Dynamic control of fan floor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10678278-B2
Application number	US-201715461149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2017
Priority date	Mar 16, 2017
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

Controlling an activation status of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for an information handling system cooling system, such as the on/off status of the PID controller, can reduce power consumption and processing and memory requirements for such a system. A decrease in resource consumption can be realized by deactivating the PID controller during certain periods and activating the PID controller during others. For example, the PID controller can be deactivated when a temperature of a system component falls below a threshold temperature and activated when the temperature of the system component rises above the threshold temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a component cooling system of an information handling system, comprising:
receiving a temperature margin of a system component;
comparing the temperature margin of the system component to a set temperature margin;
receiving a fan speed of a cooling fan of the information handling system;
comparing the fan speed to an idle fan speed;
activating a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller configured to generate a control signal for a cooling fan when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is less than the set temperature margin; and
deactivating the PID controller when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is greater than or equal to the set temperature margin and the fan speed is less than or equal to the idle fan speed,
wherein deactivating the PID controller comprises turning off the PID controller.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin based, at least in part, on the received system component temperature margin.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises increasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is less than or equal to the set temperature margin.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises decreasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is greater than the set temperature margin.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising logging the system component temperature margin.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the set temperature margin is decreased when the system component temperature margin has exceeded the set temperature margin by at least a set temperature for at least a set time period.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises decreasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is greater than the set temperature margin.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising logging the system component temperature margin.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the set temperature margin is decreased when the system component temperature margin has exceeded the set temperature margin by at least a set temperature for at least a set time period.

10. An apparatus, comprising:
a controller configured to perform steps comprising:
receiving a temperature margin of a system component;
comparing the temperature margin of the system component to a set temperature margin;
receiving a fan speed of a cooling fan of the information handling system;
comparing the fan speed to an idle fan speed;
activating a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller configured to generate a control signal for a cooling fan when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is less than the set temperature margin; and
deactivating the PID controller when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is greater than or equal to the set temperature margin and the fan speed is less than or equal to the idle fan speed,
wherein deactivating the PID controller comprises turning off the PID controller.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform steps comprising dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin based, at least in part, on the received system component temperature margin.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises increasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is less than or equal to the set temperature margin.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises decreasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is greater than the set temperature margin.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform steps comprising logging the system component temperature margin.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the set temperature margin is decreased when the system component temperature margin has exceeded the set temperature margin by at least a set temperature for at least a set time period.

16. An apparatus for controlling a component cooling system of an information handling system, comprising:
a cooling fan; and
a controller coupled to the cooling fan to control the cooling fan;
wherein, the controller is configured to perform steps comprising:
receiving a temperature margin of a system component;
comparing the temperature margin of the system component to a set temperature margin;
receiving a fan speed of the cooling fan;
comparing the fan speed to an idle fan speed;
activating a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller configured to generate a control signal for the cooling fan when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is less than the set temperature margin; and
deactivating the PID controller when the comparison indicates that the temperature margin of the system component is greater than or equal to the set temperature margin and the fan speed is less than or equal to the idle fan speed,
wherein deactivating the PID controller comprises turning off the PID controller.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform steps further comprising dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin based, at least in part, on the received system component temperature margin.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the set temperature margin comprises increasing the set temperature margin when the system component temperature margin is less than or equal to the set temperature margin.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Locke Kevin
• North Travis
• Woo Joohyun

Classifications

• G05D23/1919 Primary

  characterised by the type of controller · CPC title

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F2200/201

  Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid · CPC title

• Y10S236/09

  Fan control · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

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