Information Handling System Heat Sink Compatibility Management
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsStuart Allen Berke, Dinesh Kunnathur Ragupathi
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Abstract
A thermal response engine on an information handling system compares a processor thermal response to a predetermined workload with an expected thermal response to the predetermined workload in order to validate that a heat sink disposed on the processor matches a heat sink used by a thermal controller profile to manage thermal conditions of the information handling system. If the heat sink thermal characteristics fail to match up with expected thermal characteristics, the thermal response engine provides the thermal controller with an appropriate thermal profile and alerts the end user of an incompatibility.
Claims20
An information handling system comprising:
- a motherboard;
- a processor coupled to the motherboard and operable to execute instructions;
- memory interfaced with the processor and operable to store information;
- a heat sink coupled to the processor;
- a temperature sensor operable to sense a temperature;
- and
- a thermal response engine interfaced with the temperature sensor and operable to compare sensed temperatures against expected temperatures for a processor workload to identify the heat sink.
A method for managing information handling system thermal conditions, the method comprising:
- storing a heat sink identifier in non-volatile memory of the information handling system;
- executing a characterized workload on the information handling system;
- and
- comparing one or more temperatures sensed in the information handling system in response to the characterized workload with one or more temperatures expected in the information handling system to validate the identity of a heat sink installed in the information handling system as the heat sink associated with the heat sink identifier if the sensed temperatures are within a predetermined margin of the expected temperatures.
The method of claim 11 wherein characterizing a heat sink thermal response further comprises:
- comparing the temperatures sensed in the information handling system with temperatures expected for one or more heat sinks other than the heat sink associated with the stored identifier;
- and
- assigning a heat sink thermal response of the one or more heat sinks that have expected temperatures approximate to the sensed temperatures.
A system for managing thermal conditions of an information handling system, the system comprising:
- non-transitory memory;
- a thermal controller stored in the non-transitory memory and operable to control an active thermal management device according to a thermal profile, the thermal profile based at least in part on an identifier of a heat sink disposed on a processor in the information handling system;
- and
- a thermal response engine stored in the non-transitory memory and operable to compare a thermal response of the processor to a predetermined workload with an expected thermal response to the predetermined workload in order to validate that the heat sink disposed on the processor has a thermal characteristic associated with the identifier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.