Fan control apparatus and fan control method

• US 20040200630A1
• Filed: 02/23/2004
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Inoue, Kenichi, Notsuyu, Toshiaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,340,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 174/15.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20209 Thermal management, e.g. fan control
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

A fan control apparatus and a fan control method which can reduce the temperature in the equipment body by a time control when setting the stop period constant at the starting time by adding a time axis fan control additively to a fan control by means of a temperature sensor. The fan control apparatus comprises a temperature sensor 9 which detects the temperature in the equipment body; a CPU 1 and a sub micom 4 as an temperature control function which perform the control of the cooling fans 7 and 8 according to the detected temperature value; a CPU 1 as a communication function which performs the communication with a server 11 connected to the equipment body via a network 10; and a CPU 1 and a sub micom 4 as a time control function which perform the control of the cooling fans 7 and 8 according to the time value based on previous and this time communication starts.

Claims

1. A fan control apparatus for cooling an inside of an equipment body by a cooling fan arranged in said equipment body, the apparatus comprising:

temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature in said equipment body;

temperature control means for controlling said cooling fan according to a temperature value detected by said temperature detecting means;

communication means for communicating with a server connected to said equipment body by a network; and

time control means for controlling said cooling fan according to the time value based on a previous commencement of a time communication and a present commencement of a time communication by said communication means,

wherein control of said cooling fan is performed by using said temperature control means and said time control means.

2. The fan control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication means performs communication for a defined time duration at predetermined times and said time control means stops the operation of said cooling fan until said defined time duration elapses.

3. The fan control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said time control means includes means for controlling said cooling fan based on time values of a previous time communication end and the present commencement of a time communication.

4. The fan control method according to claim 1, wherein the time value based on said previous commencement of a time communication and the present commencement of a time communication corresponds to a time when the temperature in said equipment body that is detected by said temperature detecting means reaches a predetermined saturation temperature.

5. The fan control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said time control means controls said cooling fan when said equipment is set to a power-off state after an elapsed time when the temperature in said equipment body detected by said temperature detecting means is predicted to reach a predetermined saturation temperature and subsequently said equipment is set to a power-on state.

6. A fan control method for cooling an inside of an equipment body by a cooling fan arranged in said equipment body, the method comprising:

a communication step for communicating a time by using a communication unit with a server connected to said equipment body by a network;

a temperature detecting step for detecting a temperature in said equipment body by using temperature detector;

a temperature control step for controlling said cooling fan by using a temperature controller according to a temperature value detected by said temperature detector; and

a time control step for controlling said cooling fan by using a time control unit according to a time value based on a previous and a present commencement of a time communication by said communication unit,

wherein control of said cooling fan is performed by using said temperature controller and said time control unit.

7. The fan control method according to claim 6, wherein said communication step includes performing communication for a defined time duration at predetermined time times and said time control step stops the operation of said cooling fan until the defined time duration elapses.

8. The fan control method according to claim 6, wherein said time control step includes controlling said cooling fan based on time values of the previous commencement of a time communication end and the present commencement of a time communication.

9. The fan control method according to claim 6, wherein the time value based on the previous commencement of a time communication and the present commencement of a time communication corresponds to a time when the temperature in said equipment body detected by said temperature detecting step reaches a predetermined saturation temperature.

10. The fan control method according to claim 6, wherein said time control step controls said cooling fan when said equipment is set to a power-off state after an elapsed time when the temperature in said equipment body detected by said temperature detecting step is predicted to reach the predetermined saturation temperature and subsequently, said equipment is set to a power-on state.