System And Method For Information Handling System Hybrid System Level And Power Supply Cooling
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsDominick Lovicott, Paul Artman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Information handling system thermal conditions are controlled by hybrid interaction between a system thermal manager and a power supply thermal manager. The system thermal manager sets a speed for system cooling fans and for a power supply cooling fan. The power supply thermal manager determines a speed for the power supply cooling fan and also receives the speed for the power supply cooling fan determined by the system thermal manager. The power supply thermal manager commands the power supply fan to run at a selected of the determined speeds based upon one or predetermined conditions, such as by the selecting the greater of the determined speeds.
Claims20
An information handling system comprising:
- a housing;
- a CPU disposed in the housing and operable to process information;
- memory disposed in the housing and interfaced with the CPU, the memory operable to store information;
- one or more thermal measurement devices disposed in the housing and operable to measure one or more thermal parameters;
- a management processor disposed in the housing and interfaced with the thermal measurement devices, the management processor operable to perform one or more management functions;
- one or more system cooling fans interfaced with the management processor and operable to generate a cooling airflow in the housing;
- a system thermal manager running on the management processor and operable to apply the thermal parameters to operate the system cooling fan at a selected speed;
- and
- a power supply disposed in the housing and operable to power at least the CPU, the power supply having a cooling fan and a thermal manager, the power supply thermal manager interfaced with the system thermal manager and operable to run the power supply cooling fan at a selected of a speed determined locally at the power supply or a speed determined distally at the system thermal manager.
A method for thermal management at an information handling system comprising:
- detecting one or more thermal parameters at one or more locations within the information handling system;
- communicating the thermal parameters to a management processor;
- determining with the management processor a fan speed setting of one or more system cooling fans and one or more power supply cooling fans;
- detecting one or more thermal parameters at a power supply;
- determining with a power supply processor at the power supply a fan speed setting of the one or more power supply cooling fans;
- communicating power supply cooling fan speed determined by the management processor to the power supply processor;
- and
- selecting with the power supply processor the fan speed determined by the management processor or the power supply processor based upon one or more predetermined conditions.
The method of claim 10 wherein the predetermined conditions comprise selection of the fan speed determined by the management processor if the fan speed determined by the management processor is greater than the fan speed determined by the power supply processor.
A system for managing thermal conditions in an information handling system, the system comprising:
- a management processor operable to perform management functions for the information handling system;
- a system thermal manager running on the management processor and operable to determine a system fan speed and a power supply fan speed based upon thermal conditions detected at the information handling system;
- and
- a power supply thermal manager interfaced with the system thermal manager and operable to run the power supply cooling fan at a selected of a speed determined locally at the power supply or the speed determined at the system thermal manager based on one or more predetermined factors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.