Method for assessing electronic devices

• US 7,596,431 B1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Forman, George, Bash, Cullen
• Primary Examiner(s): Shechtman; Sean P
• Application Number:
  US11/590,525
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 700/2, 700/9, 700/11, 700/12, 700/19, 700/22, 700 28- 31, 700/49, 700/50, 700275-278, 700/291, 700/295, 700/299, 700/300, 702/132, 702182-184, 702/188, 709223-226, 713/323, 713/324, 713/330, 361/687, 361/688, 361/695
• US Class Current: 700/299
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control

Abstract

In a method for assessing a plurality of electronic devices, cooling efficiencies for the plurality of electronic devices are calculated, where the cooling efficiencies comprise measures of energy usage requirements to respectively maintain the plurality of electronic devices within predetermined temperature ranges. In addition, the plurality of electronic devices are ranked according to their cooling efficiencies and the plurality of electronic devices are stored according to their rankings.

Claims

1. A method for assessing a plurality of electronic devices, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are associated with a plurality of sensors configured to detect temperature and are cooled by fluid supplied by a plurality of fluid moving devices, said method comprising:

determining respective relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the relationships signify the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over a particular sensor;

calculating cooling efficiencies for the plurality of electronic devices based upon the determined relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the cooling efficiencies comprise measures of energy usage requirements to respectively maintain the plurality of electronic devices within predetermined temperature ranges;

ranking the plurality of electronic devices according to their cooling efficiencies; and

storing the plurality of electronic devices according to their rankings.

2. The method according to claim 1, said method further comprising:

collecting temperature information from the plurality of sensors;

populating a database with the temperature information; and

wherein calculating the cooling efficiencies further comprises considering the temperature information from the plurality of sensors in calculating the cooling efficiencies.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the respective relationships between the plurality of sensors and the plurality of fluid moving devices further comprises determining the respective relationships by:

sequentially perturbing the plurality of fluid moving devices;

evaluating condition measurements of each of the plurality of sensors in response to the sequential perturbations;

determining the respective areas of influence of the plurality of fluid moving devices based upon the evaluated condition measurements; and

determining a thermal correlation index for each of the plurality of sensors, wherein the thermal correlation index of a particular sensor defines the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over the particular sensor.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the cooling efficiencies comprise local workload placement indexes (LWPI'"'"'s) for the plurality of electronic devices, the method further comprising:

determining the LWPI'"'"'s for each of the plurality of electronic devices based upon one or more of a thermal management margin, a fluid moving device margin, the thermal correlation index, and a recirculation level at each electronic device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein determining the LWPI'"'"'s further comprises determining the LWPI'"'"'s, such that the LWPI'"'"'s comprise functions that increase with at least one of an increased thermal management margin, an increased fluid moving device margin, and a decreased recirculation level.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

applying a weighting factor to at least one of the thermal management margin, the fluid moving device margin, and the recirculation level, to thereby control the relative effects each of the thermal management margin, the fluid moving device margin, and the recirculation level has on the LWPI'"'"'s of the electronic devices.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein determining the LWPI'"'"'s further comprises determining the LWPI'"'"'s for each of the plurality of electronic devices (i) through a function of one or more of (Tset−

Tin)i, (TSAT−

TSAT,min)j, TCIij, and (Tin−

TSAT)j, wherein Tset denotes the highest desirable setpoint temperature for the electronic device (i), Tin denotes the inlet temperature of the electronic device (i), TSAT denotes the supply fluid temperature of a fluid moving device (j) having a predefined level of influence over the electronic device (i), TSAT, min denotes the minimum fluid flow temperature suppliable by the fluid moving device (j), and TCIij denotes the thermal correlation index between a sensor to which the electronic device (i) is associated and the fluid moving device (j).

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices having at least one of the highest rankings to receive and perform a workload; and

placing the workload on the selected at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

tracking performance of a first workload on a first electronic device and a second workload on a second electronic device, wherein the first electronic device has a higher cooling efficiency ranking than the second electronic device; and

in response to the first workload on the first electronic device being completed, moving the second workload from the second electronic device to the first electronic device.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

powering down the second electronic device in response to moving the second workload to the first electronic device.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

re-calculating cooling efficiencies for the plurality of electronic devices;

ranking the plurality of electronic devices according to their re-calculated cooling efficiencies; and

storing the plurality of electronic devices according to their rankings.

12. A system for assessing a plurality of electronic devices, said system comprising:

a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are respectively associated with the plurality of sensors;

a plurality of fluid moving devices operable to vary conditions of fluid flow supplied to the plurality of electronic devices;

a controller configured to receive information from the plurality of sensors, wherein the controller is further configured to determine respective relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the relationships signify the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over a particular sensor, wherein the controller is further configured to determine cooling efficiencies of the plurality of electronic devices based upon the determined relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the cooling efficiencies comprise measures of energy usage requirements to respectively maintain the plurality of electronic devices within predetermined temperature ranges, and wherein the controller is further configured to rank the plurality of electronic devices according to their respective cooling efficiencies.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to place a workload on at least one of the plurality of electronic devices having at least one of the highest rankings to perform the workload.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to track performance of a first workload on a first electronic device and a second workload on a second electronic device, wherein the first electronic device has a higher cooling efficiency ranking than the second electronic device, and wherein the controller is configured to move the second workload to the first electronic device once the first workload has been completed on the first electronic device.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the respective relationships between the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensors through a commissioning process, said controller being configured to perform the commissioning process to determine a thermal correlation index for each of the plurality of sensors, wherein the thermal correlation index defines the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over a particular sensor.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a local workload placement index (LWPI) for each of the plurality of electronic devices based upon one or more of a thermal management margin, a fluid moving device margin, the thermal correlation index, and a recirculation level at each electronic device.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the LWPI'"'"'s comprise functions that increase with at least one of an increased thermal management margin, an increased fluid moving device margin, and a decreased recirculation level.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to apply a weighting factor to at least one of the thermal management margin, the fluid moving device margin, and the recirculation level, to thereby control the relative effects each of the thermal management margin, the fluid moving device margin, and the recirculation level has on the LWPI'"'"'s of the electronic devices.

19. A fluid moving device configured to supply cooling fluid flow to a plurality of electronic devices, said fluid moving device comprising:

an actuator configured to manipulate temperature of the fluid flow supplied by the fluid moving device, wherein the fluid moving device is configured to supply cooled fluid flow to a plurality of locations, and wherein a plurality of sensors are configured to measure the temperature of the fluid flow supplied by the fluid moving device at the plurality of locations;

wherein the actuator is configured to vary the fluid flow temperature a plurality of times, and during each time, the plurality of sensors are configured to detect the temperatures at the plurality of locations;

a controller configured to correlate the one or more of the plurality of sensors to the fluid moving device by employing the plurality of actuator settings and detected temperatures, wherein the correlation signifies the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over a particular sensor, wherein the controller is further configured to use the correlation to calculate cooling efficiencies of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein the cooling efficiencies comprise measures of energy usage requirements to respectively maintain the plurality of electronic devices within predetermined temperature ranges; and

wherein the controller is further configured to rank the plurality of electronic devices according to their respective cooling efficiencies.

20. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method for placing workload on at least one electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are associated with a plurality of sensors configured to detect temperature and are cooled by fluid supplied by a plurality of fluid moving devices, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

determining respective relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the relationships signify the level of influence a particular fluid moving device has over a particular sensor;

calculating cooling efficiencies for the plurality of electronic devices based upon the determined relationships between the plurality of fluid moving devices and the plurality of sensors, wherein the cooling efficiencies comprise measures of energy usage requirements to respectively maintain the plurality of electronic devices within predetermined temperature ranges;

ranking the plurality of electronic devices according to their cooling efficiencies;

selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices having at least one of the highest rankings to receive and perform a workload; and

placing the workload on the selected at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.