Estimating the remaining useful life for cooling fans based on a wear-out index analysis

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for estimating a remaining useful life (RUL) for a fan used to cool a critical asset, the method comprising:

• receiving telemetry data associated with the fan during operation of the critical asset, wherein the telemetry data includes:
• a fan-speed signal;
• a drive current for the fan;
• a drive voltage for the fan;
• a temperature of a component that is being cooled by the fan;
• and
• an I/O rate for a disk drive that is in proximity to the fan;
• using the telemetry data to construct a historical fan-speed profile that indicates a cumulative time that the fan has operated in specific ranges of fan speeds;
• computing an RUL for the fan based on the historical fan-speed profile and empirical TTF data, which indicates a time-to-failure (TTF) for the same type of fan as a function of fan speed;
• and
• when the RUL falls below a threshold, generating a notification indicating that the fan needs to be replaced.

A system that estimates a remaining useful life (RUL) for a fan used to cool a critical asset, comprising:

• at least one processor and at least one associated memory;
• and
• a notification mechanism that executes on the at least one processor, wherein during operation, the notification mechanism:
• receives telemetry data associated with the fan during operation of the critical asset, wherein the telemetry data includes:
• a fan-speed signal;
• a drive current for the fan;
• a drive voltage for the fan;
• a temperature of a component that is being cooled by the fan;
• and
• an I/O rate for a disk drive that is in proximity to the fan;
• uses the telemetry data to construct a historical fan-speed profile that indicates a cumulative time that the fan has operated in specific ranges of fan speeds;
• computes an RUL for the fan based on the historical fan-speed profile and empirical TTF data, which indicates a time-to-failure (TTF) for the same type of fan as a function of fan speed;
• and
• when the RUL falls below a threshold, generates a notification indicating that the fan needs to be replaced.