International Business Machines Corporation

John V Palmer

Milnes P David

Michael J Domitrovits

Sal M Rosato

Joshua Murphy

Michael J Ellsworth, Jr

Levi A Campbell

Dustin W Demetriou

Apparatuses and methods are provided for facilitating air-cooling of, for instance, one or more electronics racks within a data center. The apparatus includes an air-moving assembly and one or more flywheels. The air-moving assembly includes a shaft, one or more mechanical fans coupled to the shaft to rotate, at least in part, with the shaft, and a motor coupled to the shaft to rotatably drive the shaft. The flywheel(s) is sized and coupled to the shaft of the air-moving assembly to store rotational energy, and to facilitate, for a specified period of time, continued rotation of the shaft during interruption in power to the motor. In one implementation, the flywheel(s) is sized and coupled to the shaft to facilitate, for the specified time period, continued rotation of the shaft at a specified percentage, or greater, rotational speed of the shaft compared with shaft speed when rotatably driven by the motor.

Air-moving assemblies with flywheels

Apparatuses and methods are provided for facilitating air-cooling of, for instance, one or more electronics racks within a data center. The apparatus includes an air-moving assembly and an auxiliary turbine drive. The air-moving assembly includes a shaft, one or more mechanical fans coupled to the shaft to rotate, at least in part, with the shaft, and a motor coupled to the shaft to rotatably drive the shaft. The auxiliary turbine drive is coupled to the shaft of the air-moving assembly to provide backup rotational energy to the shaft to facilitate continued rotation of the shaft during interruption in power to the motor. In one implementation, the auxiliary turbine drive is configured to facilitate, for a specified time period, continued rotation of the shaft at a specified percentage, or greater, rotational speed of the shaft compared with a shaft speed when rotatably driven by the motor.

Air-moving assembly with auxiliary turbine drive

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Central Valley, NY, United States of America

John V Palmer