System and method for improving fan life in an information handling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9681577-B2
Application number	US-201414326274-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2014
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An information handling system includes a first fan in a first location for cooling a first component of the information handling system, a second fan in a second location for cooling a second component of the information handling system, and a management controller. The management controller determines that the first fan has experienced greater stress than the second fan, and recommends that the first fan be placed in the second location and that the second fan be placed in the first location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fan for an information handling system, the fan comprising:
a speed sensor;
a temperature sensor at an outlet of the fan;
a power sensor; and
a processor configured to:
receive inlet temperature information from the information handling system;
determine a rise in temperature at the outlet of the fan based upon the inlet temperature information and outlet temperature information from the sensor;
determine a usage level as:

Usage
=

∑
0
N

⁢

⁢

(

RPM

60
⁢

sec
min

×

T
Inlet

+

T
Rise

60
⁢
°
⁢

⁢

C
.

)

where N is the time since the fan was new in seconds, RPM is a speed of the fan in revolutions per minute, as determined by the speed sensor, T Inlet is a temperature at the inlet of the fan, as determined by the inlet temperature information, and T Rise is the rise in temperature from the inlet to the outlet of the fan; and
determine an efficiency level of the fan based upon efficiency information provided by the power sensor.

2. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to determine that the usage level of the fan is above a usage threshold level.

3. The fan of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further operable to provide an indication to a management controller that the usage level is above the usage threshold level.

4. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to determine that the efficiency level of the fan is below an efficiency threshold level.

5. The fan of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further operable to provide an indication to a management controller that the efficiency level is below the efficiency threshold level.

6. The fan of claim 1 , further comprising:
a persistent read-writable memory;
wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive identification information from a management controller; and
store the identification information in the memory.

7. The fan of claim 6 , wherein the identification information includes at least one of a unique identifier for the fan, an efficiency level of the fan, and a usage level of the fan.

8. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to provide an indication to swap the fan with another fan of the information handling system based upon the usage level of the fan.

9. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to provide an indication to swap the fan with another fan of the information handling system based upon the efficiency level of the fan.

10. A method comprising:
determining, by a speed sensor of a fan, speed information for the fan;
receiving, from an information handling system, inlet temperature information for a temperature at an inlet of the fan;
determining a rise in temperature at an outlet of the fan based upon the inlet temperature information and outlet temperature information from a temperature sensor of the fan; and
determining a usage level as:

Usage
=

∑
0
N

⁢

⁢

(

RPM

60
⁢

sec
min

×

T
Inlet

+

T
Rise

60
⁢
°
⁢

⁢

C
.

)

where N is the time since the fan was new in seconds, RPM is a speed of the fan in revolutions per minute, as determined by the speed sensor, is a temperature at the inlet of the fan, as determined by the inlet temperature information, and T Inlet is the rise in temperature from the inlet to the outlet of the fan; and
determining, by the processor, an efficiency level of the fan based upon efficiency information provided by a power sensor of the fan.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor, that the usage level of the fan is above a usage threshold level.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
providing, by the processor, an indication to a management controller that the usage level is above the usage threshold level.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor, that the efficiency level of the fan is below an efficiency threshold level.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
providing, by the processor, an indication to a management controller that the efficiency level is below the efficiency threshold level.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, identification information from a management controller; and
storing, by the processor, the identification information in a persistent read-writable memory of the fan.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the identification information includes at least one of a unique identifier for the fan, an efficiency level of the fan, and a usage level of the fan.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
providing, by the processor, an indication to swap the fan with

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Ragupathi Dinesh K
• Silveira Alaric
• Henry Carlos G
• Dang Thanh Hung
• Shabbir Hasnain

Classifications

• H05K7/20136 Primary

  Forced ventilation, e.g. by fans (H05K7/202 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• H05K7/20836

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

• F04D25/0613

  the electric motor being of the inside-out type, i.e. the rotor is arranged radially outside a central stator · CPC title

• H05K7/20209

  Thermal management, e.g. fan control · CPC title