US-20260129807-A1 - INTELLIGENT COMPONENTS OF A DATA CENTER

US20260129807A1US 20260129807 A1US20260129807 A1US 20260129807A1US-20260129807-A1

Abstract

Some embodiments described herein provide intelligent movable racks for a data center and a central system for monitoring and directing the positioning of such racks within the data center. For example, a rack may include computing equipment as well as a power system, a cooling system, and a cabling system (e.g., for data communication). The rack may include a controller in communication with the computing equipment, the power system, the cooling system, and the cabling system. The rack may also include a rack interface for physically supporting the rack and operatively connecting the systems of the rack to power, cooling, and cabling infrastructure of the data center. The rack interface may receive an autonomous robot for moving the rack within the data center. The controller may control the power system and the cooling system based in part on the autonomous movement of the rack.

Inventors

Siddha Ganju
William Mecham
Benjamin Goska
Aaron Carkin
Jordan Levy
Itamar Frenkel
Yaakov Gridish
Rotem BARZILAY
Elad Mentovich
Ryan Albright
Tahir Cader
Fred Devoir
Kenneth Misin
Michael Thompson
William Ryan Weese
Ran Rakovsky

Assignees

NVIDIA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20260105

Claims (20)

1 . A system comprising: racks positioned within a data center having receivers; an autonomous robot configured to lift the racks from a floor surface of the data center and move the racks within the data center; rack interfaces, wherein each rack interface of the rack interfaces is configured to: be integrated with a rack, of the racks, within the data center; operatively connect systems of the rack to a receiver, of the receivers, of the data center; and engage the autonomous robot and permit the autonomous robot to move the rack within the data center; and a central system configured to: receive, from the racks, operational data of the systems of the racks; determine, based on the operational data, optimal positions within the data center for the racks; and provide commands to the autonomous robot to move the racks to the optimal positions.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operational data comprises at least one of computing loads on the racks, computing tasks being performed on the racks, locations of data on the racks.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the central system is configured to determine, based on the operational data, which computing equipment on which racks perform different computing operations of the data center.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the central system is configured to determine, based on the operational data, whether a rack, of the racks, requires maintenance.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operational data comprises a temperature of one or more systems of the rack.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each rack, of the racks, comprises a power system, a cooling system, a cabling system, and a controller configured to control the power system, the cooling system, and the cabling system.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of the power system, the cooling system, and the cabling system based on movement of the rack by the autonomous robot.
8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to receive the operational data from the power system, the cooling system, and the cabling system and provide the operational data to the central system.
9 . A method comprising: receiving, with a controller of a rack within a data center, an indication that the rack is to be moved, wherein the rack comprises computing equipment, a power system for providing power to the computing equipment from power infrastructure of the data center, a cooling system for cooling the computing equipment by interfacing with cooling infrastructure of the data center, and a cabling system for connecting the computing equipment to data communication infrastructure of the data center; deactivating, with the controller, the power system to shut down the computing equipment; determining, with the controller, whether the computing equipment has achieved a threshold temperature; preventing, based on determining that the computing equipment has not achieved the threshold temperature, movement of the rack; maintaining, based on determining that the computing equipment has not achieved the threshold temperature, operation of the cooling system; deactivating, based on determining that the computing equipment has achieved the threshold temperature, the cooling system; and permitting, after deactivating the cooling system, movement of the rack.
10 . The method of claim 9 , comprising: determining, after movement of the rack, whether a rack interface of the rack is operatively connected to a target receiver; and activating, based on determining that the rack interface is operatively connected to the target receiver, the cooling system.
11 . The method of claim 10 , comprising: determining whether the computing equipment has achieved an operational temperature; and activating, based on determining that the computing equipment has achieved the operational temperature, the power system to provide power to the computing equipment from the power infrastructure of the data center.
12 . The method of claim 9 , comprising: receiving operational data from at least one of the cooling system, the power system, and the cabling system; and providing the operational data to a central system of the data center.
13 . A connector, comprising: a connector data port; a connector inflow cooling port; a connector outflow cooling port; a connector power connector; and a connector alignment guide configured to interact with a receiver alignment guide of a receiver to align (i) the connector data port with a receiver data port of the receiver, (ii) the connector inflow cooling port with a receiver outflow cooling port of the receiver, (iii) the connector outflow cooling port with a receiver inflow cooling port of the receiver, and (iv) the connector power connector with a receiver power connector of the receiver.
14 . The connector of claim 13 , wherein the connector inflow cooling port is configured to connect to the receiver outflow cooling port to establish a connection to cooling infrastructure of a data center to provide fluid communication between a cooling system and the cooling infrastructure.
15 . The connector of claim 13 , wherein the connector outflow cooling port is configured to connect to the receiver inflow cooling port to establish a connection to cooling infrastructure of a data center to provide fluid communication between a cooling system and the cooling infrastructure.
16 . The connector of claim 13 , wherein the connector alignment guide is configured to receive the receiver alignment guide or the receiver alignment guide is configured to receive the connector alignment guide.
17 . A receiver, comprising: a receiver data port; a receiver outflow cooling port; a receiver inflow cooling port; a receiver power connector; and a receiver alignment guide configured to interact with a connector alignment guide of a connector to align (i) the receiver data port with a connector data port of the connector, (ii) the receiver outflow cooling port with a connector inflow cooling port of the connector, (iii) the receiver inflow cooling port with a connector outflow cooling port of the connector, and (iv) the receiver power connector with a connector power connector of the connector.
18 . The receiver of claim 17 , wherein the receiver outflow cooling port is configured to connect the connector inflow cooling port to cooling infrastructure of a data center to provide fluid communication between a cooling system and the cooling infrastructure.
19 . The receiver of claim 17 , wherein: the connector alignment guide is a first connector alignment guide; the receiver alignment guide is a first receiver alignment guide; the connector comprises a second connector alignment guide; and the receiver comprises a second receiver alignment guide.
20 . The receiver of claim 19 , wherein the second receiver alignment guide is configured to interact with the second connector alignment guide to align (i) the receiver data port with the connector data port, (ii) the receiver outflow cooling port with the connector inflow cooling port, (iii) the receiver inflow cooling port with the connector outflow cooling port, and (iv) the receiver power connector with the connector power connector.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/144,971 for “Intelligent Components of a Data Center” filed May 9, 2023 (and published Nov. 14, 2024, as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0381582), now U.S. Pat. No. ______. Each of the foregoing patent application, patent publication, and patent is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to intelligent components of a data center. BACKGROUND Data centers may include a plurality of racks for supporting computing equipment within the data center. The computing equipment on a given rack may be powered by a power system that receives power from power infrastructure of the data center and may be cooled by a cooling system that interfaces with cooling infrastructure of the data center. Additionally, the computing equipment may be connected to data communication infrastructure of the data center by a cabling system. SUMMARY The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments of the present invention in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. This summary presents some concepts of one or more embodiments of the present invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a rack for a data center. The rack may include a controller configured to be in communication with computing equipment in the rack and a framework configured to physically support, within a data center, the computing equipment and the controller. The rack may also include a rack interface in communication with the controller and configured to physically support the framework, operatively connect at least the computing equipment with a receiver of a data center, and receive an autonomous robot configured to move the rack within the data center. The controller may be configured to control functionality of the computing equipment during movement of the rack by the autonomous robot. In some embodiments, the data center may include a first receiver and a second receiver, where the first and second receivers are in different locations within the data center. The rack interface may be configured to permit movement of the rack from the first receiver to the second receiver by disconnecting the rack interface from an operative connection with the first receiver and operatively connecting the rack interface to the second receiver following movement of the rack. In some embodiments, the rack interface may be configured to operatively connect a power system, a cooling system, and a cabling system to the receiver of the data center. The controller may be configured to control the power system, the cooling system, and/or the cabling system based on the movement of the rack by the autonomous robot. In some embodiments, the rack interface may be configured to mechanically align with the receiver of the data center, such that mechanical alignment of the rack interface with the receiver causes connectors of the power system, the cooling system, and/or the cabling system to mechanically align with corresponding connectors of the receiver. In some embodiments, the rack interface may include (i) a power connector configured to connect, via the receiver, the power system to power infrastructure of the data center, (ii) a cooling connector configured to connect, via the receiver, the cooling system to cooling infrastructure of the data center, and (iii) a cabling connector configured to connect, via the receiver, the cabling system to data communication infrastructure of the data center. In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to receive operational data from the power system, the cooling system, and/or the cabling system and provide the operational data to a central system of the data center. Each of the power system, the cooling system, and/or the cabling system may include a sensor configured to generate a signal, and the operational data may be based on the signal from each sensor. In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to, after movement of the rack within the data center, determine whether the rack interface is operatively connected to the receiver. The controller may be configured to, in response to determining that the rack interface is operatively connected to the receiver, activate the cooling system, after activating the cooling system, determine whether the cooling system has achieved an operational threshold, and, in response to determining that the cooling system has achieved the operational threshold, activate the power system to provide power from power infrastructure of the data center to the