Systems and methods for thermal control in an information handling system

A method comprising:

• controlling a cooling subsystem, the cooling subsystem comprising at least one air mover configured to generate a cooling airflow in a system, based at least in part on an inlet temperature to the system when an inlet temperature sensor for sensing the inlet temperature is available;
• and
• in response to a failure of the inlet temperature sensor:
• executing an energy balance calculation to estimate a virtual inlet temperature based on one or more temperature values from one or more temperature sensors of a plurality of temperature sensors of the system other than the inlet temperature sensor;
• and
• controlling the cooling subsystem based at least in part on the virtual inlet temperature when the inlet temperature sensor is unavailable.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable medium;
• and
• computer-executable instructions carried on the computer-readable medium, the instructions readable by a processor, the instructions, when read and executed, for causing the processor to:
• control a cooling subsystem, the cooling subsystem comprising at least one air mover configured to generate a cooling airflow in a system, based at least in part on an inlet temperature to the system when an inlet temperature sensor for sensing the inlet temperature is available;
• and
• in response to a failure of the inlet temperature sensor:
• execute an energy balance calculation to estimate a virtual inlet temperature based on one or more temperature values from one or more temperature sensors of a plurality of temperature sensors of the system other than the inlet temperature sensor;
• and
• control the cooling subsystem based at least in part on the virtual inlet temperature when the inlet temperature sensor is unavailable.