# US 2015/0147155 A1 · Fan control method, apparatus, and sytem

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- Number: US 2015/0147155 A1
- Document ID: US20150147155A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/607,425
- Filed: 2015-01-28
- Published: 2015-05-28
- Earliest claimed: 2012-08-29
- Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: WEIFENG DUAN; Xi Chao
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20150147155A1

## CPC

- F04D 27/00: Control, e.g. regulation, of pumps, pumping installations or pumping systems specially adapted for elastic fluids
- F04D 19/002: {Axial flow fans}
- F04D 19/005: {reversible fans}
- F04D 25/0613: {the electric motor being of the inside-out type, i.e. the rotor is arranged radially outside a central stator}
- F04D 27/004: {by varying driving speed}
- G05B 15/02: electric
- Y02B 30/70: Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating
- F04D: NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS (engine fuel-injection pumps F02M; ion pumps H01J41/12; electrodynamic pumps H02K44/02)
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS

## Abstract

A fan control method, apparatus, and system, so as to implement speed regulation and rotation direction control on a four-wire system counter-rotating fan with a conventional four-wire fan interface by using a PWM control bus. The method provided by the embodiments of the present invention includes: receiving a first fan regulation and control signal sent by a system control module; converting the first fan regulation and control signal to a forward-rotating control signal, a counter-rotating control signal, or a rotation direction switchover control signal according to a duty cycle range of the first fan regulation and control signal and a current rotation direction of the fan; and sending a control signal obtained by the conversion to a fan driving module, so that the fan driving module drives, according to the control signal obtained by the conversion, the fan to operate.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A fan control method, comprising:
receiving a first fan regulation and control signal sent by a system control module, wherein the first fan regulation and control signal is used to control a rotation direction of a fan, and the system control module is configured to deliver a control signal according to an instruction of a host computer to control operating of the fan;
converting the first fan regulation and control signal to a forward-rotating control signal, a counter-rotating control signal, or a rotation direction switchover control signal according to a duty cycle range of the first fan regulation and control signal and a current rotation direction of the fan; and
sending a control signal obtained by the conversion to a fan driving module, so that the fan driving module drives, according to the control signal obtained by the conversion, the fan to operate.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein after sending a control signal obtained by the conversion to a fan driving module, the method further comprises:
receiving a second fan regulation and control signal sent by the system control module, wherein the second fan regulation and control signal is used to regulate a rotational speed of the fan; and
sending a speed regulation driving signal to the fan driving module according to a duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal, so that the fan driving module drives the fan to operate at a rotational speed corresponding to the duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a third fan regulation and control signal sent by the system control module, wherein the third fan regulation and control signal is used to control the rotation direction and the rotational speed of the fan;
converting the third fan regulation and control signal to a forward-rotating speed regulation driving signal, a counter-rotating speed regulation driving signal, or a rotation direction switchover and speed regulation driving signal according to a duty cycle range of the third fan regulation and control signal and a current rotation direction of the fan; and
sending a speed regulation driving signal obtained by the conversion to the fan driving module, so that the fan driving module regulates the rotation direction and the rotational speed of the fan according to the speed regulation driving signal obtained by the conversion.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, further comprising:
sending rotational speed information of the fan to the system control module, so that the system control module reports the rotational speed information of the fan to the host computer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method according to claim 4, further comprising:
when it is detected that the first fan regulation and control signal, the second fan regulation and control signal, or the third fan regulation and control signal is a fault signal, sending a fan full speed driving control signal to the fan driving module, so that the fan operates at full speed.

### Claim 6

A fan control apparatus, comprising:
a receiving unit, configured to receive a first fan regulation and control signal sent by a system control module, wherein the first fan regulation and control signal is used to control a rotation direction of a fan, and the system control module is configured to deliver a control signal according to an instruction of a host computer to control operating of the fan;
a converting unit, configured to convert the first fan regulation and control signal received by the receiving unit to a forward-rotating control signal, a counter-rotating control signal, or a rotation direction switchover control signal according to a duty cycle range of the first fan regulation and control signal and a current rotation direction of the fan; and
a sending unit, configured to send a control signal obtained by the converting unit to a fan driving module, so that the fan driving module drives, according to the control signal obtained by the converting unit, the fan to operate.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:
the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second fan regulation and control signal sent by the system control module, wherein the second fan regulation and control signal is used to regulate a rotational speed of the fan; and
the sending unit is further configured to send a speed regulation driving signal to the fan driving module according to a duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal, so that the fan driving module drives the fan to operate at a rotational speed corresponding to the duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:
the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third fan regulation and control signal sent by the system control module, wherein the third fan regulation and control signal is used to control the rotation direction and the rotational speed of the fan;
the converting unit is further configured to convert the third fan regulation and control signal to a forward-rotating speed regulation driving signal, a counter-rotating speed regulation driving signal, or a rotation direction switchover and speed regulation driving signal according to a duty cycle range of the third fan regulation and control signal received by the receiving unit and a current rotation direction of the fan; and
the sending unit is further configured to send a speed regulation driving signal obtained by the converting unit to the fan driving module, so that the fan driving module regulates the rotation direction and the rotational speed of the fan according to the speed regulation driving signal obtained by the converting unit.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:
the sending unit is further configured to send rotational speed information of the fan to the system control module, so that the system control module reports the rotational speed information of the fan to the host computer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:
the sending unit is further configured to: when it is detected that the first fan regulation and control signal, the second fan regulation and control signal, or the third fan regulation and control signal is a fault signal, send a fan full speed driving control signal to the fan driving module, so that the fan operates at full speed.

### Claim 11

A fan control system, comprising:
a host computer, a system management apparatus, a fan interface connection apparatus, and a fan, wherein:
the host computer is configured to send a rotation direction control command to the system management apparatus;
the system management apparatus is configured to send a first fan control signal to the fan by using the fan interface connection apparatus and according to the rotation direction control command;
the fan interface connection apparatus is configured to connect the system management apparatus to the fan, and comprises a power supply positive interface, a power supply negative interface, a fan control signal interface, and a fan rotational speed frequency feedback signal interface, wherein one side of the power supply positive interface and one side of the power supply negative interface are respectively connected to a positive electrode and a negative electrode of a power supply in the system management apparatus by using a power supply bus, another side of the power supply positive interface and another side of the power supply negative interface are respectively connected to a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the fan by using a power supply bus, one side of the fan control signal interface and one side of the fan rotational speed frequency feedback signal interface are connected to a signal control interface in the system management apparatus by using a control bus, and another side of the fan control signal interface and another side of the fan rotational speed frequency feedback signal interface are connected to the fan by using a control bus; and
the fan is a four-wire system fan and is configured to receive the first fan regulation and control signal sent by the system management apparatus, convert the first fan regulation and control signal to a forward-rotating control signal, a counter-rotating control signal, or a rotation direction switchover control signal according to a duty cycle range of the first fan regulation and control signal and a current rotation direction of the fan, and regulate the rotation direction of the fan according to a control signal obtained by the conversion.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system according to claim 11, wherein:
the host computer is further configured to send a speed regulation control command to the system management apparatus;
the system management apparatus is further configured to send a second fan control signal to the fan by using the fan interface connection apparatus and according to the speed regulation control command; and
the fan is further configured to receive the second fan regulation and control signal sent by the system management apparatus and enable, according to a duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal, the fan to operate at a rotational speed corresponding to the duty cycle range of the second fan regulation and control signal.