Systems and methods to determine system airflow using fan characteristic curves

An information handling system, comprising:

• a chassis enclosure having external walls that define a enclosed interior between the external walls;
• one or more cooling air inlets defined through the external walls of the chassis enclosure to be in communication with the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure;
• one or more cooling air outlets defined through the external walls of the chassis enclosure to be in communication with the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure;
• at least one cooling fan configured to operate at multiple rotational speeds to draw cooling air into the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure through the cooling air inlets from an atmosphere surrounding an outside of the external walls of the chassis enclosure and to circulate the cooling air from the cooling air inlets to the cooling air outlets to provide different flow rates of the cooling air through the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure to cool one or more heat-producing components within the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure;
• and
• at least one programmable integrated circuit that is coupled to the at least one cooling fan, the programmable integrated circuit being programmed to:
• determine a current real time rotational speed of the at least one cooling fan by obtaining a fan speed setting specified for the at least one cooling fan;
• determine a current real time value of electric power consumed by the at least one cooling fan by measuring the electric power consumed by the at least one cooling fan;
• determine a current real time volumetric airflow rate of the cooling air circulated by the at least one cooling fan from the cooling air inlets to the cooling air outlets through the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure as a function of the determined current real time value of electric power consumption of the at least one cooling fan and the determined current rotational speed of the at least one cooling fan;
• and
• control at least one of the at least one cooling fan that circulates the cooling air from the cooling air inlets to the cooling air outlets or the one or more heat generating components to thermally balance the determined current real time volumetric airflow rate of the cooling air circulated from the cooling air inlets to the cooling air outlets through the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure with an amount of heat currently produced by the one or more heat-producing components within the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure based on a sensed real time temperature provided from one or more temperature sensors positioned and contained within the enclosed interior of the chassis enclosure between at least one of the cooling air inlets and at least one of the cooling air outlets.