U.S. patent application number 15/281534 was filed with the patent office on 2017-01-19 for thermal control systems and methods for information handling systems.
The applicant listed for this patent is Dell Products L.P.. Invention is credited to Paul Artman, Hasnain Shabbir.
Application Number | 20170017281 15/281534 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49995632 |
Filed Date | 2017-01-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170017281 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Artman; Paul ; et
al. |
January 19, 2017 |
Thermal Control Systems And Methods For Information Handling
Systems
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for information handling system
thermal control that employ configuration-based temperature
feedback, e.g., by using configuration-based fan speed control
based on real time individual measured component temperatures. In
one example, the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented
to allow inputs from one or more hardware temperature sensors to
set cooling fan speeds and/or power capping levels in a closed loop
fashion, rather than relying solely (or at all) on system inlet
ambient temperature.
Inventors: |
Artman; Paul; (Austin,
TX) ; Shabbir; Hasnain; (Round Rock, TX) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Dell Products L.P. |
Round Rock |
TX |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
49995632 |
Appl. No.: |
15/281534 |
Filed: |
September 30, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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13559031 |
Jul 26, 2012 |
9494954 |
|
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15281534 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02D 10/00 20180101;
G06F 9/44505 20130101; G06F 1/206 20130101; H05K 7/20136 20130101;
G05D 23/1934 20130101; G06F 1/3206 20130101; Y02D 10/16 20180101;
G05D 23/1931 20130101; G05D 23/1932 20130101; G05D 23/1928
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 1/20 20060101
G06F001/20; G06F 9/445 20060101 G06F009/445; H05K 7/20 20060101
H05K007/20 |
Claims
1. An information handling system, comprising: an enclosure; one or
more heat generating hardware components contained within the
enclosure; and thermal management circuitry comprising at least one
processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile
memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon,
and the processing device being configured to access the stored
thermal configuration information and to perform thermal control by
controlling at least one of cooling or power capping for the one or
more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed
stored thermal configuration information in combination with
feedback of the sensed temperature of at least one of the hardware
components; where the thermal configuration information comprises a
defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan
speed level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of
the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the
processing device; and where the processing device is configured to
compare a system inventory of hardware circuitry components of the
information handling system that are coupled to the processing
device against configuration entries in a configuration table of
the thermal configuration information to determine matched
configurations for use in the thermal control.
2. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed
to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure
to cool at least one of the heat generating components; and a
temperature sensor configured to sense temperature of the at least
one heat generating component cooled by the cooling fan, the
temperature sensor being configured to supply feedback temperature
information representative of the sensed temperature of the at
least one heat generating component to the processing device; where
the processing device is configured to control speed of the at
least one cooling fan based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the feedback
temperature information representative of the sensed temperature of
the at least one heat generating component.
3. (canceled)
4. An information handling system, comprising: an enclosure; one or
more heat generating hardware components contained within the
enclosure; and thermal management circuitry comprising at least one
processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile
memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon,
and the processing device being configured to access the stored
thermal configuration information and to control at least one of
cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with feedback of sensed
temperature of at least one of the hardware components; where the
thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional
relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level and the sensed temperature of the at least one
hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and at
least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed to
supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure to
cool at least one of the heat generating components; and where the
thermal configuration information comprises a configuration table
that includes entries for selectable variables that define
characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed
temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback
to the processing device and cooling fan speed level or power
capping level; and where the thermal configuration information is
editable by a local or remote user.
5. The information handling system of claim 4, where the selectable
variable entries include one or more coefficients of at least one
predefined polynomial equation that defines the functional
relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one
hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and
cooling fan speed level; and where the selectable variable entries
include a variable entry that is editable by a local or remote user
to select one predefined polynomial equation from multiple
predefined polynomial equations that each define a different and
unique functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at
least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing
device and cooling fan speed level.
6. The information handling system of claim 1, where the
configuration entries in the configuration table are for selectable
variables that define the characteristics of the functional
relationship between the sensed temperature of the at least one
hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at
least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and
where the information handling system comprises at least on
processing device that is configured to: provide the system
inventory by performing an automatic system inventory of the
hardware circuitry components of the information handling system
that are coupled to the processing device; and change one or more
of the configuration table entries so as to vary the control
characteristics of the defined functional relationship of the
thermal configuration information.
7. An information handling system, comprising: an enclosure; one or
more heat generating hardware components contained within the
enclosure; and thermal management circuitry comprising at least one
processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile
memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon,
and the processing device being configured to access the stored
thermal configuration information and to control cooling for the
one or more heat generating hardware components based on the
accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination
with feedback of the sensed temperature of at least one hardware
component; where the thermal configuration information comprises a
defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan
speed level or power capping level and-sensed temperature of at
least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing
device; and where the information handling system further comprises
at least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed
to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure
to cool at least one of the heat generating components; where the
thermal configuration information comprises: a first configuration
table that includes entries for selectable variables that define
characteristics of the functional relationship between sensed
temperature of a first hardware component in the feedback to the
processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level; and a second configuration table that includes
entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the
functional relationship between sensed temperature of a second
hardware component different from the first hardware component in
the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling
fan speed level or power capping level; and where the processing
device is configured to simultaneously access both the first and
second configuration tables and to control at least one of speed of
at least one common cooling fan or power capping of at least one
same heat generating hardware component based on the accessed first
and second configuration tables in combination with feedback of
different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second
different hardware components.
8. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising:
at least two cooling fans configured to operate at a variable speed
to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure,
a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first
zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans
configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure; and
where the configuration table includes entries for selectable
variables that separately define characteristics of at least first
and second different functional relationships between sensed
temperature of at least one heat generating component in the
feedback to the processing device and respective cooling fan speed
levels of the first and second cooling fans.
9. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising:
at least two cooling fans configured to operate at a variable speed
to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure,
a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first
zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans
configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure; and
where the configuration table that includes entries for selectable
variables that define characteristics of a functional relationship
between current fan speed level of the first cooling fan and the
current cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan.
10. A method for managing thermal control for an information
handling system, comprising: providing an information handling
system comprising: an enclosure, one or more heat generating
hardware components contained within the enclosure and thermal
management circuitry comprising at least one processing device
coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including
thermal configuration information stored thereon; sensing
temperature of at least one of the hardware components; feeding the
sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components
back to the at least one processing device; and using the at least
one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration
information to perform thermal control by controlling at least one
of cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the sensed
temperature of the at least one of the hardware components; where
the thermal configuration information comprises a defined
functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed
level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of at least
one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device;
and where the method further comprises using the at least one
processing device to compare a system inventory of hardware
circuitry components of the information handling system that are
coupled to the processing device against configuration entries in a
configuration table of the thermal configuration information to
determine matched configurations for use in the thermal
control.
11. The method of claim 10, where the provided information handling
system further comprises at least one cooling fan disposed within
the enclosure in a position to cool at least one of the heat
generating components; and where the method further comprises using
the at least one processing device to control speed of the at least
one cooling fan to control cooling of the at least one heat
generating component based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the feedback
temperature information representative of the sensed temperature of
the at least one heat generating component.
12. (canceled)
13. A method for managing thermal control for an information
handling system, comprising: providing an information handling
system comprising: an enclosure, one or more heat generating
hardware components contained within the enclosure and thermal
management circuitry comprising at least one processing device
coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including
thermal configuration information stored thereon; sensing
temperature of at least one of the hardware components; feeding the
sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components
back to the at least one processing device; and using the at least
one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration
information to control cooling for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the sensed
temperature of the at least one of the hardware components; where
the thermal configuration information comprises a defined
functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed
level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of at least
one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device;
and where the provided information handling system further
comprises at least one cooling fan disposed within the enclosure in
a position to cool at least one of the heat generating components;
where the thermal configuration information comprises a
configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables
that define characteristics of the functional relationship between
the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the
feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level or
power capping level; and where the method further comprises using
the at least one processing device to: accept edits to the thermal
configuration information made by a local or remote user; access
the configuration table, and control at least one of cooling or
power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware
components based on the defined functional relationship of the
configuration table.
14. The method of 13, where the selectable variable entries include
one or more coefficients of at least one predefined polynomial
equation that defines the functional relationship between the
sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the
feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level; and
where the method further comprises using the processing device to:
accept edits to a variable entry to select one predefined
polynomial equation from multiple predefined polynomial equations
that each define a different and unique functional relationship
between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component
in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed
level; and control cooling for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the defined functional relationship of
the selected predefined polynomial equation.
15. The method of claim 10, where the configuration entries in the
configuration table are for selectable variables that define the
characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed
temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback
to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed
level or power capping level; and where the method further
comprises using the processing device to: provide the system
inventory by performing an automatic system inventory of the
hardware circuitry components of the information handling system
that are coupled to the processing device; change one or more off
the configuration table entries so as to vary the control
characteristics of the defined functional relationship of the
thermal configuration information; and control at least one off
cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the varied control characteristics of
the defined functional relationship of the configuration table.
16. A method for managing thermal control for an information
handling system, comprising: providing an information handling
system comprising: an enclosure, one or more heat generating
hardware components contained within the enclosure, and thermal
management circuitry comprising at least one processing device
coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including
thermal configuration information stored thereon; sensing
temperature of at least one of the hardware components; feeding the
sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components
back to the at least one processing device; and using the at least
one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration
information to control cooling for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the sensed
temperature of at least one hardware component; where the thermal
configuration information comprises a defined functional
relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level and-sensed temperature of at least one hardware
component in the feedback to the processing device; at least one
cooling fan disposed within the enclosure in a position to cool at
least one of the heat generating components; where the thermal
configuration information comprises: a first configuration table
that includes entries for selectable variables that define
characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed
temperature of a first hardware component in the feedback to the
processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level, and a second configuration table that includes
entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the
functional relationship between sensed temperature of a second
hardware component different from the first hardware component in
the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling
fan speed level or power capping level; and where the method
further comprises using the at least one processing device to:
simultaneously access both the first and second configuration
tables, and control at least one of speed of at least one common
cooling fan or power capping of at least one same heat generating
hardware component based on the accessed first and second
configuration tables in combination with feedback of different
sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different
hardware components.
17. The method of claim 10, where the provided information handling
system comprises: at least two cooling fans disposed within the
enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at
least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the
cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the
enclosure; where the thermal configuration information comprises a
configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables
that separately define characteristics of different functional
relationships between the sensed temperature of the at least one
heat generating component in the feedback to the processing device
and respective cooling fan speed levels of the first and second
cooling fans; and where the method further comprises using the
processing device to use the defined characteristics of different
first and second functional relationships to simultaneously control
the cooling fan speed level of the first cooling fan based on the
first functional relationship and the cooling fan speed level of
the second cooling fan based on the second functional
relationship.
18. The method of claim 10, where the provided information handling
system comprises: at least two cooling fans disposed within the
enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at
least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the
cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the
enclosure; where the thermal configuration information comprises a
configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables
that define characteristics of a functional relationship between
current fan speed level of the first cooling fan and current
cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan; and where the
method further comprises using the processing device to use the
defined characteristics of the functional relationship to control
current cooling fan speed level of the first cooling fan based on
current cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan.
19. The information handling system of claim 2, where the thermal
configuration information comprises a defined functional
relationship between cooling fan speed level and the sensed
temperature of the at least one hardware component that specifies a
negative cooling fan speed level at sensed temperatures that are
below a given temperature and that specifies a positive cooling fan
speed level at sensed temperatures that are at or above the given
temperature; and where the processing device is configured to turn
off the at least one cooling fan at sensed temperatures of the at
least one hardware component where a negative cooling fan speed
level is specified by the thermal configuration information, and to
control speed of the at least one cooling fan to be a positive
cooling fan speed at sensed temperatures of the at least one
hardware component where the thermal configuration information
specifies a positive cooling fan speed level.
20. The information handling system of claim 7, where the
processing device is configured to simultaneously access both the
first and second configuration tables and to control speed of at
least one common cooling fan based on the accessed first and second
configuration tables in combination with feedback of different
sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different
hardware components.
21. The information handling system of claim 7, where the
processing device is configured to simultaneously access both the
first and second configuration tables and to control speed of at
least one common cooling fan to be the maximum cooling fan speed
indicated by the first and second configuration tables at that time
based on the feedback of different sensed temperatures of both
respective first and second different hardware components.
22. The method of claim 11, where the thermal configuration
information comprises a defined functional relationship between
cooling fan speed level and the sensed temperature of the at least
one hardware component that specifies a negative cooling fan speed
level at sensed temperatures that are below a given temperature and
that specifies a positive cooling fan speed level at sensed
temperatures that are at or above the given temperature; and where
the method further comprises using the at least one processing
device to turn off the at least one cooling fan at sensed
temperatures of the at least one hardware component where a
negative cooling fan speed level is specified by the thermal
configuration information, and to control speed of the at least one
cooling fan to be a positive cooling fan speed at sensed
temperatures of the at least one hardware component where the
thermal configuration information specifies a positive cooling fan
speed level.
23. The method of claim 11, further comprising simultaneously
accessing both the first and second configuration tables; and
controlling speed of at least one common cooling fan based on the
accessed first and second configuration tables in combination with
feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first
and second different hardware components.
24. The method of claim 16, further comprising simultaneously
accessing both the first and second configuration tables; and
controlling speed of at least one common cooling fan to be the
maximum cooling fan speed indicated by the first and second
configuration tables at that time based on the feedback of
different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second
different hardware components.
Description
[0001] This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/559,031, filed on Jul. 26, 2012 and
entitled "Thermal Control Systems And Methods For Information
Handling Systems" the entire disclosure of which is incorporated
herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates generally to information handling
systems and, more particularly, to thermal control for information
handling systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] As the value and use of information continues to increase,
individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and
store information. One option available to users is information
handling systems. An information handling system generally
processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or
data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing
users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because
technology and information handling needs and requirements vary
between different users or applications, information handling
systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how
the information is handled, how much information is processed,
stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the
information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The
variations in information handling systems allow for information
handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or
specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline
reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In
addition, information handling systems may include a variety of
hardware and software components that may be configured to process,
store, and communicate information and may include one or more
computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
[0004] One or more cooling fans are typically employed within the
chassis of information handling systems, such as servers, to cool
components operating within the information handling system
chassis. Such cooling fans may be uncontrolled, i.e., running at
full power whenever the information handling system is a powered on
state. However, cooling fans consume power, create noise, and
create airflow, each of which becomes of greater concern in a data
center where a plurality of information handling systems may be
operating, e.g., as servers. Cooling fans may also be controlled
based on ambient temperature within an information handling system
chassis.
[0005] Thermal control techniques have been developed for
information handling systems in an attempt to reduce power
consumption, airflow and acoustic noise generated by cooling fans.
Such techniques include proportional-integral-derivative (PID)
control loop feedback. There has also been a push to increase the
number and type of components mapped into thermal control for a
given information handling system. In particular, there has been a
desire to include hard disk drive (HDD) and redundant array of
independent disks (RAID) hardware (RAID card) temperature
information for thermal control due to the manner in which these
components drive open loop fan requirements for shipped information
handling systems, such as servers. By implementing thermal control
using temperature information from such additional components, fan
speeds can be reduced for normal operation while at the same time
allowing improved coverage on high stress conditions.
[0006] Direct mapping of cooling fan speeds to HDD and RAID
hardware temperatures has proven problematic for several reasons.
First, updating temperatures from such hardware components at the
rate that is typically used for PID thermal control (1 to 5
seconds) has pronounced adverse performance impacts on HDD
throughput and latency. Moreover, relatively slow component
response times (in the order of minutes) causes concerns when using
PID control due to interaction with memory and central processing
unit (CPU) PID input which is typically on the order of
seconds.
[0007] Thermal control techniques have been implemented for RAID
servers that control cooling fan speeds based on HDD and battery
temperature response. The scoped temperature response time for such
HDD and battery hardware components is once every 5 seconds.
However due to performance impacts on the hardware RAID card of the
server, the temperature response time is set at 1 minute for
battery hardware and 5 minutes for HDD components. Thus temperature
updates are slower than the response time of the components to a
transient load change (See FIGS. 1 and 2) which makes mapping fan
speed response to component temperature changes difficult. Moreover
thermal response of different components may vary differently over
time with changes in load, as illustrated in FIG. 2 for the battery
and controller components of a RAID card, which makes thermal
control of such components together difficult. The combination of
component thermal mass and temperature polling rates causes
disconnect in thermal control response to temperature inputs that
needs to be addressed.
[0008] Hardware components with fast temperature response times
(1-5 seconds) have been mapped directly into cooling fan thermal
control using traditional closed loop control with either PID or
guard band approaches. However, when temperature response times are
slower (10-300 seconds) closed loop approaches can cause fan speeds
to quickly go to full speed. Conventional closed loop response
looks for a temperature change once every second and in absence of
temperature update speeds up of the fans at a minimum of 1% PWM per
second. When such conventional closed loop control does not receive
HDD and battery temperature updates for periods of time greater
than 60 seconds, closed loop thermal control quickly drives fans to
full speed with corresponding acoustic and fan power impacts. This
can be mitigated to some degree by changing the fan speed response
time to be closer to the closed loop response time of the
component. However, in this case the closed loop response time is
not fast enough for PID to respond adequately with fan speed
overshoot causing oscillation in fan speeds.
[0009] Open loop power capping techniques have been employed for an
information handling system based on measured system inlet ambient
temperature. Such techniques initiate power capping of system
components based on temperature when measured inlet ambient
temperature meets or exceeds a maximum inlet ambient temperature
threshold, but do not initiate power capping based on temperature
as long as measured inlet ambient temperature remains below the
maximum inlet ambient temperature threshold. As a result, higher
fan speeds and/or power capping may be implemented even when
individual hardware components do not actually need additional
cooling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] Disclosed herein are systems and methods for information
handling system thermal control that employ configuration-based
temperature feedback, e.g., by using configuration-based fan speed
control based on real time individual measured component
temperatures (e.g., such as HDDs or battery pack components). The
disclosed systems and methods may be implemented in one embodiment
to allow inputs from one or more hardware temperature sensors to
set cooling fan speeds and/or power capping levels in a closed loop
fashion, rather than relying solely (or at all) on system inlet
ambient temperature. Thus, in one embodiment, this closed loop
approach allows cooling fan speed response and/or power capping
operations to be only initiated when the measured temperature of
one or more respective system hardware components gets meets or
exceeds a predefined minimum temperature threshold (or trigger
point temperature of concern). This is in contrast to setting
cooling fan speeds using an open loop methodology that is based
solely on a minimum inlet ambient temperature threshold (e.g.,
chassis air inlet temperature) which assumes component maximum
loading at all times regardless of actual component loading and
resulting component temperature. In the latter open loop case, even
when there is little or no actual hardware component stress load,
cooling fans will always be running at higher cooling speeds when
the minimum inlet ambient temperature threshold is met or
exceeded.
[0011] The closed loop control of the disclosed systems and methods
may be advantageously implemented in a configuration-based manner.
For example, in one embodiment, measured hardware component
temperatures may be used directly for determining cooling fan
speeds based on one or more different fan speed control functions,
e.g., such as a fifth order polynomial (e.g., such as of the form
a*T.sup.5+b*T.sup.4+c*T.sup.3+d*T.sup.2+e*B+f), an exponential
curve (e.g., such as of the form a*e.sup.bT), or other functional
relationship in which T is measured component temperature, and a,
b, c, d, e and f are constants. Examples of such functional
relationships include, but are not limited to, those having
temperature-based non-linear thermal control response curves that
have multiple shapes and/or slopes. In such an embodiment,
functional relationships may be used to define cooling fan speed
response based on real time measured hardware component
temperature/s. In one embodiment, temperature ranges may be
specified or otherwise defined for individual system components,
and closed loop thermal control implemented to control system
operation to substantially maintain each component temperature at
its corresponding defined temperature range.
[0012] In one embodiment, a discrete hardware component temperature
(T) may be measured in real time and input into a fan speed control
function that is expressed as a curve or linear relationship, or
other suitable functional relationship that defines cooling fan
speed in a manner such that any measured increase in hardware
component temperature over several minutes (e.g., less than about 2
minutes) will not cause cooling fan speed to transition to maximum
speed in the same situation where full speed cooling fan operation
would result using conventional (non-configuration based) closed
loop thermal control. By so using this embodiment, good stability
may be provided by the defined fan speeds of the functional
relationship whereas conventional closed loop response (especially
for multiple components in parallel) may cause instability.
Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may be so implemented
in one embodiment to control system noise so that noise generated
by the system (e.g., such as server tower) and its cooling fans
remains within maximum allowable acoustic levels.
[0013] The disclosed systems and methods may also be implemented in
one embodiment in a manner such that any calculated negative fan
speed is ignored by the thermal control. In this regard, negative
calculated fan speeds may occur, for example, in a situation where
component temperatures are substantially below target temperature
ranges. However, in contrast to conventional systems the disclosed
systems and methods may be implemented with thermal control in a
manner that ignores any calculated negative fan speed in order to
allow finer tuning of cooling fan speed response so that it is
limited to just a defined temperature range of concern (e.g., from
about 50.degree. C. to about 60.degree. C. or other defined range
or ranges). In such an embodiment, cooling fans response may be
turned off or deactivated when a negative cooing fan speed is
indicated by thermal control input based on the measured real time
temperature of one or more components (e.g., such as a HDD, battery
pack or other component/s), unless measured temperatures of one or
more other components of the information handling system indicate a
temperature/s that dictates a positive cooling fan speed. Negative
fan speed response would cause fan speeds to be set below the
minimum requirements set by both open loop ambient and closed loop
component temperature input into the thermal control.
[0014] In another embodiment, configuration-based thermal control
may be combined with closed loop thermal control to achieve a
dampened fan speed response under most measured component
temperature conditions that are below a predefined maximum
allowable temperature for the component/s, but with the ability to
target and address a maximum measured component temperature when it
occurs. By dampened fan speed response it is meant that the fan
speed response is controlled and does not respond in a large
stepped response. In such an embodiment, configuration based fan
speed relationships may be used to respond to component temperature
response under most supported configurations, loading, and ambient
temperatures with dampened and predictable fan speed response in
order to ensure fan speeds that change according to one or more
measured component temperature changes at a moderate rate that
substantially aligns with the thermal response times of the
components while measured component temperatures are below the
maximum temperature values predefined for the corresponding
component/s. However, upon detection of one or more defined maximum
allowable component temperature/s, closed-loop temperature control
may be implemented to ensure that absolute maximum temperature
requirements are met. In this way, cooling fan speed changes
dictated by closed loop thermal control will be much less dramatic
at this point, since configuration-based thermal control will
already have driven moderate changes (e.g., increases) to system
fan speeds.
[0015] In another embodiment, systems and methods may be provided
that use the disclosed configuration-based thermal control to
implement power capping for an information handling system based on
one or more individual component temperatures, rather than just
based on system inlet ambient temperature. This embodiment may be
so implemented in a closed loop manner to allow power capping only
when one or more designated hardware components reach respective
predefined temperature limits, rather than using an open loop
system inlet ambient based approach which initiates power capping
when measured inlet ambient temperature meets or exceeds a minimum
inlet ambient temperature threshold and which can result in power
capping operation where it may not be needed or desired.
[0016] In one respect, disclosed herein is an information handling
system, including: an enclosure; one or more heat generating
hardware components contained within the enclosure; and thermal
management circuitry comprising at least one processing device
coupled to non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may include
thermal configuration information stored thereon, and the
processing device may be configured to access the stored thermal
configuration information and to control at least one of cooling or
power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware
components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration
information in combination with feedback of the sensed temperature
of at least one of the hardware components. The thermal
configuration information may include a defined functional
relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level and the sensed temperature of the at least one
hardware component that is feedback to the processing device.
[0017] In another respect, disclosed herein is a method for
managing thermal control for an information handling system. The
method may include providing an information handling system
comprising: an enclosure, one or more heat generating hardware
components contained within the enclosure, and thermal management
circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to
non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal
configuration information stored thereon. The method may further
include: sensing the temperature of at least one of the hardware
components; feeding the sense temperature of the at least one of
the hardware components back to the at least one processing device;
and using the at least one processing device to access the stored
thermal configuration information to control at least one of
cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating
hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal
configuration information in combination with the sensed
temperature of the at least one of the hardware components. The
thermal configuration information may include a defined functional
relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or
power capping level and the sensed temperature of the at least one
hardware component feedback to the processing device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates temperature increase of a hard disk drive
(HDD) under constant load versus time for a 3.5'' information
handling system having two cooling fans operating at a constant 10%
duty.
[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates temperature increase versus time for
battery and controller components of a RAID controller card.
[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an
information handling system configured according to one exemplary
embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.
[0021] FIG. 4 illustrates a temperature versus pulse-width
modulation (PWM) functional relationship according to one exemplary
embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.
[0022] FIG. 5 illustrates a temperature versus pulse-width
modulation (PWM) functional relationship according to one exemplary
embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.
[0023] FIG. 6 illustrates a temperature versus pulse-width
modulation (PWM) functional relationship according to one exemplary
embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.
[0024] FIG. 7 illustrates a temperature versus pulse-width
modulation (PWM) functional relationship according to one exemplary
embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.
DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
[0025] FIG. 3 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of an
information handling system 300, configured in this embodiment as a
RAID system server coupled to RAID storage memory 102. RAID storage
memory 102 includes an array of individual storage hard disk drives
(RAID array) functioning as a single storage unit to which data is
written by RAID system server 300. RAID system server 300 writes
data to RAID storage memory 102 in a manner such that data is
distributed across the multiple storage drives. Information stored
on each disk drive of RAID storage memory may be duplicated on
other disks in the array, e.g., to create redundancy so that no
data is lost if disk failure occurs. It will be understood that
RAID system 300 illustrated in FIG. 1 is exemplary only, and that
the disclosed thermal control systems and methods may be
implemented with any other (e.g., non-RAID) information handling
system embodiments that include one or more heat-producing
electrical components and one or more cooling fans. Such components
may be contained within an enclosure 104 (e.g., such as a 2U, 3U,
4U, etc. computer chassis) and cooled by one or more cooling fan/s
in a manner as described below.
[0026] Still referring to FIG. 3, system 300 may include one or
more in-band host processing devices 106 (e.g., CPU executing host
operating system), video/graphics hardware (e.g., video card/s)
109, storage (e.g., one or more HDDs) 118, memory (e.g., RAM) 121,
input/output (I/O) 112, peripherals 115, system power supply PSU
180, and RAID controller circuit 130 (e.g., RAID card such as
PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) card available from Dell, Inc).
RAID controller circuit 130 is present for controlling transfer of
data to and from RAID storage 102. As shown, one or more buses or
other suitable communication media 103 may be provided for allowing
communication of data and other information between the various
components of system 300. Also shown present in FIG. 3 are one or
more cooling fans 190 configured for cooling components of system
300, and out-of-band processing device 108 (e.g., (e.g., based
board management controller, service processor, embedded processor,
remote access controller, etc.) coupled to persistent storage 140.
In one embodiment, multiple cooling fans may be employed to cool
different zones of a chassis 104, e.g., such as a first set of one
or more fans positioned and assigned to cool the front disk drives
118 of a system 300 and a second set of one or more fans positioned
and assigned to cool the rear disk drives 118 off a system 300.
Together, out of band processing device 108 and persistent storage
140 may be configured to implement thermal management and power
capping 132 based on one or more real time measured hardware
component temperatures.
[0027] It will be understood that although one particular exemplary
embodiment of an out-of-band processing device 108 is illustrated
in FIG. 3, the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented in
other embodiments using any other type and/or combination of
out-of-band processing devices and/or in-band processing devices
(e.g., such as host processing device 106) that is suitable for
implementing one or more features of the disclosed systems and
methods as described herein. It will also be understood that an
out-of-band processing device is a processing device separate and
independent from any in-band host central processing unit (CPU)
such as host processing device 106 that runs the host OS of an
information handling system 300, and without management of any
application executing with a host OS on the host CPU.
[0028] As further shown in FIG. 3, one or more heat producing
components of an information handling system 300 may be provided
with a respective thermal sensor 302 that is configured to sense
the real time temperature of its corresponding hardware component
and then to report this sensed temperature to out of band
processing device 108 across communication media 103, e.g., at
predetermined time intervals that may be unique for each component.
One or more chassis temperature sensors 304 may also be provided as
shown for monitoring internal chassis temperatures at one or more
different chassis locations, e.g., such as ambient temperature at
the air inlet of the chassis 104. Non-volatile persistent storage
140 may be coupled to out of band processing device 108, and may
contain thermal configuration information 142 that is accessible by
out of band processing device 108. As described further herein, out
of band processing device 108 may control operation of cooling
fan/s 190 based on thermal configuration information 142 and
measured temperature information received from sensors 302.
[0029] Table 1 below is a configuration table as it may be
implemented in one exemplary embodiment as thermal configuration
information 142.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Configuration Number 1 2 Configuration Name
HDD Offset PERC_Batt_Offset Sensor/Origin Fan Zone HDD_max
PERC_Battery Controlled Fans Coefficient All Fans 3-5 Labels a b c
d e f a b c D e f Zone 1 0 2 100 0 0 10 Coefficients Zone 2
Coefficients
[0030] As illustrated in Table 1, different thermal control
configurations may be named and defined for one or more sensor
and/or fan zone temperature sensors, in this case HDD component
temperature and inlet ambient temperature for an information
handling system chassis 104. Such configuration table information
may be predefined and loaded upon initial manufacture or
configuration of an information handling system. In another
embodiment, such a configuration table or other form of thermal
configuration information 142 may be editable by a local or remote
user in order to dynamically configure (e.g., define and/or change)
thermal control characteristics implemented by thermal management
132 of system 300. For example, out of band processing device 108
may be a service processor that executes system BIOS for system
300, and thermal configuration information 142 (e.g., such as Table
1) may be dynamically configurable by a local user of system 300
using system I/O 112, e.g., via particular key combinations or
selections of BIOS settings presented by processing device 108
during boot-up of system 300. In another example, thermal
configuration information 142 may be editable by a remote user from
across a network via a remote access controller (not shown) coupled
to out of band processing device 108.
[0031] It will be understood that although Table 1 illustrates two
different configurations for two corresponding different
sensor/origin fan zones, the number of different defined
configurations may vary according to the particular application,
e.g., the number of defined configurations may be only one or may
be greater than two. Moreover, it will be understood that the
particular format of Table 1 is exemplary only and is merely
illustrative of one of many different ways that thermal control
configuration information 142 may be formatted and stored in
storage 140 for use by processing device 108.
[0032] In Table 1, the "Sensor/Origin Fan Zone" entry may be
employed to specify either a designated temperature sensor/s (e.g.,
302 and 304) from which measured temperature is to be used as the
basis for cooling fan speed control (or alternatively for power
capping) using a specified algorithm and coefficients, or for
specifying the identity of a designated origin cooling fan/s 190
having a cooling fan speed upon which to map the cooling fan speed
of another different cooling fan/s 190 by using a specified
coefficient for a given fan zone. In turn, the cooling fan speed of
the designate origin cooling fan may be specified in another
configuration entry for control using any other desired combination
of temperature sensor and/or origin cooling fan zones, and/or
functions as described elsewhere herein. Thus, the speed of a first
set of one or more cooling fans 190 may be mapped by a selected
function to the speed of a second and different set of one or more
cooling fans 190, with the second set of cooling fans 190 being in
turn controlled by, for example, mapping by a selected function to
the speed of a third and different set of one or more cooling fans
190 or controlled using a specified function using the measured
temperature of a designated temperature sensor.
[0033] Still referring to the exemplary configuration of Table 1,
it may be seen that measured input temperature from a particular
temperature sensor may be specified for use with each
configuration, in this case HDD component temperature sensor 302
has been specified for use with the number 1 configuration, and
RAID controller circuit (PERC) battery temperature sensor 302 has
been specified for use with the number 2 configuration.
Additionally, the identity of cooling fans to be controlled by each
configuration may also be selected, in this case all (five or more)
cooling fans of system 300 have been selected for control by the
number 1 configuration and only three cooling fans 3-5 of system
300 have been selected for control by other (number 2)
configuration. However, it will be understood that a given
configuration may be assigned to control any cooling fan or
combination of multiple cooling fans (or alternatively power
capping levels) to fit a given application. Moreover, it will be
understand that a local or remote user may be given the ability to
enter changes in the configuration table in order to effect
designated changes in thermal control operation.
[0034] Still referring to Table 1, coefficient values may be
designated as applicable for the given type of algorithm designated
for a given configuration, e.g., five coefficients for a 4.sup.th
order polynomial (including constant), two coefficients for a first
order polynomial, two coefficients for a first order polynomial,
etc. In Table 1, provision is made for entering up to six different
coefficients (e.g., a, b, c, d, e and f), although provision for
selection of fewer or additional numbers of coefficients may be
provided. In one exemplary embodiment, configuration tables such as
illustrated in Table 1, may be editable as thermal configuration
information 142 via I/O hardware 112 and graphical user interface
(GUI) displayed by video/graphics 109 of system 300, or otherwise
by displaying a GUI to a remote user and accepting configuration
details from the remote user over a network.
[0035] In one exemplary embodiment, an automatically generated
system inventory may be provided (e.g., by BIOS or other suitable
source) to out of band processing device 108 (e.g., service
processor) and/or a remote access controller (e.g., iDRAC), where
the system inventory may be compared against configuration entries
in a configuration table of thermal configuration information 142
to determine matched configurations for use in thermal control. For
each matched configuration the defined algorithm may be calculated
using a defined temperature sensor. The sensor may be chosen from a
predefined list of sensors.
[0036] It will be understood that the information in Table 1 is
exemplary only, and that any number and/or variety of different
configuration parameters and other information may be specified for
any number of other different configurations and combinations of
components that is suitable for a given application.
[0037] FIG. 4 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a temperature
versus fan speed functional relationship that may be selected for
controlling cooling fan speed based on measured HDD temperature as
designated in Table 1 herein. Such a thermal control configuration
may be selected, for example, by designating an internal HDD
temperature sensor as the temperature source together with a
polynomial for the thermal control relationship, e.g., by inputting
this information into a configuration table such as Table 1 that is
maintained as thermal configuration information 142 in persistent
storage 140. In the particular embodiment of FIG. 4, the
HDD/cooling fan speed relationship is defined by a polynomial
equation which defines the resulting pulse width modulation (PWM)
control signal based on measured HDD temperature, i.e., y is the
resulting pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal based on
measured HDD temperature, x. The resulting PWM control signal may
be used to control the cooling fan speed. Besides PWM, it will be
understood that any other suitable type of control signal may be
employed to control cooling fan speed and/or power capping
operations.
[0038] Using the illustrated functional relationship of FIG. 4,
negative values of PWM will be calculated at measured HDD
temperatures of less than about 33.degree. C., in which case the
calculated PWM values will be ignored to result in a control signal
having a value of 0 such that an "off" cooling fan speed of zero
(or alternatively a baseline minimum cooling fan speed) will be
indicated for those cooling fans that are defined to be controlled
by the indicated temperature sensor or origin fan zone that is
defined relationship of FIG. 4. This allows temperature control
relationships, such as FIG. 4, to be defined close to the
specification of the components in a such a way that lower measured
component temperatures within the operating temperature range of a
given component may result in negative PWM numbers (thus resulting
in no cooling or no additional cooling being required by the
thermal control), but at the same time such that increased cooling
fan speeds are indicated by the thermal control when the measured
temperature of a given hardware component comes close to the
specified maximum operating temperature of the given component.
[0039] It will be understood that multiple cooling fan
relationships may be simultaneously implemented using different
thermal control configurations for controlling one or more of the
same common cooling fans based on, for example, different
temperature sensors and/or origin fan zones. In such a case,
cooling fan speed at any given time may be the maximum indicated
cooling fan speed indicated by all of the different thermal control
configurations at that time. Therefore, even if one thermal control
configuration indicates a PWM of 0, the controlled cooling fan
speed may nonetheless be greater than zero if one or more other
thermal control configurations are simultaneously calling for a
cooling fan speed that is greater than zero, e.g., based on input
from a different temperature sensor and/or origin fan zone. It will
also be understood that a common thermal control configuration
(such as the depicted cooling fan speed function of FIG. 4) may be
selected for control of all chassis cooling fans or subsets of one
or more cooling fans, and/or that measured temperatures of
different hardware components (e.g., CPU temperature, etc.) may be
selected for input into the function, e.g., by varying the
selections of Table 1.
[0040] FIG. 5 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of how thermal
configuration information 142 may be defined (e.g., by user input
into a configuration table such as Table 1) to include multiple
functions that may be defined with inputs based on the same
temperature sensor data, e.g., in order to implement different fan
ramp rates for different fans or groups of cooling fans in a common
enclosure 104, e.g., so as to cool different zones or different
groups of heat-generating components within the chassis 104. For
example, a first linear fan speed control function 602 having a
lower slope as defined by polynomial y=2.5x-125 may be mapped to
control all cooling fans within a common enclosure 104 based on the
same temperature measurements from a given HDD temperature sensor.
At the same time, a second linear fan speed control function 604
having a higher slope as defined by polynomial y=10x-550 may be
mapped to control only a portion of the cooling fans, e.g., based
on PERC battery temperature.
[0041] FIG. 6 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of how thermal
configuration information 142 may be defined to include multiple
fan speed control functions that may be defined with inputs based
on the same temperature sensor data to enable a slow cooling fan
speed increase (lower slope linear function 702) with increasing
temperatures at lower temperatures and a faster cooling fan speed
increase (higher slope linear function 704) with increasing
temperatures at higher temperatures. For example, a first
temperature configuration function 702 having a lower slope as
defined by polynomial y=5x-285 may be mapped to control one or more
cooling fans to cool a raid controller battery based on temperature
measurements from the raid controller battery temperature sensor
when the measured battery temperature is in a selected lower
temperature range that may be varied to fit a given configuration.
A second temperature configuration function 704 having a higher
slope as defined by polynomial y=20x-1200 may be mapped to control
the same one or more cooling fans to cool the raid controller
battery based on temperature measurements from the raid controller
battery temperature sensor when the measured battery temperature is
in a selected higher temperature range (i.e., in a range of
temperatures that is greater than the selected lower temperature
range and that also may be varied to fit the given configuration.
Also shown in FIG. 6 is raid controller battery curve 706.
[0042] FIG. 7 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a
multi-tiered set of cooling fan speed functions 802, 804 and 806 as
they may be defined, e.g., for controlling cooling fan speed to fit
different cooling needs based on measured inlet power supply unit
(PSU) inlet temperature.
[0043] For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling
system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of
instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit,
receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest,
detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of
information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific,
control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, an
information handling system may be a personal computer, a PDA, a
consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or any other
suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance,
functionality, and price. The information handling system may
include memory, one or more processing resources such as a central
processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic.
Additional components of the information handling system may
include one or more storage devices, one or more communications
ports for communicating with external devices as well as various
input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a
video display. The information handling system may also include one
or more buses operable to transmit communications between the
various hardware components.
[0044] While the invention may be adaptable to various
modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been
shown by way of example and described herein. However, it should be
understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the
particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all
modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the
spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended
claims. Moreover, the different aspects of the disclosed systems
and methods may be utilized in various combinations and/or
independently. Thus the invention is not limited to only those
combinations shown herein, but rather may include other
combinations.
* * * * *