JP2000065408A - Method of detecting fan trouble and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for detection of trouble which can simply and surely inform a user of the alarm of a fan trouble, based on the fan on signal that the controller of a power source part for fan drive and the current of the power source for fan rotation and fan drive. SOLUTION: A controller 13 monitors the fan on signal of a power controller 14 and monitors the rotation of a fan 11 when it detects that signal. When the controller detects the signal of a revolution detector 12 showing the number of revolutions of a fan to be zero or its stoppage, the controller judges that there is trouble in the fan and generates a trouble signal. Moreover, when the controller detects the signal of the revolution detector showing that the number of revolutions of the fan is stationary one or that the fan is in revolution, the controller monitors the current of a power source 15 for drive, and when it detects the signal of the current detector 16 showing that the current value deviates from the one at stationary operation or that the power is off, it judges that the fan trouble occurs and generates a fan trouble signal to outside.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to fan failure detection. In particular, the present invention relates to failure detection when a plurality of fans are mounted on one housing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-116094 discloses a known technique for detecting such a fan failure. According to this document, in the previous device for detecting an abnormal rotational speed of a fan, at least one of a plurality of fans is used.
When the number of rotations of the fans becomes equal to or less than the specified value, the abnormality detection circuit operates. However, it is difficult to find out which fan sensor has operated, and it is troublesome to search for a fan whose rotational speed has decreased, and rapid fan replacement cannot be performed.

[0003] In a further improved system, an interlocking switch is activated in a fan sensor of a fan having an abnormal rotation speed, and an alarm signal is generated in an abnormality detection circuit.
At the same time, a voltage is applied from the abnormality detection circuit to the identification code switch. The decoder can identify the abnormal fan by reading the voltage application status.

The invention of this embodiment is to solve the above problem, but differs from the invention in that a fan current element is not used.

[0005] In addition to the above documents, there are the following publications.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 03-116094, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 05-044981 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-281236.

[0007]

Conventionally, a failure detection means using a lock sensor and a failure detection means using rotation number detection have been used for failure detection of a fan. These methods are
It works well when only one fan is used. However, if a plurality of fans are mounted and one of them fails, depending on the mounting structure of the device, the failed fan may not stop due to the influence of another normal fan. In such a case, the lock sensor is of a type that detects a failure by stopping the rotation of the fan, so that failure detection of the fan is impossible. In addition, when a failure is detected based on the number of rotations, it is possible to detect the failure by setting the failure detection rotation speed. This must be specified and is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a failure detection system capable of easily and surely reporting a fan failure alarm based on a fan-on signal generated by a fan drive power supply control unit, a fan rotation and a fan drive power supply current. Methods and apparatus are provided.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a failure of a fan, comprising the steps of: detecting a fan-on signal; detecting a fan rotation; If the stop is detected, the control unit determines that the fan has failed and generates a fan failure signal to the outside, and the control unit outputs a signal of the rotation detection unit to a steady-state fan rotation speed or the fan is rotating. When the control unit detects that the current value of the drive power supply is detected, and when the signal of the current detection unit is detected as a value deviating from the current value during the steady operation or when the power supply is turned off, the control unit performs the fan failure. If the control unit detects a current value or power-on state during normal operation and determines that the fan is normal, And a step back to the visual.

[0010] The fan failure detecting device according to the present invention includes a fan 1
1, a rotation detecting means 12 for sending a rotation signal to the control unit 13, and a current detecting means 16 for a fan driving power supply for detecting a fan current and sending the signal to the control unit 13.
And a power control unit 14 that detects a fan-on signal and sends it to the control unit 13, and monitors the signal to detect an abnormality in the rotation or current value of the fan 11 while the power control unit 14 receives the fan-on signal. A control unit for notifying a failure signal of the fan to the outside;

Further, when a plurality of fans are mounted in parallel or in series on a single housing having a body to be cooled, circuits from a fan driving circuit to a failure detection circuit are provided for each fan. Is a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Further, in one embodiment, the rotation detecting means is a lock sensor type for judging whether the fan is rotating or stopped.

In one embodiment, the rotation detecting means is of a generator type for detecting the number of rotations of the fan.

Further, in one embodiment, the current detecting means is a current transformer for detecting a current value.

In one embodiment, the current detecting means is a detecting device for detecting the presence or absence of a current.

Further, it is preferable that the control unit incorporates a microprocessor unit for judging a fan failure by inputting a fan-on signal, a rotation signal and, if necessary, a current signal, and reporting the failure to the outside in the case of a failure. It is an aspect.

[0017]

Referring to FIG. 1, a control unit 13 includes a fan ON signal of a power supply control unit 14, a fan rotation signal of a rotation detection unit 12 attached to a fan 11, and a current value of a fan drive power supply. A circuit is provided to notify the presence or absence of a fan failure from the current signal of the detection unit 16 to the outside. The power control unit 14 has a circuit for generating a signal for turning on the fan drive power supply 15. When the fan drive power supply 15 receives the fan ON signal from the power control unit 14, the fan control power supply 15 Is turned on. The rotation detecting section 12 attached to the fan 11 has a circuit for generating a signal indicating the number of rotations of the fan or the rotation / stop of the fan. The current detecting section 16 has a circuit for generating a current value of the fan driving power supply 15 or a signal indicating whether the current is present or not. Next, a fan failure notification operation of the control section 13 in FIG. I do. In FIG. 1, the control unit 13
The presence / absence of a fan failure is determined based on a combination of the signal of the power supply control unit 14, the signal of the rotation speed detection unit 12, and the signal of the current detection unit 16, and the failure is notified to the outside. The flow of each signal and the operation of the control unit 13 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the control unit 13 monitors a fan ON signal of the power supply control unit 14. If the fan ON signal is detected here,
The control unit 13 monitors the rotation of the fan 11. Control unit 13
If the control unit 13 detects that the rotation speed of the fan is zero or the fan is stopped, the control unit 13 determines in FIG. 5 that the fan has failed, generates a fan failure signal externally, and ends the process.

When the control unit 13 detects the signal of the rotation detection unit 12 as a normal fan rotation speed or a fan rotation,
The control unit 13 monitors the current value of the driving power supply 15. Here, when the control unit 13 detects the signal of the current detection unit 16 as a value deviating from the current value at the time of steady operation or the power is OFF, the control unit 13 determines that the fan 11 is out of order and sends the fan A failure signal is generated and the process ends.

When the control unit 13 detects the current value or the power-on state during the normal operation, it determines that the fan is normal, returns to the monitoring of the fan-on signal, and continues monitoring thereafter.

The control unit 13 has a built-in microprocessor unit as shown in FIG. 2, and determines a fan failure by the above-described procedure, and notifies the outside in the case of a fan failure. The present invention is effective in a redundant fan configuration in which a plurality of fans according to the present invention are mounted as shown in FIGS. The redundant configuration of a fan refers to a cooling structure in which a plurality of fans are mounted, the fans are individually provided from a driving circuit to a failure detection circuit, and a failure in cooling does not occur even if one of the fans fails. Referring to FIG. 3, a cooled body 38 is mounted inside a housing 37,
Are mounted in parallel. In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 3, for example, in the case of a failure in which the drive power supply circuit of the fan 35 is cut off, the fan 35
Rotation gradually decreases and stops. Thereafter, the fan 35 may start reverse rotation due to the pressure difference generated by the fan 36. At this time, in FIG.
3 can determine that the fan drive power supply current is abnormal even though the fan is rotating, and report the failure of the fan 35 to the outside.

Referring to FIG. 4, a cooled body 48 is mounted inside a housing 47, and fans 45 and 46 for cooling the cooled body 48 are mounted in series. In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 4, for example, in the case of a failure in which the power supply circuit for driving the fan 45 is cut off, the rotation of the fan 45 gradually decreases but the pressure difference generated by the fan 46 causes the fan 4 to fail.
5 does not stop. However, in FIG. 1, the control unit 13 can determine that the fan drive power supply current is abnormal and report a fan failure to the outside.

[0022]

As described above, the present invention is applicable to a case where a plurality of fans are mounted, one of the fan driving power supply circuits is cut off, and the fans do not stop under the influence of a normal fan. However, there is an effect that the failure of the fan can be detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a failure detection device to which a fan failure detection method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a detailed diagram of a control unit.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a cooling structure in which a plurality of fans of the present invention are mounted (parallel).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a cooling structure in which a plurality of fans of the present invention are mounted (in series).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method for detecting a fan failure according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 fan 12 rotation detection unit 13 control unit 14 power control unit 15 fan drive power supply 16 current detection unit 17 microprocessor unit 35, 36, 46, 47 fan 37, 47 housing 38, 48 cooled object

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A method for detecting a fan failure, comprising: a step of detecting a fan-on signal; a step of detecting a fan rotation; The unit determines that the fan has failed and generates an external fan failure signal.If the control unit detects that the signal of the rotation detection unit is a normal fan rotation speed or that the fan is rotating, the control unit determines The step of detecting the current value of the driving power supply, and if the signal of the current detection means is detected as a value deviating from the current value in the steady operation or the power supply is turned off, the control unit determines that the fan has failed and externally outputs a fan failure signal. And when the control unit detects a current value during normal operation or a power-on state, it is assumed that the fan is normal and returns to monitoring of the fan-on signal. The method of fan failure detection to be. 2. A fan failure detecting device, comprising: a power control unit (14) for detecting a fan-on signal and sending it to a control unit (13); and controlling a fan rotation speed or a rotation / stop signal attached to the fan (11). A rotation detecting means (12) for sending to the unit (13), a current detecting means (16) for a fan driving power supply for detecting a fan current and sending a current value or a current presence / absence signal to the control unit (13); A control unit (13) for monitoring a signal and detecting a failure in the rotation or current value of the fan (11) during reception of the fan-on signal of the power control unit (14), and sending a failure signal of the fan to the outside; A fan failure detection circuit characterized by the following. 3. When a plurality of fans are mounted in parallel or in series on a single housing having a body to be cooled, circuits from a fan driving circuit to a failure detection circuit are provided for each fan. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 2. 4. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 2, wherein the rotation detection means is a lock sensor type that determines whether the fan is rotating or stopped. 5. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 2, wherein the rotation detection means is of a generator type for detecting the number of rotations of the fan. 6. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 2, wherein the current detection means is a current transformer for detecting a current value. 7. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 2, wherein the current detection means is a detection device that detects the presence or absence of a current. 8. The microprocessor according to claim 2, wherein the control unit includes a microprocessor unit for determining a fan failure by inputting a fan-on signal and a rotation signal and, if necessary, a current signal, and notifying the failure to the outside. 2. The fan failure detection circuit according to claim 1.