Method for extending hold time of power supply units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016306402-A1
Application number	US-201514687614-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 15, 2015
Priority date	Apr 15, 2015
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Various examples of the present technology provide systems and methods for monitoring an AC power to a computing system, generating a power failure signal when the AC power is determined abnormal, and cause one or more components of the computing system to be switched to a low power mode or shut down to reduce power consumption of the computing system. In particular, the various embodiments of the present technology provide a method to extend hold time of a power supply unit (PSU), thus extend power-on time of a server system during an input power interruption.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A server system, comprising:
at least one processor; a power supply unit (PSU), the PSU including a power-loss-detection circuit configured to monitor a status of an AC input power to the server system and, in response to a determination that the AC input power is abnormal, generate a power failure signal; and a controller, the controller configured to, in response to receiving the power failure signal, cause one or more energy storage devices (ESDs) to support power consumption of at least one of a plurality of components of the server system and cause at least one action to be taken to reduce power consumption of the server system.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one action includes causing power supplied to one or more specific components of the server system to be reduced or disabled.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more specific components of the server system include a CPU, memory, just bunch of disks (JBOD), and one or more cooling devices.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to a determination that the AC input power is back to normal, cause the one or more ESDs to be recharged; and cause power supplied to the one or more specific components of the server system to be resumed to a power amount under normal operations.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one action includes facilitating a clock or frequency scaling of a CPU, a system bus or memory of the server system, when at least one of a plurality of predetermined conditions occurs.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of predetermined conditions include the determination that the AC input power is abnormal, and detecting an over-temperature condition on one or more of the plurality of components of the server system.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the system to:
propagate programmable information stored within an I/O controller of the server system to a clock generator, wherein the programmable information indicates an amount of an operating frequency of a first clock signal to the CPU to be adjusted; and cause the first clock signal to the CPU to be adjusted according to the programmable information.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the system to:
cause a second clock signal to the system bus to be adjusted proportionally to the first clock signal.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the system to:
generate a voltage modification signal to a power supply unit (PSU) of the server system; and cause a CPU core voltage to be adjusted proportionally to an adjusted operating frequency of the CPU.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the system to:
in response to a determination that the input power the AC input power is back to normal, cause the CPU core voltage to be resumed to a voltage amount under normal operations; and cause the operating frequency of the first clock signal to the CPU to be resumed to a frequency amount under normal operations.

11 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the system to:
generate a fan-shut-down signal; and cause one or more cooling devices of the server system to be shut down.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more cooling devices include at least one liquid cooling device or fan.

13 . A computer-implemented method for enhancing memory fault tolerance in a server system, comprising:
receiving a power failure signal, the power failure signal indicating an input power to the server system being abnormal; causing one or more energy storage devices (ESDs) to support power consumption of at least one of a plurality of components of the server system; and causing at least one action to be taken to reduce power consumption of the server system.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein causing at least one action to be taken includes:
facilitating a clock or frequency scaling of a CPU, a system bus or DDR of the server system, when at least one of a plurality of predetermined conditions occurs.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:
propagating programmable information stored within an I/O controller of the server system to a clock generator, wherein the programmable information indicates an amount of an operating frequency of a first clock signal to the CPU to be adjusted; and causing the first clock signal to the CPU to be adjusted according to the programmable information.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 15 , further comprising:
causing a second clock signal to the system bus to be adjusted proportionally to the first clock signal.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 15 , further comprising:
generating a voltage modification signal to a power supply unit (PSU) of the server system; and causing a CPU core voltage to be adjusted proportionally to an adjusted operating frequency of the CPU.

18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a server system, cause the server system to:
monitor a status of an AC input power to the server system; in response to a determination that the AC input power is abnormal, generate a power failure signal; cause one or more energy storage devices (ESDs) to support power consumption of at least one of a plurality of components of the server system; and cause at least one action to be taken to reduce power consumption of the server system.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to:
cause power supplied to one or more specific components of the server system to be reduced or disabled.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to:
in response to a determination that the AC input power is back to normal, cause the one or more ESDs to be recharged; and cause power supplied to the one or more specific components of the server system to be resumed to a power amount under normal operations.

Assignees

• Quanta Comp Inc

Inventors

• Huang Jen-Hsuen
• Lin Fa-Da
• Tang Wei-Tsung

Classifications

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F1/3287

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/266

  Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips · CPC title

• G06F1/263 Primary

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title