Cooling system and electronic apparatus

• US 10,681,840 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2018
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Chonan, Tsutomu, Kamimura, Takuroh, Adachi, Takateru, Ohyama, Atsushi, Akiyama, Shogo
• Primary Examiner(s): Russell, Devon
• Application Number:
  US16/022,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20190313548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• Field of Search: 165288, 165290
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/00 Thermometers specially adapted for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20154 Heat dissipaters coupled to components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20209 Thermal management, e.g. fan control

Abstract

The present invention aims to reduce noise derived from an operation sound of a fan while maintaining cooling capacity of the fan. A cooling system includes a fan which is disposed in a chassis in which a CPU which is exemplified as a heating element is housed, one temperature sensor which is disposed in the chassis, another temperature sensor which is disposed at a position which is different from a position of the one temperature sensor, and a fan control unit which drives the fan in a case where one temperature, which is based on a measured value of one temperature sensor, is at least a first threshold value or in a case where another temperature, which is based on a measured value of the other temperature sensor, is at least a second threshold value which is set to a value lower than the first threshold value.

Claims

1. A cooling system comprising:

a fan which is disposed in a chassis in which a heating element is housed;

a first temperature sensor which is disposed in the chassis;

a second temperature sensor which is disposed at a position which is different from a position of the first temperature sensor;

a fan control unit configured to drive the fan in response to a first temperature, based on a measured value of the first temperature sensor, reaching at least a first threshold value or a second temperature, based on a measured value of the second temperature sensor, reaching at least a second threshold value which is set to a value lower than the first threshold value; and

a connection sensing unit configured to sense that an external device is connected to the chassis, wherein

the fan control unit has

a rotation number command generation section configured to generate a rotation number command for the fan on the basis of the first temperature and the second temperature, and

a command invalidation section configured to invalidate the rotation number command, which is generated by the rotation number command generation section, for a predetermined period of time in response to sensing that the external device is connected to the chassis.

2. The cooling system according to claim 1, wherein

the first temperature sensor is disposed at a position which is closer to the heating element than the position of the second temperature sensor.

3. The cooling system according to claim 1, wherein

the heating element is a CPU and the first temperature sensor measures a temperature of the CPU.

4. The cooling system according to claim 1, wherein

the second temperature sensor is disposed in the vicinity of a set of fins or in the vicinity of a surface of the chassis.

5. A cooling system comprising:

a fan which is disposed in a chassis in which a heating element is housed;

a temperature sensor which is disposed in the chassis;

a fan control unit configured to control the fan; and

a connection sensing unit configured to sense that an external device is connected to the chassis, wherein

the fan control unit has

a rotation number command generation section configured to generate a rotation number command for the fan by using a measured value of the temperature sensor, and

a command invalidation section configured to invalidate the rotation number command, which is generated by the rotation number command generation section, for a predetermined period of time in response to sensing that the external device is connected to the chassis.

6. A cooling system comprising:

a fan which is disposed in a chassis in which a heating element is housed;

a temperature sensor which is disposed in the chassis;

a fan control unit configured to control the fan; and

a connection sensing unit configured to sense that an external device is released from the chassis, wherein

the fan control unit has

a rotation number command generation section configured to generate a rotation number command for the fan by using a measured value of the temperature sensor, and

a command invalidation section configured to invalidate the rotation number command, which is generated by the rotation number command generation section, for a predetermined period of time in response to sensing that the external device is released from the chassis.