Monitoring the conditions: This sensor, a prototype developed by the Networked Embedded Computing group at Microsoft Research, is sensitive to heat and humidity. The group envisions using sensors like these to monitor servers in data centers, enabling significant energy savings. The sensors could also be used in homes to manage the energy use of appliances.
Microsoft Research
A group at Microsoft Research attacks the problem on two fronts.
Data centers are an increasingly significant source of energy consumption. A recent EPA report to Congress estimated that U.S. servers and data centers used about 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006, or 1.5 percent of the total electricity used in the country that year. (See also "Data Centers' Growing Power Demands.") Concern about the amount of energy eaten up by data centers has led to a slew of research in the area, including new work from Microsoft Research's Networked Embedded Computing group, which was showcased last week in Redmond, WA, at Microsoft's TechFest 2008. The work attacks the energy-consumption problem in two ways: new algorithms make it possible to free up servers and put them into sleep mode, and sensors identify which servers would be best to shut down based on the environmental conditions in different parts of the server room. By eliminating hot spots and minimizing the number of active servers, Microsoft researchers say that the system could produce as much as 30 percent in energy savings in data centers.
The sensors, says Feng Zhao, principal researcher and manager of the group, are sensitive to both heat and humidity. They're Web-enabled and can be networked and made compatible with Web services. Zhao says that he envisions the sensors, which are still in prototype form, as "a new kind of scientific instrument" that could be used in a variety of projects. In a data center, the idiosyncrasies of a building and individual servers can have a big effect on how the cooling system functions, and therefore on energy consumption. Cooling, Zhao notes, accounts for about half the energy used in data centers. (He believes that the sensors, which he says could sell for $5 to $10 apiece, could be used in homes as well as in data centers, where they could work in tandem with a Web-based energy-savings application.)
Another aspect of the research, explains Lin Xiao, a researcher with the group, is new algorithms designed to manage loads on the servers in a more energy-efficient way. Traditionally, load-balancing algorithms are used to keep traffic evenly distributed over a set of servers. The Microsoft system, in contrast, distributes the load to free up servers during off-peak times so that those servers can be put into sleep mode. The algorithms are currently designed for connection servers, which are employed with services for which users may log in for sessions of several hours, such as IM services or massively multiplayer online games. Because long sessions are common, shifting loads requires complex planning in order to avoid disconnecting users and other problems with quality of service. Xiao says that the group has developed two types of algorithms: load-forecasting algorithms, which predict a few hours ahead of time how many servers will need to be working, and load-skewing algorithms, which distribute traffic according to the predictions and power down relatively empty servers.
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Temperature, Humidity, Ducting
OK - Temperature is obvious. Why humidity?
What gets done differently if humidity is higher or lower, at one spot versus another?
Lastly, what about ducting?
Concentrating heat removal at the heat source?
(Versus providing cooling to the entire room)
Too expensive to do on a rack by rack or even bank of racks basis?
Already assumed - standard practice?
Re: Temperature, Humidity, Ducting
The fastest answer to the question about humidity is that the sensors are built for more than simply data centers (Zhao told me, for example, that they could be used outdoors for other types of environmental research). It could be that their ability to measure humidity would be best applied in some other context.
That said, I've forwarded your questions to him, in case there is a particular use for knowing the humidity in a data center. Same story on the ducting. I'll let you know when I know more.
Best,
Erica Naone
Re: Temperature, Humidity, Ducting
From Feng Zhao:
"Ducting is an interesting example of re-thinking about the way data centers/racks are designed. In general, moving air (as in room-sized air-conditioning) across a long distance is expensive in energy use. Cooling for the entire room is also expensive. People have been thinking about new form factors/rack arrangement, for example, in the “container data center” form factor from manufacturers such as Rackable and Sun.
"Humidity is usually correlated with temperature (inversely). Humidity is important for the efficiency of the air-conditioning. If the humidity is too high in the return air, one needs to de-humidify the air before cooling."
Save power - stop Spam and Viruses
Since half the traffic served is spam or viruses, how much power could we save if we actually tried to stop them? Nobody selling services or equipment wants to, of course, as they depend on all that illicit traffic for revenue...
Re: Save power - stop Spam and Viruses
SPAM doesn't require a huge data center, just a few dedicated mail servers.
So nobody remembers the ice work of Los Alamos bomb designer T. Tayer. Power up snow makers and make snow in a pound or quarry. It turns in to ice. Lots of it. Cheap. Go North rich guys and make ice to help cool your data centers
GE Sensing had already developed this kind of product
GE Sensing had already developed a similar product some years back. I was the software developer for this GearTrak product and it not only senses temperature and Humidity but also senses Pressure, Noise, Vibration etc. More on the product at
http://www.gesensing.com/products/gear_trak.htm?bc=bc_indust+bc_pro_chm
Thanks,
Kishore Babu Gaddam.
Software Architect,
Bechtel Software Engineering & Construction (SEC)
Re: GE Sensing had already developed this kind of product
Kishore,
You might want to correct the url.. I think the current one is
http://www.gesensing.com/products/rtd_element.htm?bc=null
Guest (Mattaak7)
All Check this out done by a canadian company :
http://www.regenenergy.com/video.html
But I am impressed by price of Microsoft ,
The steam engine was originally used to remove excess water from mines to make them more productive and PROFITABLE.
Why not turn the 'PROBLEM' of waste heat into a profitable SOLUTION?
Engineers building datacentres don't seem to grasp basic principles of physics - hot air rises and draws in cool air to replace it. Instead of mechanically forcing air to cool data centres with low levels of efficiency, allow the natural movement of air to work for FREE.
Architecture has decoded the layout of a termite's nest that keeps it regulated at a constant temperature despite external fluctuations.
I saw a video on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtufuXLvOok - created by Puget Systems, that submerged a computer in mineral oil for two years without any problems. The submerged computer had superior heat transfer. An extra benefit was that the submersion eliminated the requirement for filtered air(no more dust to arc and short out components) and the fans were superfluous, reducing electricity requirements.
A datacentre that submerses the servers in mineral oil gains from increased lifespan of electronic components(heat dissipation), reduced electricity usage from removal of cooling fans and easier recovery of heat to make a PROFIT.
Recovered heat could be used in a stirling engine(thermal recovery and conversion) powerplant to create electricity needed by the datacentre to offset that drawn from the grid.
When no further heat can be used to generate electrity, the heat could be sold to a local city to provide preheated hotwater(the idea of combined heat and power electricity powerplants), instead of burning heating oil in winter.
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76 Comments
heat flow
this does give an opportunity for clever engineering--real-life engineering. a fast flow of warm room air may cool better--and far more economically--than a small flow of expensively-cooled air from an air-conditioner. so rather than attempting to chill an entire suite of computers, just keeping them at operating temps with flexible blower and cooler systems that adapt moment to moment could indeed save energy.
heck, think of how well they could HEAT a building in winter!
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