Power Supply Engagement and Method Therefor

• US 20100332873A1
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Munjal, Ashish, Roberts, Michael J., Reddy, Jaydev
• Granted Patent: US 8,918,656 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode

Abstract

An information handling system includes a plurality of power supply units (PSUs) to supply power to one or more system components. For each PSU of the plurality of PSUs, a power conversion efficiency profile for the PSU is determined using a power management control module of the information handling system. The power conversion efficiency profile represents a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of one or more power outputs capable of being supplied by the PSU. The power management control module determines a total amount of power to be supplied to a load of the information handling system, and engages a select number of PSUs to provide the total amount of power based on the total amount of power and the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSUs.

Claims

1. In an information handling system comprising a plurality of power supply units (PSUs) to supply power to one or more components of the information handling system, a method comprising:

determining, for each PSU of the plurality of PSUs, a power conversion efficiency profile for the PSU using a power management control module of the information handling system, the power conversion efficiency profile representing a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of one or more power outputs capable of being supplied by the PSU;

determining, using the power management control module, a total amount of power to be supplied to a load of the information handling system; and

engaging a select number of PSUs to provide the total amount of power based on the total amount of power and the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSUs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein engaging a select number of PSUs comprises:

determining a minimum number of PSUs needed to provide the total amount of power based on the maximum power outputs of the PSUs; and

determining the select number of PSUs greater than the minimum number of PSUs based on the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSU so as to reduce a total amount of power input to the plurality of PSUs in order to generate the total amount of power.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the minimum number of PSUs comprises determining the minimum number of PSUs further based on a PSU redundancy policy of the information handling system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein engaging a select number of PSUs comprises engaging the select number of PSUs further based on a PSU redundancy policy for the information handling system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a power conversion efficiency profile for a PSU comprises:

determining a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of a plurality of power outputs of the PSU; and

for each determined power conversion efficiency, storing a value representative of the power conversion efficiency in a data structure in a storage component, the data structure representing the power conversion efficiency profile of the PSU.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for a power output comprises:

determining a power input of the PSU to generate the power output; and

determining the power conversion efficiency of the PSU for the power output based on a ratio of the power output to the power input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a power conversion efficiency profile for a PSU comprises accessing a data structure from a storage component using the power management control module, the data structure comprising a plurality of predetermined values representative of the power conversion efficiency of the PSU at each of a plurality of corresponding power outputs of the PSU.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each PSU of the plurality of PSUs is of the same type, and wherein determining the power conversion efficiency profile for each PSU comprises determining a single power conversion efficiency profile representative of every PSU of the plurality of PSUs.

9. An information handling system comprising:

a plurality of system components;

a plurality of power supply units (PSUs) to supply power to one or more of the system components; and

a power management control module to;

determine, for each PSU of the plurality of PSUs, a power conversion efficiency profile for the PSU, the power conversion efficiency profile representing a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of one or more power outputs capable of being supplied by the PSU;

determine a total amount of power to be supplied to a load of the information handling system; and

engage a select number of PSUs to provide the total amount of power based on the total amount of power and the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSUs.

10. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein the power management control module is to engage a select number of PSUs by:

determining a minimum number of PSUs needed to provide the total amount of power based on the maximum power outputs of the PSUs; and

determining the select number of PSUs greater than the minimum number of PSUs based on the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSU so as to minimize a total amount of power input to the plurality of PSUs in order to generate the total amount of power.

11. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein the power management control module further is to determine the minimum number of PSUs based on a PSU redundancy policy of the information handling system.

12. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein the power management control module engages a select number of PSUs further based on a PSU redundancy policy for the information handling system.

13. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein the power management control module determines a power conversion efficiency profile for a PSU by:

determining a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of a plurality of power outputs by the PSU; and

for each determined power conversion efficiency, storing a value representative of the power conversion efficiency in a data structure in a storage component, the data structure representing the power conversion efficiency profile of the PSU.

14. The information handling system of claim 13, wherein the power management control module determines a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for a power output by:

determining a power input of the PSU to generate the power output; and

determining the power conversion efficiency of the PSU for the power output based on a ratio of the power output to the power input.

15. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein the power management control module determines a power conversion efficiency profile for a PSU by accessing a data structure from a storage component of the information handling system using the power management control module, the data structure comprising a plurality of predetermined values representative of the power conversion efficiency of the PSU at each of a plurality of corresponding power outputs of the PSU.

16. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein:

the information handling system comprises a server rack; and

the plurality of system components comprises a plurality of blade servers.

17. A computer-readable medium storing a software program, the software program comprising a set of instructions to manipulate at least one processor to:

determine, for each power supply unit (PSU) of the plurality of PSUs of an information handling system, a power conversion efficiency profile for the PSU, the power conversion efficiency profile representing a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of one or more power outputs capable of being supplied by the PSU;

determine a total amount of power to be supplied to a load of the information handling system; and

direct the engagement of a select number of PSUs to provide the total amount of power based on the total amount of power and the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSUs.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the set of instructions to manipulate at least one processor to engage a select number of PSUs comprises instructions to manipulate at least one processor to:

determine a minimum number of PSUs needed to provide the total amount of power based on the maximum power outputs of the PSUs; and

determine the select number of PSUs greater than the minimum number of PSUs based on the power conversion efficiency profiles of the PSU so as to reduce a total amount of power input to the plurality of PSUs in order to generate the total amount of power.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the set of instructions to manipulate at least one processor to engage a select number of PSUs comprises instructions to manipulate at least one processor to engage the select number of PSUs further based on a PSU redundancy policy for the information handling system.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the set of instructions to manipulate at least one processor to determine a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for a power output comprises instructions to manipulate at least one processor to:

determine a power conversion efficiency of the PSU for each of a plurality of power outputs of the PSU; and

for each determined power conversion efficiency, to store a value representative of the power conversion efficiency in a data structure in a storage component, the data structure representing the power conversion efficiency profile of the PSU.