Patents by Inventor Xuanhang Zhang

Xuanhang Zhang has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20140122033
    Abstract: A system and method for modeling airflow and temperature are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Applicant: AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: James William VanGilder, Christopher M. Healey, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8712735
    Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed to systems and methods for designing and analyzing data centers. One aspect is directed to a method of determining cooling characteristics of a data center. The method includes receiving data related to a configuration of equipment in the data center, identifying rack clusters in the configuration of equipment, and determining a cooling metric for at least one equipment rack of at least one rack cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Saurabh K. Shrivastava, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8688413
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for sequential placement of cooling resources in a data center comprises: defining a weighted, higher-order cooling metric, , representing an overall performance of the cooling resources in the data center; enumerating all possible locations in the data center for placing an additional c cooling resources; and placing the c cooling resources in locations in the data center for which is closest to an optimum value. For a performance metric Mi, the weighted, higher-order cooling performance metric can be defined as M ^ = ? k = 0 C - 1 ? ? i = 1 R ? a ? ( i , k ) ? M i ( k ) , where R represents a number of racks in the data center, C represents a total number of cooling resources placed in the data center, i represents one of the R racks in the data center, Mi(k) represents a value of metric Mi when k cooling resources are shut down, and a(i,k) is a weighting function for rack i with the k cooling resources shut down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Inventors: Christopher M. Healey, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20140039852
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for evaluating the transient cooling performance of a data center. In one version, the method includes receiving input data from a storage device, the input data including data center architecture information and operating data, performing transient cooling performance calculations for the data center using the input data, and displaying results of the transient cooling performance calculations, wherein the results include at least one of a cooling runtime and a maximum predicted temperature of the data center following a power outage of the data center.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: Schneider Electric IT Corporation
    Inventors: Xuanhang Zhang, James William VanGilder
  • Patent number: 8560677
    Abstract: Systems and methods for data center control are provided. The data center includes a plurality of racks and at least one cooling unit. The racks including at least one server. Information regarding the at least one cooling unit, the at least one server, the plurality of racks, and at least one application is received. A rack based cooling metric threshold is also received. The systems and methods can determine a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Mikkel Dalgas, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8554515
    Abstract: A system and method for evaluating equipment in an improper cluster in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider. In one aspect, the method includes receiving data regarding each of the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, the data including a layout of the improper cluster of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, storing the received data, identifying at least one gap in the layout, determining cooling performance of at least one of the plurality of equipment racks based, at least in part, on characteristics of the at least one gap, and displaying the layout of the data center, wherein the layout includes an indication of the cooling performance of the at least one of the plurality of equipment racks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8509959
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for evaluating the transient cooling performance of a data center. In one version, the method includes receiving input data from a storage device, the input data including data center architecture information and operating data, displaying a model of the data center, performing real-time transient cooling performance calculations for the data center using the input data, and displaying results of the real-time transient cooling performance calculations, wherein the results include a maximum predicted temperature of the data center following a power outage of the data center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation
    Inventors: Xuanhang Zhang, James W. VanGilder
  • Publication number: 20130073258
    Abstract: A system and method for evaluating equipment in an improper cluster in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider. In one aspect, the method includes receiving data regarding each of the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, the data including a layout of the improper cluster of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, storing the received data, identifying at least one gap in the layout, determining cooling performance of at least one of the plurality of equipment racks based, at least in part, on characteristics of the at least one gap, and displaying the layout of the data center, wherein the layout includes an indication of the cooling performance of the at least one of the plurality of equipment racks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2012
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Applicant: AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20130030585
    Abstract: A system and method for providing energy assessment and optimization in a data center that includes at least one cooling provider, and at least one cooling consumer, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements. The method according to one aspect includes receiving data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, and a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, storing the received data, determining airflow distribution effectiveness between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, and displaying at least one value representative of the effectiveness of the distribution of airflow in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Inventors: Neil Rasmussen, James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20130006426
    Abstract: A system and method for evaluating cooling performance of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks and at least one cooling provider.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2011
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Inventors: Christopher Healey, Xuanhang Zhang, James W. VanGilder
  • Patent number: 8249825
    Abstract: A system and method for evaluating equipment in an improper cluster in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider. In one aspect, the method includes receiving data regarding each of the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, the data including a layout of the improper cluster of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, storing the received data, identifying at least one gap in the layout, determining cooling performance of at least one of the plurality of equipment racks based, at least in part, on characteristics of the at least one gap, and displaying the layout of the data center, wherein the layout includes an indication of the cooling performance of the at least one of the plurality of equipment racks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120170205
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for sequential placement of cooling resources in a data center comprises: defining a weighted, higher-order cooling metric, , representing an overall performance of the cooling resources in the data center; enumerating all possible locations in the data center for placing an additional c cooling resources; and placing the c cooling resources in locations in the data center for which is closest to an optimum value. For a performance metric Mi, the weighted, higher-order cooling performance metric can be defined as M ^ = ? k = 0 C - 1 ? ? i = 1 R ? a ? ( i , k ) ? M i ( k ) , where R represents a number of racks in the data center, C represents a total number of cooling resources placed in the data center, i represents one of the R racks in the data center, Mi(k) represents a value of metric Mi when k cooling resources are shut down, and a(i,k) is a weighting function for rack i with the k cooling resources shut down.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Applicant: AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher M. Healey, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8209056
    Abstract: A system and method for providing energy assessment and optimization in a data center that includes at least one cooling provider, and at least one cooling consumer, the at least one cooling consumer having cooling requirements. The method according to one aspect includes receiving data regarding cooling availability and power consumption for the at least one cooling consumer, cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, and a physical relationship between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider in the data center, storing the received data, determining airflow distribution effectiveness between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider, and displaying at least one value representative of the effectiveness of the distribution of airflow in the data center between the at least one cooling consumer and the at least one cooling provider.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: Neil Rasmussen, James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120158387
    Abstract: According to at least one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for modeling cooling performance is provided. The method includes acts of receiving, by a computer, input data from a storage device, the input data including data related to physical structures within at least one equipment rack, selecting, based on the data related to physical structures, at least one first equation of a plurality of predetermined equations that describe pressure values in a plurality of spaces within the at least one equipment rack, determining pressure values in identified spaces of the plurality of spaces by solving the at least one first equation using the input data, determining airflow values between identified spaces by calculating a difference between the pressure values and storing, on the storage device, the airflow values as equipment rack airflow values within the at least one equipment rack.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicant: AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120071992
    Abstract: Systems and methods provide determinations of airflow from a raised floor plenum. In one aspect, a computer-implemented method is provided for predicting airflow from a plurality of openings in a plenum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Zachary R. Sheffer, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120059628
    Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed to systems and methods for designing and analyzing data centers. One aspect is directed to a method of determining cooling characteristics of a data center. The method includes receiving data related to a configuration of equipment in the data center, identifying rack clusters in the configuration of equipment, and determining a capture index for at least one equipment rack of at least one rack cluster.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Saurabh K. Shrivastava, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120041569
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for evaluating the transient cooling performance of a data center. In one version, the method includes receiving input data from a storage device, the input data including data center architecture information and operating data, displaying a model of the data center, performing real-time transient cooling performance calculations for the data center using the input data, and displaying results of the real-time transient cooling performance calculations, wherein the results include a maximum predicted temperature of the data center following a power outage of the data center.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: Xuanhang Zhang, James W. VanGilder
  • Publication number: 20110301911
    Abstract: A system and method for evaluating equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider. In one aspect, a method includes receiving data regarding each of the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, the data including a layout of the equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, and a power draw value for each of the equipment racks, storing the received data, determining air flow between the at least one cooling provider and each of the equipment racks, determining inlet and exit air temperature for the at least one cooling provider based on the layout, the power draw and the airflow, for each equipment rack, determining inlet and exit air temperature based on the layout, the power draw and the airflow, and displaying an indication of the inlet and exit temperature for each of the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooler.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Applicant: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Xuanhang Zhang, Christopher M. Healey
  • Patent number: 7991592
    Abstract: Aspects of the invention are directed to systems and methods for designing and analyzing data centers. One aspect is directed to a method of determining cooling characteristics of a data center. The method includes receiving data related to a configuration of equipment in the data center, identifying rack clusters in the configuration of equipment, and determining a capture index for at least one equipment rack of at least one rack cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Saurabh K. Shrivastava, Xuanhang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20110077795
    Abstract: Systems and methods for data center control are provided. The data center includes a plurality of racks and at least one cooling unit. The racks including at least one server. Information regarding the at least one cooling unit, the at least one server, the plurality of racks, and at least one application is received. A rack based cooling metric threshold is also received. The systems and methods can determine a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2010
    Publication date: March 31, 2011
    Applicant: AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: James W. VanGilder, Mikkel Dalgas, Xuanhang Zhang