Systems and methods for management of exhaust temperature in an information handling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10191523-B2
Application number	US-201514816893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2015
Priority date	Aug 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include based on a power consumed by at least one information handling resource and thermal resistances associated with heat-rejecting media thermally coupled to the at least one information handling resource, calculating an exhaust temperature of the heat-rejecting media proximate to an exhaust of an enclosure housing the at least one information handling resource. The method may also include based on the exhaust temperature, controlling at least one of an operating frequency of the at least one information handling resource and a flow rate of fluid proximate to the heat-rejecting media.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system comprising:
at least one information handling resource, including a first and a second information handling resource;
heat-rejecting media thermally coupled to the at least one information handling resource for transferring heat generated to an exterior of an enclosure housing the at least one information handling resource, wherein the heat-rejecting media is proximate to an exhaust of the enclosure such that the heat-rejecting media is subject to physical contact with a user of the information handling system via the exhaust while the information handling system is operational and while the enclosure is closed;
a temperature sensor for sensing an ambient temperature associated with the at least one information handling resource; and
a thermal management driver comprising a program of instructions embodied in non-transitory computer-readable media and executable by a processor, the thermal management driver configured to:
based on a first power consumed by the first information handling resource, a second power consumed by the second information handling resource, and thermal resistances associated with the heat-rejecting media, calculate an exhaust temperature and a second exhaust temperature of the heat-rejecting media proximate to, respectively, the exhaust of the enclosure and a second exhaust of the enclosure; and
based on a determination that at least one of the exhaust temperature and the second exhaust temperature is greater than a maximum temperature that is safe for human contact, control at least one of an operating frequency of the at least one information handling resource and a flow rate of fluid proximate to the heat-rejecting media to lower the at least one of the exhaust temperature and the second exhaust temperature to a new exhaust temperature that is below the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal resistances comprise at least a thermal resistance of a portion of the heat-rejecting media thermally coupled between the first information handling resource and the second information handling resource.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises air, and the thermal management driver is further configured to control the flow rate of the fluid by controlling a speed associated with an air mover for driving the air.

4. The information handling system of claim 3 , wherein the thermal management driver is further configured to decrease an operating frequency of the at least one information handling resource responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact and determining that the speed is at a maximum speed.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal management driver is further configured to decrease an operating frequency of the at least one information handling resource responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal management driver is further configured to increase the flow rate of fluid responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one information handling resource includes at least one of the processor, a processor other than the processor, and a graphics processing unit.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal resistances comprise at least one of:
a thermal resistance between the at least one information handling resource and the heat-rejecting media; and
a thermal resistance between the heat-rejecting media and ambient air.

9. A method comprising:
based on a first power consumed by a first information handling resource, a second power consumed by a second information handling resource, and thermal resistances associated with heat-rejecting media thermally coupled to the first and second information handling resources, a thermal management driver of an information handling system calculating an exhaust temperature and a second exhaust temperature of the heat-rejecting media proximate to, respectively, an exhaust and a second exhaust of an enclosure housing the first and second information handling resources, wherein the heat-rejecting media is subject to physical contact with a user of the information handling system via the exhaust while the information handling system is operating and while the enclosure is closed; and
based on at least one of the exhaust temperature and the second exhaust temperature, the thermal management driver altering at least one of an operating frequency of at least one of the first and second information handling resources and a flow rate of fluid proximate to the heat-rejecting media, wherein the thermal management driver is configured to:
in response to a determination that the at least one of the exhaust temperature and the second exhaust temperature is greater than a maximum temperature that is safe for human contact, control at least one of the operating frequency and the flow rate to lower the at least one of the exhaust temperature and the second exhaust temperature to a new exhaust temperature that is below the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the thermal resistances comprise at least a thermal resistance of a portion of the heat-rejecting media thermally coupled between the first information handling resource and the second information handling resource.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the fluid comprises air, and controlling the flow rate of fluid comprises controlling a speed associated with an air mover for driving the air.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising decreasing an operating frequency of at least one of the first and second information handling resources responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact and determining that the speed is at a maximum speed.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising decreasing an operating frequency of at least one of the first and second information handling resources responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising increasing the flow rate of fluid responsive to determining that the exhaust temperature is greater than the maximum temperature that is safe for human contact.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first information handling resource includes at least one of a processor and a graphics processing unit.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the thermal resistances comprise at least one of:
a thermal resistance between the first information handling resource and the heat-rejecting media; and
a thermal resistance between the heat-rejecting media and ambient air.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Shows Thomas Alexander
• North Travis C
• Aurongzeb Deeder M
• Shelnutt Austin Michael
• Helberg Christopher M

Classifications

• Y02D10/16

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• Y02D10/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title