Enclosure power controller

• US 9,778,722 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Cepulis, Darren J., Hua, Chanh V., Hashmany, Yasir Q., Christensen, Scott T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Poudel, Santosh R
• Application Number:
  US14/707,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20150241940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 713320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/183 Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means for buses G06F13/409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/189 Power distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system and method for controlling power consumption is described herein. A computer system includes an enclosure. The enclosure is configured to contain a plurality of removable compute nodes. The enclosure includes a power controller configured to individually control an amount of power consumed by each of the plurality of removable compute nodes. The power controller provides a plurality of power control signals. Each power control signal is provided to and controls the power consumption of one of the plurality of removable compute nodes.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

an enclosure to house a plurality of power supplies and a plurality of devices; and

a power controller housed in the enclosure, the power controller to;

receive efficiency data for each of the plurality of power supplies;

determine output power provided by the plurality of power supplies;

determine an AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies based on the output power and the efficiency data;

compare the AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies to an AC limit of the computer system;

determine a total capacity of the plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure;

determine a total power consumed by the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure; and

based on the AC power drawn as compared to the AC limit and based on the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure and the total power consumed by the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure, control a power consumption of a first device of the plurality of devices by driving a power control signal of the first device, wherein the power control signal is from a group consisting of a PROCHOT signal and a STPCLK signal.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the power controller is to determine the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies based on capacity information for each power supply of the plurality of power supplies, wherein the power controller is to retrieve the capacity information via communication links coupling the power controller to the plurality of power supplies.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the power controller is to, in response to a determination that the total power consumed by the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure exceeds the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure, reduce the power consumption of the first device of the plurality of devices.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure includes a plurality of computers.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure includes at least one of a cooling fan and a network device.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the power controller is to, for each power supply of the plurality of power supplies:

receive the efficiency data from the power supply; and

determine an amount of alternating current power drawn by the power supply using the efficiency data.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the power controller is to control the power consumption of the first device by modulating a duty cycle of the power control signal provided to the first device by the power controller.

8. A method, comprising:

determining, by a centralized power controller included in an enclosure of a computer system, a combined capacity of a plurality of power supplies installed in the enclosure;

measuring, by the centralized power controller, an amount of power being consumed by each of a plurality of removable devices installed in the enclosure;

determining, by the centralized power controller, whether a total power consumed by the plurality of removable devices exceeds the combined capacity of the plurality of power supplies;

in response to a determination that the total power consumed by the plurality of removable devices exceeds the combined capacity of the plurality of power supplies, reducing, by the centralized power controller, a power consumption of a first device of the plurality of devices;

measuring, by the centralized power controller, an amount of power being provided by the plurality of power supplies;

determining, based on the amount of power being provided by the plurality of power supplies and power supply efficiency data for the plurality of power supplies, an amount of AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies; and

in response to a determination that the amount of AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies exceed an AC limit of the computer system, reducing, by the centralized power controller, the power consumption of the first device of the plurality of devices by reducing a processor clock frequency of the first device via a power control signal provided to the first device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the centralized power controller, capacity data from each power supply of the plurality of power supplies; and

determining, by the centralized power controller, the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies based on the capacity data from each power supply of the plurality of power supplies.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the centralized power controller, the power supply efficiency data from each power supply of the plurality of power supplies.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of devices installed in the enclosure comprises a plurality of compute nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of devices installed in the enclosure further comprises at least one of a cooling fan and a network device.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising adjusting, by the centralized power controller, a power control coefficient in response to a change in the quantity of devices installed in the enclosure.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the reducing of the power consumption of the first device includes modulating a duty cycle of the power control signal provided to the first device.

15. A centralized power controller in an enclosure of a computer system, the centralized power controller comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a computer-readable medium storing power control software, the power control software executable by the hardware processor to;

retrieve capacity information for each of a plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure;

determine a total capacity of the plurality of power supplies based on the capacity information for each of a plurality of power supplies;

determine a total power consumed by a plurality of devices housed in the enclosure;

adjust a power consumption of a first device of the plurality of devices based on the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure and the total power consumed by the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure;

measure an amount of power being provided by the each of the plurality of power supplies;

determine, based on the amount of power being provided by the each of the plurality of power supplies and power supply efficiency data for each of the plurality of power supplies, an amount of AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies; and

adjust the power consumption of the first device of the plurality of devices based on the amount of AC power drawn by the plurality of power supplies compared to an AC limit of the computer system by selecting a low power state using a power control signal from a group consisting of a PROCHOT signal and a STPCLK signal.

16. The centralized power controller of claim 15, wherein the power control software is executable to determine a total capacity of the plurality of power supplies based on capacity information for each power supply of the plurality of power supplies.

17. The centralized power controller of claim 16, wherein the centralized power controller is to retrieve the capacity information via communication links coupling the power controller to the plurality of power supplies.

18. The centralized power controller of claim 15, wherein the power control software is executable to, in response to a determination that the total power consumed by the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure exceeds the total capacity of the plurality of power supplies housed in the enclosure, reduce the power consumption of the first device of the plurality of devices.

19. The centralized power controller of claim 15, wherein the plurality of devices housed in the enclosure comprises a plurality of compute nodes, at least one cooling fan, and at least one network device.

20. The centralized power controller of claim 15, wherein the power control software is executable to retrieve the power supply efficiency data from each power supply of the plurality of power supplies.