Adaptive cooling techniques in electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10754398-B2
Application number	US-201615160893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2016
Priority date	May 20, 2016
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

Cooling of a computing device is described herein. The computing device includes a plurality of fans, a plurality of sensors, and a processor in communication with the plurality of fans and the plurality of sensors. Each sensor of the plurality of sensors is associated with at least one fan of the plurality of fans and is operable to determine a temperature. The processor is configured to determine, for each sensor of the plurality of sensors, a difference between the determined temperature and a predetermined temperature corresponding to the sensor. The processor is also configured to compared the determined differences. The processor is configured to increase a speed of at least a first fan of the plurality of fans based on the comparison, and determine which fan of the plurality of fans to decrease fan speed based on the increased speed of the first fan.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computing device comprising:
a plurality of fans including a first fan and a second fan;
a plurality of temperature sensors; and
a processor in communication with the plurality of fans and the plurality of temperature sensors and a memory in communication with the processor, the processor being configured to:
obtain first temperature information associated with the first fan, the first temperature information including:
a measured temperature from a first temperature sensor of the plurality of temperature sensors; and
a preset temperature threshold corresponding to the first temperature sensor;

obtain second temperature information associated with the second fan, the second temperature information including:
a measured temperature from a second temperature sensor of the plurality of temperature sensors; and
a preset temperature threshold corresponding to the second temperature sensor;

identify a target fan by comparing the first temperature information with the second temperature information;
in accordance with identification of the first fan as the target fan:
increase a speed of the first fan; and
decrease a speed of the second fan based on the increased speed of the first fan and the second temperature information so as to reduce an acoustic level of the computing device.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , the memory configured to store at least one acoustic look-up table.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to decrease the speed of the second fan based on a stored acoustic look-up table of the at least one acoustic look-up table.

4. The computing device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one acoustic look-up table comprises a plurality of acoustic look-up tables, and
wherein the processor is configured to select the acoustic look-up table from the plurality of acoustic look-up tables based on the increased speed of the first fan.

5. The computing device of claim 4 , wherein the selected acoustic look-up table comprises a plurality of expected sound levels at a plurality of combinations of a speed of a second fan of the plurality of fans and a speed of a third fan of the plurality of fans, respectively, when the first fan is operated at the increased speed.

6. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to determine which fan of the plurality of fans to decrease fan speed based on which fan of the second fan and the third fan will decrease acoustic sound level the most after same decreases in speed.

7. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to identify the target fan based on a stored acoustic look-up table of the at least one acoustic look-up table.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein each temperature sensor of the plurality of temperature sensors is operable to measure an operating temperature of a component within the computing device,
wherein the first temperature or the second temperature corresponding to the temperature sensor is a maximum operating temperature for the component; and
wherein the preset temperature threshold corresponding to the first temperature sensor is associated with a maximum operating temperature.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising determining a difference value for the temperature sensor associated with the first fan, wherein the processor is configured to increase the speed of the first fan by a predetermined amount when the difference value is determined for the temperature sensor associated with the first fan is a smallest difference value of the difference values.

10. A method for cooling an electronic device having a first fan and a second fan, comprising:
obtaining temperature information for each of the first and second fans, including:
measuring a plurality of temperatures within the electronic device each temperature of the plurality of temperatures associated with at least one fan of the first and second fans;
obtaining a preset temperature threshold corresponding to each temperature of the plurality of temperatures;

identifying a target fan by comparing the obtained temperature information for the first and second fans;
in accordance with identification of a first fan as the target fan:
increasing a speed of the first fan; and
decreasing a speed of the second fan based on the increased speed of the first fan and the obtained temperature information for the second fan.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
storing, by a memory in communication with a processor, a plurality of acoustic look-up tables; and
selecting, by the processor, the acoustic look-up table from the plurality of acoustic look-up tables based on the increased speed of the first fan.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein selecting, by the processor, an acoustic look-up table comprises selecting a plurality of expected sound levels at a plurality of combinations of a speed of a second fan of the plurality of fans and a speed of a third fan of the plurality of fans, respectively, when the first fan is operated at the increased speed.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining, by a processor, which fan of the plurality of fans to decrease fan speed based on which fan of the second fan and the third fan will decrease acoustic sound level the most after same decreases in speed.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining, by a processor, for each sensor of a plurality of sensors, a difference value between the measured temperature and a predetermined temperature corresponding to each sensor of the plurality of sensors resulting in a first determined difference value for a first sensor of the plurality of sensors and a second determined difference value for a second sensor of the plurality of sensors,
wherein the measuring comprises measuring, by each sensor of a plurality of sensors, an operating temperature of a component within a computing device, wherein the measured temperatures for each sensor of the plurality of sensors corresponds to an operating temperature of a component within the computing device, and
wherein the predetermined temperature corresponding to the sensor is a maximum operating temperature for the component.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining a difference value for a temperature sensor associated with the first fan, wherein the increasing comprises increasing, by a processor, the speed of the first fan by a predetermined amount when the difference value determined for the temperature sensor associated with the first fan is a smallest difference value of the difference values.

16. A computing device comprising:
a first fan, a second fan, and a third fan;
a first temperature sensor associated with the first fan, a second temperature sensor associated with the second fan, and a third temperature sensor associated with the third fan; and
a processor in communication with the first, second, and third fans, the first, second, and third sensors, the processor configured to:
obtain temperature information for each of the first fan, the second fan, and the third fan, wherein the temperature information includes temperature measurements from the first, second, and third temperature sensors;
identify a target fan by comparing the temperature information for the first fan, the second fan, and the third fan; and;
in accordance with identification of the first fan as the target fan:
increase a speed of the first fan;
identify a second target fan based on the obtained temperature information for the second fan and the

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Ho Chau Van
• Dan Bo
• Eggert Spencer B

Classifications

• G06F1/20 Primary

  Cooling means · CPC title

• G05B19/406

  characterised by monitoring or safety (G05B19/19 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/49216

  Control of temperature of processor · CPC title

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title