System and method of controlling an air mover

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9854716-B2
Application number	US-201313738765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 10, 2013
Priority date	Jan 10, 2013
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A system and method of controlling a cooling fan in an information handling system is disclosed. A fan request signal is received from a component of an information handling system and a determination is made regarding whether the component is configured to operate with a cooling fan. If the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan, the fan request signal is transmitted to the cooling fan. If, on the other hand, the component is not configured to operate with the cooling fan, a revised fan request signal is generated and transmitted to the cooling fan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling system of an information handling system comprising:
a cooling fan;
a management controller communicatively coupled to the cooling fan, the management controller configured to:
receive a fan request signal from a component;
identify a fan type of the cooling fan;
determine whether the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan based on the fan type of the cooling fan;
if the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan, transmit the fan request signal to the cooling fan; and
if the component is not configured to operate with the cooling fan, generate a revised fan request signal and transmit the revised fan request signal to the cooling fan.

2. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the component of the information handling system is a server.

3. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify a fan type of a fan with which the component of the information handling system is configured to operate;
compare a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan to a fan-speed curve of the fan with which the component is configured to operate; and
based on the comparison, determine whether the component is configured to operate with the cooling fan.

4. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the fan request signal is a pulse width modulation signal.

5. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the fan request signal comprises a pulse width modulation signal corresponding to a required fan speed of the component of the information handling system on a fan-speed curve of a fan with which the component is configured to operate.

6. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify a required fan speed of the component, wherein identifying a required fan speed comprises identifying an intended fan speed; and
generate a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed.

7. The cooling system of claim 6 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the required fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal in an offset table;
identify an offset corresponding to the intended fan speed in the offset table; and
generate a revised fan request signal by applying the offset to the received fan request signal.

8. The cooling system of claim 6 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the intended fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal on a fan-speed curve of a fan with which the component is configured to operate; and
generate a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed, wherein the revised fan request signal corresponds to the intended fan speed on a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan.

9. An information handling system comprising:
a processor;
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;
a cooling fan; and
a management controller communicatively coupled to the cooling fan, the management controller configured to:
receive a fan request signal from a component of the information handling system;
identify a fan type of the cooling fan;
determine whether the component of the information handling system is configured to operate with the cooling fan based on the fan type of the cooling fan;
if the component of the information handling system is configured to operate with the cooling fan, transmit the fan request signal to the cooling fan; and
if the component of the information handling system is not configured to operate with the cooling fan, generate a revised fan request signal and transmit the revised fan request signal to the cooling fan.

10. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the component of the information handling system is a server.

11. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify a fan type of a fan with which the component of the information handling system is configured to operate;
compare a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan to a fan-speed curve of the fan with which the component of the information handling system is configured to operate; and
based on the comparison, determine whether the component of the information handling system is configured to operate with the cooling fan.

12. The information system of claim 9 , wherein the fan request signal is a pulse width modulation signal.

13. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify a required fan speed of the component, wherein identifying a required fan speed comprises identifying an intended fan speed; and
generate a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed.

14. The information handling system of claim 13 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the required fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal in an offset table;
identify an offset corresponding to the intended fan speed in the offset table; and
generate a revised fan request signal by applying the offset to the received fan request signal.

15. The information handling system of claim 13 , wherein the management controller is further configured to:
identify the intended fan speed of the component, wherein identifying the intended fan speed comprises identifying a fan speed corresponding to the received fan request signal on a fan-speed curve of a fan with which the component is configured to operate; and
generate a revised fan request signal based on the intended fan speed, wherein the revised fan request signal corresponds to the intended fan speed on a fan-speed curve of the cooling fan.

Assignees

• Tunks Eric M
• Coxe William K
• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Tunks Eric M
• Coxe William K

Classifications

• Y02B60/1275

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H05K7/20836 Primary

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

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

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