System and method of controlling an air mover

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10076067-B2
Application number	US-201715814021-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2017
Priority date	Jan 10, 2013
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

A system and method of controlling a cooling fan in an information handling system is disclosed. A fan request signal is received from a component of an information handling system and a determination is made regarding whether the component is configured to operate with a cooling fan. If the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan, the fan request signal is transmitted to the cooling fan. If, on the other hand, the component is not configured to operate with the cooling fan, a revised fan request signal is generated and transmitted to the cooling fan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a cooling fan in an information handling system, the method comprising:
receiving a fan request signal from a component of an information handling system;
identifying a fan type of the cooling fan;
determining whether the component is configured to operate with a cooling fan based on the fan type of the cooling fan;
if the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan, transmitting the fan request signal to the cooling fan; and
if the component is not configured to operate with the cooling fan, generating a revised fan request signal and transmitting the revised fan request signal to the cooling fan.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component of the information handling system is a server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan:
identifying a fan type of the cooling fan;
identifying a fan type of a fan with which the server is configured to operate;
comparing a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan to a fan-speed curve of the fan with which the server is configured to operate; and
determining, based on the comparison, whether the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fan request signal is a pulse width modulation signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a revised fan request signal comprises:
identifying a required fan speed of the component, wherein identifying a required fan speed comprises identifying an intended fan speed; and
generating a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating a revised fan request signal further comprises:
identifying the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the required fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal in an offset table;
identifying an offset corresponding to the intended fan speed in the offset table; and
generating a revised fan request signal by applying the offset to the received fan request signal.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating a revised fan request signal further comprises:
identifying the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the intended fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal on a fan-speed curve of a fan with which the component is configured to operate; and
generating a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed, wherein the revised fan request signal corresponds to the intended fan speed on a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Tunks Eric M
• Coxe William K

Classifications

• H05K7/20836 Primary

  Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control · CPC title

• Y02B60/1275

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• Y02D10/16

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic