Information processor and cooling performance determination method

• US 8,447,558 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Client Solutions CO., Ltd. (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hosokawa, Daisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): SUGLO, JANET L
• Application Number:
  US12/645,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169039A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 702/130, 702/136, 361/679.54, 361/718, 361/719, 700/300
• US Class Current: 702/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus, includes a heat generator on the printed-circuit board in the housing, a heat radiator in the housing configured to radiate heat of the heat generator to the outside of the housing, a first thermometer configure to sense a first temperature at a first position on the board, a second thermometer on the board configured to sense a second temperature at a second position away from the heat generator than the first position, a cooling performance determination module configured to monitor whether a temperature difference between the first temperature and the second temperature is above a threshold, and to determine whether performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated based on a result of the monitoring.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a housing;

a printed-circuit board in the housing;

a heat generator on the printed-circuit board;

a heat radiator in the housing configured to radiate heat from the heat generator to the outside of the housing;

a first thermometer in the housing configure to sense a first temperature at a first position on the printed-circuit board;

a second thermometer on the printed-circuit board, configured to sense a second temperature at a second position away from the heat generator than the first position;

a temperature difference processor configured to compute a temperature difference between the first temperature and the second temperature; and

a cooling performance determination module configured to monitor whether the temperature difference is above a threshold, and to determine whether performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated based on a result of the temperature difference monitoring, wherein the threshold is at least one of;

the temperature difference computed when a measured temperature of the housing is in a predetermined high range;

the temperature difference computed when power consumption of the heat generator is substantially high;

the temperature difference computed when a temperature of the heat generator is beyond a predetermined normal operating limit temperature; and

a keyboard on an upper face of the housing configured to enter data, wherein a temperature of the housing is a temperature at a front side of the keyboard.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the cooling performance determination module is configured to repeatedly monitor pairs of the first temperature and the second temperature at predetermined time intervals during a predetermined time period, and to determine whether the performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated based on pairs sampled during the predetermined time period.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the performance determination module is configured to calculate a number of pairs comprising temperature differences obtained by subtracting the second temperature from the first temperature in each pair during the predetermined time period, and configured to determine whether the performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated based on the number of pairs.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a temperature data storage processor configured to store the pairs of the first temperature and the second temperature obtained by the cooling performance determination module for each monitoring as a set of temperature data in a storage device; and

a failure detection module configured to analyze temperature data of a plurality of sets after storing the temperature data of the plurality of sets, and to detect a failure of the heat generator from a tendency of a temperature change at the first position.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the cooling performance determination module is configured to determine whether the temperature difference is above the threshold for each predetermined time interval, to detect pairs of the first temperature and the second temperature at predetermined time intervals when the temperature difference is above the threshold, and to determine whether the performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated according to whether a predetermined number of pairs are sampled during the predetermined time period.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the cooling performance determination module configured to determine whether the temperature difference is above the threshold for each predetermined time interval, to sample pairs of the first temperature and the second temperature at the predetermined time intervals on a condition that the temperature difference is above the threshold, to calculate the number of pairs comprising differences between the second temperatures and the first temperatures above a reference value in pairs of a predetermined number, and to determine that the performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated when the calculated number of pairs is above a reference number.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the heat radiator further comprises:

a heat radiating fin at a position in the housing facing an air outlet in the housing and thermally connected to the heat generator; and

a fan configured to cool the heat radiating fin.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the heat generator comprises a central processing unit.

9. A cooling performance determination method of determining cooling performance of a heat radiator discharging heat from a heat generator installed in a housing to the outside, the method comprising:

sensing a first temperature at a first position on a printed-circuit board with the heat generator on the printed-circuit board and a second temperature at a second position away from the heat generator than the first position on the printed-circuit board;

computing a temperature difference between the first temperature and the second temperature; and

monitoring the temperature difference during a predetermined time period from when the temperature difference is above the threshold; and

determining whether performance of the heat radiator is deteriorated based on the result of the monitoring,

wherein the threshold is at least one of;

the temperature difference computed when a measured temperature of the housing is in a predetermined high range, wherein a measured temperature of the housing is a temperature at a front side of a keyboard on an upper face of the housing;

the temperature difference computed when power consumption of the heat generator is substantially high; and

the temperature difference computed when a temperature of the heat generator is beyond a predetermined normal operating limit temperature.