Closed-loop control and monitoring in cooling electronic components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9763356-B2
Application number	US-201414226395-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2014
Priority date	Mar 26, 2014
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

An embodiment provides a method, including: receiving, from a temperature sensor disposed within an electronic device, temperature input relative to a first heat generating component; the first heat generating component being upstream of a cooling element of the electronic device; receiving, from a temperature sensor disposed within an electronic device, temperature input relative to a second heat generating component; the second heat generating component being downstream of the cooling element; and controlling the cooling element to cool the first and second heat generating components based on both the temperature input relative to the first heat generating component and the temperature input relative to the second heat generating component. Other aspects are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a temperature sensor disposed within an electronic device, temperature input associated with a temperature of a first heat generating component;
the first heat generating component being upstream of a cooling element of the electronic device;
receiving, from a second temperature sensor disposed within the electronic device, temperature input associated with a temperature of a second heat generating component;
the second heat generating component being downstream of the cooling element; and
controlling the cooling element to cool the first and second heat generating components based on both the temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the temperature associated with the second heat generating component, wherein the controlling comprises normalizing the temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the temperature associated with the second heat generating component, identifying, from the normalized temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature associated with the second heat generating component, the first heat generating component or the second heat generating component having a higher normalized temperature of the respective normalized temperatures and necessitating a higher airflow, and controlling the cooling element based upon the higher normalized temperature necessitating a higher airflow.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said controlling comprises comparing the normalized temperature input relative to the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature input relative to the second heat generating component.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the temperature input relative to the first heat generating component comprises a first input and the temperature input relative to the second heat generating component comprises a second input; and
wherein identifying from the normalized temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature associated with the second heat generating component necessitating a higher airflow comprises determining which one of the first and second inputs will result in greater cooling for the first and second heat generating components.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second heat generating component comprises a power supply.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first heat generating component comprises a storage device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the cooling element comprises a fan.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said controlling comprises controlling the fan via a control circuit in the power supply.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said controlling comprises sending a signal to the control circuit based on the temperature input relative to the first heat generating component and the temperature input relative to the second heat generating component.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said sending is performed from a microcontroller disposed separately from the power supply.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the controlling comprises controlling fan speed.

11. An apparatus, comprising:
a first heat generating component and a second heat generating component;
one or more temperature sensors disposed to sense temperature of at least one of the first heat generating component and the second heat generating component;
a cooling element;
a processor operatively coupled to the cooling element and the one or more temperature sensors; and
a memory that stores instructions executable by the processor to:
receive, from a temperature sensor, temperature input associated with a temperature of the first heat generating component;
the first heat generating component being upstream of the cooling element;
receive, from a second temperature sensor, temperature input associated with a temperature of the second heat generating component;
the second heat generating component being downstream of the cooling element; and
control the cooling element to cool the first and second heat generating components based on both the temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the temperature associated with the second heat generating component, wherein to control comprises normalizing the temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the temperature associated with the second heat generating component, identifying, from the normalized temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature associated with the second heat generating component, the first heat generating component or the second heat generating component having a higher normalized temperature of the respective normalized temperatures and necessitating a higher airflow, and controlling the cooling element based upon the higher normalized temperature necessitating a higher airflow.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein to control comprises comparing the normalized temperature input relative to the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature input relative to the second heat generating component.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:
the temperature input relative to the first heat generating component comprises a first input and the temperature input relative to the second heat generating component comprises a second input; and
wherein identifying from the normalized temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the normalized temperature associated with the second heat generating component necessitating a higher airflow comprises determining which one of the first and second inputs will result in greater cooling for the first and second heat generating components.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second heat generating component comprises a power supply.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first heat generating component comprises a storage device.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the cooling element comprises a fan.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein to control comprises controlling the fan via a control circuit in the power supply.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein to control comprises sending a signal to the control circuit based on the temperature input relative to the first heat generating component and the temperature input relative to the second heat generating component.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein said sending is performed from a microcontroller disposed separately from the power supply.

20. A product, comprising:
a storage device having code stored therewith, the code being executable by a processor and comprising:
code that receives, from a temperature sensor disposed within an electronic device, temperature input associated with a temperature of a first heat generating component;
the first heat generating component being upstream of a cooling element of the electronic device;
code that receives, from a second temperature sensor disposed within the electronic device, temperature input associated with a temperature of a second heat generating component;
the second heat generating component being downstream of the cooling element; and
code that controls the cooling element to cool the first and second heat generating components based on both the temperature associated with the first heat generating component and the temperature associated with the second heat generating component, wherein the code that controls c

Assignees

• Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Pamley Marc Richard
• Farrow Timothy Samuel
• Ali Ali Omar
• Martin-Otto William Fred

Classifications

• H05K7/20836

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

• H05K7/20209 Primary

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

• H05K7/202

  Air circulating in closed loop within enclosure wherein heat is removed through heat-exchangers · CPC title

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title