Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
  • G06F1/20—Cooling means
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K7/00—Constructional details common to different types of electric apparatus
  • H05K7/20—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
  • H05K7/20009—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating using a gaseous coolant in electronic enclosures
  • H05K7/20209—Thermal management, e.g. fan control

Definitions

• the present device relates to an apparatus for controlling the revolution speed of a fan of a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment.
• the speed of a fan used in a cooler or as a cooling fan of a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment is controlled by pulse-width modulation (PWM) via a fan driving unit installed on a mainboard.
• PWM pulse-width modulation
• a conventional PWM control method involves controlling the speed of a fan by controlling the duty cycle of a driving PWM signal according to a temperature of a target (e.g., a chipset) to be cooled. That is, the conventional PWM control method involves varying the speed of the fan by automatically controlling the duty cycle of the PWM signal which is pre-set for different temperatures.
• the conventional PWM control method it is easy to automatically control the speed of the fan.
• a user is required to arbitrarily control the speed of the fan (e.g., when the user is required to control a cooling performance with respect to noise of a cooler), it is not possible to control the speed of the fan according to the conventional PWM control method.
• the present device provides an apparatus for controlling the revolution speed of a fan of a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment.
• the apparatus of the present device may receive a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal for driving a fan from a fan driving unit installed on a mainboard in a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment, and allow a user to arbitrarily control the duty cycle of the PWM signal according to various modes via a microcomputer (micom).
• PWM pulse-width modulation
• an apparatus for controlling the revolution speed of a fan used in a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment including a first means for receiving a PWM signal for driving a fan from a fan driving unit of a mainboard, and inputting the PWM signal to a microcomputer (micom); a second means for controlling the micom so as to enable a user to arbitrarily control a duty cycle of the PWM signal; and a third means for changing the revolution speed of the fan by providing the fan with the PWM signal whose duty cycle is controlled via the micom.
• the second means may set various modes including a plurality of duty cycle values so as to allow a user to select a duty cycle of the PWM signal from among the plurality of duty cycle values.
• the various modes may include a mode for enabling the user to sequentially change the duty cycle of the PWM signal.
• the user may control the mode via a user manipulation unit including a button, and in particular, an element such as a variable resistor may be used to enable the user to sequentially select the duty cycle.
• a microprogram of the micom may be set to change the duty cycle when the button is sequentially pressed. If it is possible to enlarge the size of the user manipulation unit, a plurality of buttons may be arranged respectively for the various modes. This is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
• the apparatus may further include a mode display unit to display the selected mode.
• the mode display unit may include light emitting diodes (LEDs) for displaying the duty cycles with different colors.
• LEDs light emitting diodes
• dual-color LEDs may be used to reduce the number of LEDs. If it is possible to enlarge the size of the mode display unit, the LEDs may be arranged to respectively indicate the various modes.
• a revolution speed of a cooler or cooling fan may be controlled by a user of a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment.
• the computer may be used by reducing noise of the cooler by reducing the revolution speed of the cooler.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a fan revolution speed according to the present device
• FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
• FIGS. 3 and 4 are modified circuit diagrams of the circuit diagram of FIG. 2;
• FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of a case enclosing the apparatus of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a fan revolution speed according to the present device.
• the apparatus may be used for controlling a cooler or a cooling fan of a computer.
• the apparatus of FIG. 1 includes a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal input unit 20, a duty cycle control unit 40, a fan driving signal output unit 30, and a mode display unit 60.
• PWM pulse-width modulation
• the PWM signal input unit 20 receives a PWM signal for fan driving from a fan driving unit mounted on a computer mainboard, and inputs the PWM signal to a microcomputer (micom) 10.
• the duty cycle control unit 40 enables a user to control the micom 10 via a user manipulation unit 50 and to control the duty cycle of the PWM signal input to the micom 10.
• the fan driving signal output unit 30 outputs the PWM signal whose duty cycle is controlled by the duty control unit 40, and provides the PWM signal to a fan F.
• the mode display unit 60 displays a duty cycle mode which is controlled by the user manipulation unit 50.
• the duty cycle control unit 40 pre-sets selection modes based on various duty cycles. For example, the duty cycle control unit 40 pre-sets a 100%-mode, a 75%-mode, a 50%-mode, and a manual change mode, and enables the user to select one of the selection modes by manipulating the user manipulation unit 50. The selected mode is displayed via the mode display unit 60 so that the user may recognize the user-selected mode. If the 100%-mode is selected, the duty cycle of the PWM signal supplied by the fan driving unit is not changed and the PWM signal is input directly to the fan F as a fan driving signal.
• the duty cycle of the PWM signal supplied by the fan driving unit is reduced by 50% and then the PWM signal is input to the fan F so that a revolution speed of the fan F is reduced.
• the manual change mode enables the user to linearly vary the duty cycle of the PWM signal within a predetermined range (e.g., 0 through 100%, 10 through 90%, 10 through 100%, 25 through 100%, and the like). According to another aspect of the present device, it may be possible to sequentially control the duty cycle via a variable resistor after selecting the manual change mode.
• FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the apparatus of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the PWM signal input unit 20, the fan driving signal output unit 30, the duty control unit 40, and the mode display unit 60 are connected to the micom 10.
• an ATTiny13 model of Atmel Corporation may be used, which is a microcontroller unit (MCU) including an 11-channel10 bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a flash memory, and a static random access memory (SRAM).
• MCU microcontroller unit
• ADC analog-to-digital converter
• SRAM static random access memory
• the PWM signal input unit 20 receives a PWM signal from the fan driving unit installed on the mainboard (not shown) via a connector J1.
• the PWM signal that is input via a pin 4 of the connector J1 is input to a pin 3 of an IC (integrated circuit) U2 of the micom 10.
• the fan driving signal output unit 30 outputs a fan driving signal (i.e., the PWM signal whose duty is controlled) via a connector J2.
• the fan driving signal is output from a pin 4 of the connector J2 and then is supplied to a fan (not shown).
• a pin 3 of the connector J1 and a pin 3 of the connector J2 are connected to each other by a connection line and a revolutions per minute (RPM) detection signal output from the fan is delivered to the fan driving unit of the mainboard via the connector J2 and the connector J1.
• RPM revolutions per minute
• the duty control unit 40 includes the user manipulation unit 50.
• the user manipulation unit 50 includes a button switch SW1 and a variable resistor VR1.
• the button switch SW1 may be pressed to sequentially vary the duty cycle of the PWM signal.
• a program of the micom 10 may indicate a 100% duty cycle mode as an initial state, to indicate a 75% duty cycle mode when the button switch SW1 is pressed once, to indicate a 50% duty cycle mode when the button switch SW1 is pressed twice, and to indicate a manual change mode when the button switch SW1 is pressed three times.
• the manual change mode is selected by using the button switch SW1, it is possible to arbitrarily control the duty cycle within a range of 0 through 100% by varying resistance of the variable resistor VR1.
• the mode display unit 60 may be embodied to turn on a light emitting diode (LED) that realizes different colors according to a mode selected by the user manipulation unit 50.
• LED light emitting diode
• a bi-color LED D1 is connected to the micom 10. In this case, only three colors may be realized so that the total number of modes is equal to or less than 3.
• FIGS. 3 and 4 are modified circuit diagrams of the circuit diagram of FIG. 2.
• the connectors J1 and J2 of FIG. 2 are integrated into a connector J68 so that a signal input/output (I/O) unit 25 may include the PWM signal input unit 20 and the fan driving signal output unit 30.
• a 12V line, GND line, and RPM signal line are common in the connectors J1 and J2 of FIG. 2, the signal I/O unit 25 may employ one connector, and a signal is input/output via a pin 3 for a PWM signal input and a pin 4 for a fan driving signal output.
• the RPM signal line is directly connected from a fan driving unit connector of the mainboard to a fan (not shown).
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of a mode display unit 65 according to another embodiment of the present device.
• the mode display unit 65 of FIG. 4 includes a circuit that realizes 4 colors by employing a green LED D4 and a red/blue LED D2. For example, when a 100% duty cycle mode (mode 1), 75% duty cycle mode (mode 2), 50% duty cycle mode (mode 3) and manual-change mode (mode 4) are pre-set, 4 colors may be displayed by using the circuit of FIG. 4.
• the circuit of FIG. 4 may display the mode in the following manner.
• Table 1 mode red LED blue LED green LED Displayed color 1 on off off red 2 on on off violet 3 off on off blue 4 off off on green
• FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of a case enclosing the apparatus of FIG. 1.
• a button press unit 100, an LED display unit 200, and a variable resistor knob 300 are mounted on the case.
• a button switch SW1 (in FIG.2) may be operated by the button press unit 100, color of an LED may be realized via the LED display unit 200, and a variable resistor VR1 (in FIG.2) may be controlled via the variable resistor knob 300.
• a revolution speed of a cooler or cooling fan may be controlled by a user of a computer or various kinds of industrial and household pieces of equipment.
• the computer may be used by reducing noise of the cooler by reducing the revolution speed of the cooler.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Control Of Electric Motors In General (AREA)
• Control Of Positive-Displacement Air Blowers (AREA)
• Cooling Or The Like Of Electrical Apparatus (AREA)
• Cold Air Circulating Systems And Constructional Details In Refrigerators (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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• 2009
  • 2009-02-27 KR KR2020090002251U patent/KR20100008834U/ko not_active Ceased
• 2010
  • 2010-02-26 TW TW099105684A patent/TW201042432A/zh unknown
  • 2010-02-26 EP EP10746447A patent/EP2401666A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-02-26 WO PCT/KR2010/001207 patent/WO2010098608A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-02-26 CN CN2010800094704A patent/CN102334082A/zh active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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