US-20260129809-A1 - DATACENTER COOLING SYSTEMS THAT INCLUDE PRESSURE EXCHANGERS

US20260129809A1US 20260129809 A1US20260129809 A1US 20260129809A1US-20260129809-A1

Abstract

A system includes a refrigeration system to exchange heat between a first cooling loop and a second cooling loop. The refrigeration system includes a pressure exchanger ( 310 ) that is to receive a first fluid at a first pressure and a second fluid at a second pressure and exchange pressure between the first fluid and the second fluid. The refrigeration system further includes a first heat exchanger ( 318 ) to exchange heat between the first cooling loop and a portion of the first fluid output from the pressure exchanger. The refrigeration system further includes a second heat exchanger ( 329 ) to exchange heat between a portion of the first fluid that is to enter the pressure exchanger and the second cooling loop.

Inventors

Azam Mihir Thatte

Assignees

ENERGY RECOVERY, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20231006

Claims (20)

1 . A system comprising: a refrigeration system to exchange heat between a first cooling loop and a second cooling loop, wherein the first cooling loop is configured to cool a plurality of servers of a datacenter, wherein the second cooling loop is configured to provide heat to a cooling tower to reject the heat to an ambient environment, and wherein the refrigeration system comprises: a pressure exchanger (PX) configured to receive a first fluid at a first pressure via a first inlet of the PX, receive a second fluid at a second pressure via a second inlet of the PX, and exchange pressure between the first fluid and the second fluid, wherein the first fluid is to exit the PX at a third pressure via a first outlet of the PX, and wherein the second fluid is to exit the PX at a fourth pressure via a second outlet of the PX; a first heat exchanger configured to exchange first heat between the first cooling loop and at least a portion of the first fluid output from the first outlet of the PX; and a second heat exchanger configured to exchange second heat between at least a portion of the first fluid that is to enter the first inlet of the PX and the second cooling loop.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first heat exchanger comprises an evaporator of the refrigeration system configured to cause the at least a portion of the first fluid output from the first outlet of the PX to transition from a liquid state to a vapor state.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second heat exchanger comprises a gas cooler of the refrigeration system configured to cool the at least a portion of the first fluid.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid and the second fluid comprise carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), wherein the first pressure is higher than the second pressure, and wherein the third pressure is lower than the fourth pressure.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: an auxiliary heat exchanger configured to receive the second fluid output from the second outlet of the PX and exchange third heat from the second fluid with the ambient environment.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a valve configured to receive the second fluid from the auxiliary heat exchanger and regulate flow of the second fluid to a receiver.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a third heat exchanger configured to exchange third heat between at least the at least a portion of first fluid that is to enter the first inlet of the PX and a sub-portion of fluid output from the third heat exchanger to sub-cool the at least a portion of the first fluid that is to enter the first inlet of the PX.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a booster configured to: receive the second fluid output from the PX at the fourth pressure; increase pressure of the second fluid; and provide the second fluid upstream from an inlet of the second heat exchanger.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a first receiver configured to receive the first fluid from the first outlet of the PX, wherein the receiver forms a chamber configured to separate the first fluid into a first gas and a first liquid.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a booster configured to: receive a portion of the first gas from the first receiver; increase pressure of the portion of the first gas to form the second fluid at the second pressure; and provide the second fluid at the second pressure to the PX via the second inlet.
11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a second receiver configured to receive the second fluid output from the second outlet of the PX and to provide at least a portion of the second fluid output from the second outlet of the PX to the second inlet of the PX as the second fluid at the second pressure.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system further comprises: a compressor configured to receive at least a portion of the first fluid output from the first heat exchanger, increase a corresponding pressure of the at least a portion of the first fluid, and provide the at least a portion of the first fluid to the second heat exchanger.
13 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a cooler unit configured to exchange third heat between the first cooling loop and air circulating in the datacenter to cool the plurality of servers.
14 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising: a pump configured to pump coolant along the first cooling loop between the first heat exchanger and the cooler unit.
15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the cooler unit comprises a cooling coil configured to receive coolant from the first heat exchanger along the first cooling loop and exchange heat between the air in the datacenter and the coolant.
16 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the datacenter comprises a raised floor configured to support multiple server racks to support the plurality of servers, and wherein the air flows through the raised floor to the multiple server racks.
17 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the datacenter comprises ducting configured to direct heated air away from the plurality of servers and toward the cooler unit.
18 . A system comprising: a refrigeration system configured to cool a plurality of servers in a datacenter, wherein the refrigeration system comprises: a pressure exchanger (PX) configured to receive a first fluid at a first pressure via a first inlet of the PX, receive a second fluid at a second pressure via a second inlet of the PX, and exchange pressure between the first fluid and the second fluid, wherein the first fluid is to exit the PX at a third pressure via a first outlet of the PX, and wherein the second fluid is to exit the PX at a fourth pressure via a second outlet of the PX; a first heat exchanger configured to provide first heat from the plurality of servers to at least a portion of the first fluid output from the first outlet of the PX; and a second heat exchanger configured to provide second heat from at least a portion of the first fluid that is to enter the first inlet of the PX to a cold sink.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the first fluid and the second fluid comprise carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), wherein the first pressure is higher than the second pressure, and wherein the third pressure is lower than the fourth pressure.
20 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the first heat exchanger is configured to cool air circulating in the datacenter.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to systems, and, more particularly, datacenter cooling systems that include pressure exchangers. BACKGROUND Systems use fluids at different pressures. Systems use pumps or compressors to increase pressure of fluid. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate schematic diagrams of fluid handling systems including hydraulic energy transfer systems, according to certain embodiments. FIGS. 2A-2E are exploded perspective views of pressure exchangers (PXs), according to certain embodiments. FIGS. 3A-3C are schematic diagrams of datacenter cooling systems including pressure exchangers, according to certain embodiments. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a datacenter cooling system including a pressure exchanger, according to certain embodiments. FIGS. 5A-5F are schematic diagrams of datacenter cooling systems including pressure exchangers, according to certain embodiments. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for controlling a datacenter cooling system, according to certain embodiments. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system, according to certain embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments described herein are related to datacenter cooling systems that include a pressure exchanger (e.g., datacenter cooling systems, fluid handling systems, heat transfer systems, pressure exchanger systems, carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigeration systems, etc.). Systems may use fluids at different pressures. These systems may include hydraulic fracturing (e.g., fracking or fracing) systems, desalinization systems, refrigeration systems, air conditioning systems, datacenter cooling systems, heat pump systems, energy generation systems, mud pumping systems, slurry pumping systems, industrial fluid systems, waste fluid systems, fluid transportation systems, etc. Pumps or compressors may be used to increase pressure of fluid to be used by systems. Conventionally, refrigeration and/or air conditioning systems use compressors to increase the pressure of a fluid (e.g., a refrigeration fluid such as CO2, R-134a, hydrocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), ammonia (NH3), refrigerant blends, R-407A, R-404A, etc.). Conventionally, separate compressors mechanically coupled to motors are used to increase pressure of the fluid. Pumps and compressors that operate over a large pressure differential (e.g., cause a large pressure increase in the fluid) use large quantities of energy. Conventional systems thus expend large amounts of energy increasing the pressure of the fluid (via the pumps or compressors driven by the motors). Additionally, conventional refrigeration systems decrease the pressure of the fluid through expansion valves. While fluid of conventional refrigeration systems decreases pressure (e.g., expands, etc.) through an expansion valve, no useful work is extracted from the expanding fluid, thus introducing an energy inefficiency into the conventional systems. Further, hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants (e.g. R-134a, R-404a, etc.) allegedly contribute to climate change and are being phased out by several countries. Conventional HFC refrigerants are being replaced by natural refrigerants such as CO2 (e.g., R-744) which has negligible impact on the environment. However, the operating pressure for refrigeration systems that use CO2as the refrigerant is much higher than for refrigeration systems using HFC refrigerants (e.g., 900 psi to 1,500 psi, compared to 200 psi to 300 psi, etc.). Thus, refrigeration systems using CO2 refrigerant may consume significantly more energy compared to conventional refrigeration systems using HFC refrigerants. Refrigeration systems using CO2 refrigerant experience increased energy consumption when operated in warmer ambient conditions because pressure increases in the gas cooler/condenser as the ambient temperature increases, and thus the compressor performs more work to overcome the increase in pressure. This is one of the key challenges associated with CO2 refrigeration systems. The systems of the present disclosure solve this challenge by extracting energy during expansion of the high pressure CO2 refrigerant and using the expanding refrigerant to compress a portion of the refrigerant flow, which may reduce the energy consumption of the main compressor of the refrigeration system. Air conditioning systems (e.g., refrigeration systems, etc.) are often used for datacenter cooling. Conventional air conditioning systems can be used to cool air that is provided inside a datacenter computer room to cool computer components such as servers and/or server components. However, conventional air conditioning systems used for datacenter cooling suffer the same shortcomings as described above, particularly the inefficiencies during expansion of refrigera