Thermal management computing system and method
First Claim
1. A method of thermal management in a computing system comprising a plurality of critical heat generating electronic components having designated maximum operating temperatures and designated maximum operating speeds, respectively, comprising:
- monitoring the temperature of said critical components and the rate of temperature increase of said critical components;
determining that the temperature of a detected critical component approaches its designated maximum operating temperature, or determining that the rate of temperature increase of said detected component exceeds a predetermined temperature, and, in response to such determination initiating one or more of the following procedures as necessary to maintain operation of said detected component at or above at least about 80% of its designated maximum operating speed;
(a) reducing the operating speed of said detected component in increments of between about 1% and about 5% until a predetermined component temperature is reached,(b) increasing the speed of one or more fans for cooling said detected component in increments of between about 1% and about 5% until the predetermined component temperature is reached, andif carrying out step (a) or step (b) does not result in reducing the temperature of said detected component to the predetermined lower temperature within a predetermined time limit,(c) inducing thermal communication between said detected component and a variable capacity heat transfer component.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A thermal management method of operation to cool critical heat generating components and when a critical electronic component approaches its designated maximum operation temperature or its rate of temperature increase is determined to be in excess a predetermined level, its operating speed is reduced in small increments (1% to 5%), and/or a cooling fan speed it increased in small increments, (1% to 5%), and, if necessary, operation of a variable capacity heat transfer component is induced to cool the critical component.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of thermal management in a computing system comprising a plurality of critical heat generating electronic components having designated maximum operating temperatures and designated maximum operating speeds, respectively, comprising:
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monitoring the temperature of said critical components and the rate of temperature increase of said critical components; determining that the temperature of a detected critical component approaches its designated maximum operating temperature, or determining that the rate of temperature increase of said detected component exceeds a predetermined temperature, and, in response to such determination initiating one or more of the following procedures as necessary to maintain operation of said detected component at or above at least about 80% of its designated maximum operating speed; (a) reducing the operating speed of said detected component in increments of between about 1% and about 5% until a predetermined component temperature is reached, (b) increasing the speed of one or more fans for cooling said detected component in increments of between about 1% and about 5% until the predetermined component temperature is reached, and if carrying out step (a) or step (b) does not result in reducing the temperature of said detected component to the predetermined lower temperature within a predetermined time limit, (c) inducing thermal communication between said detected component and a variable capacity heat transfer component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computing system comprising a plurality of critical heat-generating electronic components having designated maximum operating temperatures and designated maximum operating speeds, respectively, temperature sensors for measuring the temperatures of each of said critical components and means for relaying signals relating to sensed temperature to a controller, and one or more fans positioned for cooling one or more of said critical components, the computing system characterized by:
a controller configured to monitor the temperature of each of said critical components and for regulating the operating speed of each of said critical components and the speed of the said one or more fans, said controller configured to determine the rate of temperature increase of said critical components, and in response to a detected critical component temperature above a predetermined limit, or rate of temperature increase in excess of a predetermined level, configured to reduce the operating speed of the detected critical component and/or to increase the speed of said one or more fans in increments of between about 1% and about 5% until the operating temperature of said detected critical component is reduced to or below said predetermined limit. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
Specification