottom surface to the ceiling surface, the heat radiation hole 25 may not be provided in part, for example, in the vicinity of the fan 32.

  The heat radiation hole 25 is provided at a position facing the back surface of the electronic device 10 accommodated in the rack 20, for example. One heat radiating hole 25 may be provided for each electronic device 10 or a plurality of heat radiating holes 25 may be provided for the electronic device 10 as illustrated in FIG.

  The exhaust plate 33 is also provided with a heat radiating hole 35 that is a through hole for radiating the heat of the electronic device 10 accommodated in the rack 20. The heat dissipation hole 35 is provided under the same conditions as the heat dissipation hole 25. The heat radiating holes 25 and the heat radiating holes 35 may or may not correspond one-to-one.

  In this figure, the duct frame 30 has two openings on each of the ceiling surface and the bottom surface, and a fan 32 is provided in each opening. Each of the openings on the ceiling surface and the bottom surface may be one, or three or more.

  In this figure, the intake plate 23 does not necessarily have to be part of the rack 20. Further, the exhaust plate 33 does not necessarily have to be part of the duct frame 30. For example, the rear surface of the rack 20, the front surface of the duct frame 30, and the rear surface are open, and the separately created rack 20, the intake plate 23, the duct frame 30, and the exhaust plate 33 are joined in order from the front surface, The accommodation device 50 may be formed.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the flow of cooling air in the storage device 50.

  The housing device 50 uses a fan 32 provided at the top and bottom of the duct frame 30 to form a bottom surface in an air passage surrounded by the duct frame 30, the intake plate 23, and the exhaust plate 33 (hereinafter referred to as an exhaust duct). Ascending current 40 is generated from the ceiling toward the ceiling. At this time, in the vicinity of the heat radiating hole 25, the air pressure in the exhaust duct is lower than the air pressure in the rack 20, and an air flow 43 from the rack 20 to the exhaust duct is generated through the heat radiating hole 25.

  Along with the air flow 43 to the exhaust duct, the cold air 41 supplied from the air conditioner is sent to the electronic device 10, deprives of its heat to become warm air 42, and flows into the exhaust duct. The inflowing warm air 42 rides on the rising air flow 40 in the exhaust duct and is discharged to the outside from an opening provided on the ceiling surface of the duct frame 30. A part of the warm air 42 is discharged to the outside from the heat radiation hole 35 of the exhaust plate 33.

  The accommodation device 50 is installed such that the bottom surface of the duct frame 30 is higher than the installation surface 60 by the legs 21, for example. Therefore, the fan 32 provided on the bottom surface of the duct frame 30 can suck air from the gap between the installation surface 60 and the bottom surface of the duct frame 30.

  The storage device 50 of the present embodiment can cool the electronic device 10 efficiently. The reason is that the updraft 40 sufficient for cooling can be generated by the fans 32 provided on both the ceiling surface and the bottom surface of the duct frame 30. Thereby, the storage device 50 can exhaust the warm air 42 toward the ceiling without interfering with the cool air 41 sucked from the front surface of the rack 20. Further, the storage device 50 can prevent the reverse flow phenomenon of heat inside the rack 20.

  Moreover, the storage device 50 of the present embodiment is easy to use. The first reason is that there is no need to change the configuration as in the apparatus of Patent Document 2, depending on the number of units accommodated in the rack 20. The second reason is that underfloor air conditioning is not essential. Since the updraft 40 does not directly cool the electronic device 10, the air sucked by the bottom fan 32 need not be supplied from the underfloor air conditioning.

<Modification of the present embodiment>
Note that the housing device 50 may not include the legs 21, and instead, a configuration in which the bottom surface of the duct frame 30 is disposed at a position that is approximately several tens of centimeters higher than the bottom surface of the rack 20 may be employed.

  In addition, the housing device 50 does not include the legs 21, and the fan 32 on the bottom side may take in air from underfloor air conditioning.

  The exhaust plate 33 may not include the heat radiating holes 35.

  In addition, for example, the exhaust of the machine room in which the storage device 50 is installed may be performed from the floor surface. In this case, the fan 32 generates a downdraft instead of the updraft 40.

<Second Embodiment>
The accommodation device 50 according to the present embodiment accommodates equipment inserted from the front surface, and is attached to the back side of the rack 20 and the rack 20 that discharges air heated by the equipment from the heat radiation holes provided on the back surface. , And a duct frame 30 serving as a passage for air discharged from the heat radiation hole. The duct frame 30 includes a fan 32 that is attached to openings on the bottom surface and the ceiling surface and creates an upward or downward air flow in the duct frame 30.

  The accommodation device 50 according to the present embodiment can efficiently cool the device. The reason is that the fan 32 provided on both the ceiling surface and the bottom surface of the duct frame 30 can generate an upward or downward airflow sufficient for cooling.

  Moreover, the storage device 50 of the present embodiment is easy to use. The reason is that it is not necessary to change the configuration as in the apparatus of Patent Document 2 according to the number of units accommodated in the rack 20.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electronic device 20 Rack 23 Intake plate 25 Radiation hole 30 Duct frame 32 Fan 33 Exhaust plate 35 Radiation hole 40 Ascending current 41 Cold air 42 Warm air 43 Flow of air to exhaust duct 50 Containment device 60 Installation surface

Claims (6)

A rack that accommodates equipment inserted from the front and discharges air heated by the equipment from a heat dissipation hole provided on the back,
A duct frame attached to the back side of the rack and serving as a passage for air exhausted from the heat radiation hole;
A housing device comprising: a fan attached to an opening of a bottom surface and a ceiling surface of the duct frame to create an upward or downward air flow in the duct frame.   The accommodation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rear surface of the duct frame has a heat radiation hole at a position facing the heat radiation hole on the rear surface of the rack.   The accommodation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a bottom surface of the duct frame is higher than an installation surface of the equipment rack. A duct frame serving as a passage for the air exhausted from the heat dissipation holes is attached to the rear side of the rack that accommodates the equipment inserted from the front and exhausts the air heated by the equipment from the heat dissipation holes provided on the rear surface. ,
A method of attaching a fan that creates an upward or downward air flow in the duct frame to the opening of the bottom surface and the ceiling surface of the duct frame.   The method according to claim 4, wherein a heat radiating hole is provided at a position opposite to the heat radiating hole on the rear surface of the duct frame on the rear surface of the rack.   The method according to any one of claims 4 to 5, wherein a bottom surface of the duct frame is made higher than an installation surface of the equipment rack.