# US 2014/0208136 A1 · Systems And Methods For Power Supply Configuration And Control > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0208136 A1 - Document ID: US20140208136A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/746,113 - Filed: 2013-01-21 - Published: 2014-07-24 - Earliest claimed: 2013-01-21 - Assignees: Dell Products L.P. - Inventors: Johan Rahardjo; Girish Das - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140208136A1 ## CPC - G06F 1/3296: by lowering the supply or operating voltage - G06F 1/00: Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00 (architectures of general purpose stored program computers G06F15/76) - G06F 1/26: Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) - G06F 1/3206: Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Systems and methods are disclosed that may be used for controlling information handling system power supply based on current system power policy such as current system load power need and/or based on current system load power capping information. The disclosed systems and methods may be so implemented to improve power use efficiency for information handling system applications in which a power supply unit (PSU) has a power delivery capability that is overprovisioned relative to the power-consuming system load component/s of an information handling system. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information handling system, comprising: one or more power-consuming components that together constitute a system load; at least one power supply unit (PSU) coupled to supply power to the system load, the PSU being configured to supply power to the system load using two or more available non-zero PSU operational power modes that each have a different respective deliverable power range; and at least one processing device configured to: determine a current power policy for the system load, the current power policy specifying a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to at least one of a total maximum possible power consumption level of the currently installed power-consuming components of the system load, a power-capped total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load, or a combination thereof, select a first one of the PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU based on the determined current power policy for the system load, and cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the at least one processing device is configured to select the first one of the PSU operational power modes from the available PSU operational power modes such that the deliverable power range of the selected PSU operational power mode coincides with the current power policy power level. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, where two or more of the available non-zero PSU operational power modes is a candidate PSU operational power mode having a deliverable power range that coincides with the current power policy power level; where the operating efficiency of the PSU at the current power policy power level is different for each of the candidate PSU operational power modes; and where the at least one processing device is configured to select a candidate PSU operational power mode having the highest operating efficiency at the current power policy power level to use as the first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the at least one processing device is configured to select a second and different one of the PSU operational power modes from the available power modes in response to a change in the determined current power policy for the system load; and to cause the PSU to use the selected second one of the PSU operational power modes to supply power to the system load. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising non-volatile memory coupled to the at least one processing device, the non-volatile memory including characteristics of the different available PSU operational power modes of the PSU stored therein; and where the at least one processing device is configured to select the first one of the PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU based on a comparison between the determined current power policy and the characteristics of the different available PSU operational power modes stored in the non-volatile memory. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising non-volatile memory coupled to the at least one processing device, the non-volatile memory including internal PSU operating parameter values stored therein for implementing each of the different available PSU operational power modes of the PSU stored therein; where the at least one processing device is configured to retrieve the internal PSU operating parameter values from the non-volatile memory that correspond to the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes; and where the at least one processing device is configured to cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the retrieved internal PSU operating parameter values that correspond to the first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, where the stored internal PSU operating parameter values comprise at least one of number of DC-to-DC phases, switching frequency, number of active unequal phases, Power Factor Correction (PFC) operational states, or a combination thereof; and where the non-volatile memory having the internal PSU operating parameter values stored therein is integrated within the PSU. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the at least one processing device comprises at least three separate processing devices; where the at least three separate processing devices comprise at least one node manager associated with at least one power-consuming component of the system load, a PSU microcontroller, and a service processor component of a management subsystem communicatively coupled between the node manager and the PSU microcontroller; and where the service processor is configured to determine the current power policy for the system load at least partly from power-related configuration information communicated from the node manager; where the service processor is configured to select a first one of the PSU operational power modes from the available non-zero PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU based on the determined current power policy for the system load, and to communicate the selected PSU operational power mode to the PSU microcontroller; and where the PSU microcontroller is configured to select internal PSU operating parameter values that correspond to and enable the power characteristics of the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes to cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, where the service processor is communicatively coupled to communicate the selected PSU operational power mode to the PSU microcontroller across a power management bus (PMBus). ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the current power policy specifies a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to a power-capped total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load that is less than the maximum total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the current power policy specifies a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to a total maximum possible power consumption level of the currently installed power-consuming components of the system load. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the system comprises a blade server system; where the one or more power-consuming components of the system load comprise individual server blades; where the current determined power policy varies according to the number of currently installed server blades, the current power-capped power consumption level of the individual currently installed server blades, or a combination thereof; and where the at least one processing device is configure to: select different PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU as the determined current power policy for the system load varies according to changes in the number of currently installed server blades, changes in the current power-capped power consumption level of the individual currently installed server blades or a combination thereof, and cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the different selected PSU operational power modes as the number of currently installed server blades changes, as the current power-capped power consumption level of the individual currently installed server blades changes or a combination thereof. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, where the PSU coupled to supply power to the system load is overprovisioned to have a maximum power supply capacity that is at least one of: higher than the total maximum power consumption of the system load component/s, higher than the total combined power-capped power consumption of the system load components, or a combination thereof. ### Claim 14 A method for powering an information handling system, comprising: providing one or more power-consuming components that together constitute a system load for the information handling system; providing at least one power supply unit (PSU) coupled to supply power to the system load, the PSU being configured to supply power to the system load using two or more available non-zero PSU operational power modes that each have a different respective deliverable power range; and using the at least one processing device to: determine a current power policy for the system load, the current power policy specifying a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to at least one of a total maximum possible power consumption level of the currently installed power-consuming components of the system load, a power-capped total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load, or a combination thereof, select a first one of the PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU based on the determined current power policy for the system load, and cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to select the first one of the PSU operational power modes from the available PSU operational power modes such that the deliverable power range of the selected PSU operational power mode coincides with the current power policy power level. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to: determine a current power policy for the system load; select a second and different one of the PSU operational power modes from the available power modes in response to a change in the determined current power policy for the system load; and cause the PSU to use the selected second one of the PSU operational power modes to supply power to the system load. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to: select the first one of the PSU operational power modes of the at least one PSU based on a comparison between the determined current power policy and the characteristics of the different available PSU operational power modes stored in the non-volatile memory; and select internal PSU operating parameter values for implementing the selected first one of the PSU operational power modes; and cause the PSU to supply power to the system load using the selected internal PSU operating parameter values that correspond to the first one of the PSU operational power modes. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to determine a current power policy that specifies a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to a power-capped total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load that is less than the maximum total power consumption level of the power-consuming components of the system load. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to determine a current power policy that specifies a current power policy power level for the system load that corresponds to a total maximum possible power consumption level of the currently installed power-consuming components of the system load. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, where the PSU coupled to supply power to the system load is overprovisioned to have a maximum power supply capacity that is at least one of: higher than the total maximum power consumption of the system load component/s, higher than the total combined power-capped power consumption of the system load components, or a combination thereof.