Temperature sensing based flow monitoring and fault detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10612980-B2
Application number	US-201715629625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2017
Priority date	Jun 21, 2017
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus is provided which comprises: a first circuitry to receive a measurement of a first temperature of a section of a computing device during a first loading condition of the computing device, and to receive a measurement of a second temperature of the section of the computing device during a second loading condition of the computing device; and a second circuitry to detect a potential fault in a cooling system to cool the computing device, based at least in part on the first temperature and the second temperature.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a first circuitry to receive a measurement of a first temperature of a section of a computing device during a first loading condition of the computing device, and to receive a measurement of a second temperature of the section of the computing device during a second loading condition of the computing device, wherein the first loading condition and the second loading condition are such that a power consumption of the computing device during the first loading condition is within a threshold range of a power consumption of the computing device during the second loading condition; and
a second circuitry to detect a potential fault in a liquid coolant flow path of a cooling system, which is configured to cool the computing device, based at least in part on the first temperature and the second temperature.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuitry is further to:
receive a first coolant temperature during the first loading condition of the computing device; and
receive a second coolant temperature during the second loading condition of the computing device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first circuitry is further to:
determine a first temperature difference between the first temperature and the first coolant temperature; and
determine a second temperature difference between the second temperature and the second coolant temperature.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising:
a third circuitry to compare the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference,
wherein the second circuitry is to detect the potential fault in the cooling system, based at least in part on the comparison between the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second circuitry is to detect the potential fault in the cooling system, based at least in part on the second temperature difference being higher than the first temperature difference by at least a threshold amount.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the first coolant temperature is a temperature of a liquid coolant in an inlet of a coolant flow path that is to cool the computing device during the first loading condition of the computing device; and
the second coolant temperature is a temperature of a liquid coolant in the inlet of the coolant flow path that is to cool the computing device during the second loading condition of the computing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the potential fault in the cooling system comprises a potential partial or full blockage in the liquid coolant flow path to circulate coolant to cool the computing device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first loading condition of the computing device is achieved by loading a dedicated benchmark program on the computing device.

9. A system comprising:
a computing device comprising a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor to:
determine a first temperature of the computing device, and
determine a second temperature of the computing device;

a cooling system configured to cool the computing device; and
a control circuitry to detect a potential blockage in a liquid coolant flow path of the cooling system, based at least in part on the first temperature and the second temperature, wherein:
the first temperature is measured during a first instance;
the second temperature is measured during a second instance; and
a computational workload of the computing device during the first instance is substantially the same as a computational workload of the computing device during the second instance.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the temperature sensor is a first temperature sensor, and wherein the system further comprises:
a second temperature sensor to:
determine a first coolant temperature of coolant in the liquid coolant flow path, and
determine a second coolant temperature of coolant in the liquid coolant flow path.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is to:
determine a first temperature difference between the first temperature and the first coolant temperature; and
determine a second temperature difference between the second temperature and the second coolant temperature.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is to:
compare the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference; and
detect the potential blockage in the liquid coolant flow path of the cooling system, based at least in part on the comparison between the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry is to detect the potential blockage in the liquid coolant flow path of the cooling system, based at least in part on the second temperature difference being higher than the first temperature difference by at least a threshold amount.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuitry is to:
generate a notification to notify about the potential blockage in the liquid coolant flow path of the cooling system, to facilitate rectification of the potential blockage in the liquid coolant flow path.

15. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a memory coupled to the control circuitry,
wherein the control circuitry is to store the first temperature and the second temperature in the memory.

16. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media to store instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive a measurement of a first temperature of a computing device during a first loading condition of the computing device;
receive a measurement of a second temperature of the computing device during a second loading condition of the computing device, wherein the first loading condition and the second loading condition are such that a power consumption of the computing device during the first loading condition is within a threshold range of a power consumption of the computing device during the second loading condition; and
detect a potential fault in a liquid coolant flow path of a cooling system, which is configured to cool the computing device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:
receive a first coolant temperature during the first loading condition of the computing device;
receive a second coolant temperature during the second loading condition of the computing device;
compute a first temperature difference between the first temperature and the first coolant temperature;
compute a second temperature difference between the second temperature and the second coolant temperature; and
compare the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference,
wherein the potential fault in the cooling system is detected, based at least in part on the comparison between the first temperature difference and the second temperature difference.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:
generate a notification to notify about the potential fault in the cooling system, to facilitate rectification of the potential fault.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Jurski Janusz P
• Bandorawalla Tozer J
• Nagappan Ramkumar
• Oriol Mariusz
• Sawicki Piotr
• Steinbrecher Robin A
• Krishnan Shankar

Classifications

• F24F11/32

  Responding to malfunctions or emergencies · CPC title

• F24F11/30

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title

• G01K3/08 Primary

  giving differences of values (using thermoelectric elements G01K7/02); giving differentiated values · CPC title

• H05K7/20836

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

• F24F2110/00

  Control inputs relating to air properties · CPC title