JPH03207977A - Forcible air cooling control apparatus of electronic machinery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lower the trouble generation frequency of a fan and to effectively cool electronic machinery using a min. -scale fan or air volume by obtaining the data from a sucked air temp. sensor, an electronic machinery internal temp. sensor and a noise sensor to control the number of rotations of an air cooling fan and the cooling output of an air conditioner in connection with each other on the basis of a predetermined control rule. CONSTITUTION:Electronic machinery internal temp. sensors 4a-4n, an electronic machinery sucked air temp. sensor 6 and a noise sensor 7 are provided in electronic machinery 2 and the data from the respective sensors are sent to a fuzzy inference mechanism 12 through a monitor mechanism 5 and fuzzy inference is performed on the basis of the control rule accumulated in a knowledge base 11. By the fuzzy inference, three data of the number-of-rotation data of air cooling fans 3a-3n, the cooling output control data of an air conditioner and error detection data are calculated. The number-of- rotation data of the fans are sent to a fan variable control mechanism 8 and air conditioner control quantity is sent to the air conditioner 15 and the error detection data is sent to an error detection mechanism 13 to perform the cooperative control of the whole of a system.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a forced air cooling control system that takes into account the work environment in offices and other places where electronic equipment is installed, in conventional forced air cooling systems, system failure due to a failure of the air cooling fan in the electronic equipment In order to solve the problem of high frequency of downtime and high noise level caused by high-speed fan rotation, we introduced air conditioners that can control their output using control signals. The fan used has a variable rotation speed, and further includes a sensor for monitoring the intake air temperature of the electronic device, a sensor for monitoring the internal temperature of the device, a sensor for monitoring the ambient noise of the electronic device, and a sensor for monitoring the ambient noise of the electronic device. It is configured by providing a control section that outputs control amounts for the air cooling fan and air conditioner based on various sensor information.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a forced air cooling system consisting of an electronic device using a fan for forced air cooling, and an air conditioner that performs air convection with the electronic device and absorbs heat generated from the electronic device. Regarding
In particular, the present invention relates to a forced air cooling control system for electronic equipment, which places emphasis on the work environment in an office or the like where the electronic equipment is installed, and controls room temperature, noise, etc. using, for example, a fuzzy inference mechanism.

[Prior Art] Fig. 5 is a diagram explaining a conventional forced air cooling system, and shows an example of a typical forced air cooling system in a work room where electronic equipment such as a computer is installed. .

That is, in the work room 51, an electronic device 52, an air conditioner 53, and a refrigerator 57 are installed at the same time, and the electronic device 52
The warmed exhaust air 55 returns to the air conditioner 53, and after being cooled by the air conditioner 53, it is sent to the underfloor of the work room 5l as cold air 54, and the electronic equipment 52 uses the cold air 5 under the floor.
4 to cool itself.

Note that the air conditioner 53 is equipped with an outdoor heat exhaust unit 56, and the exhaust heat from the air conditioner 53 is released outdoors via the refrigerator 57 and the exhaust heat unit 56.

Further, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of a conventional forced air cooling system, in which a plurality of air cooling fans 60a to 60n are provided inside the electronic device 52, and a heat dissipation section inside the device uses air as a cooling medium. In addition to cooling the equipment, the heat generated inside the equipment is forcibly discharged to the outside of the equipment.

Also, corresponding to each air cooling fan 60a to 60n, device temperature sensors 61a to 61n and temperature sensors 61a to 61n are provided.
A device temperature sensor detection mechanism 62 is provided that takes in sensor information of n and monitors the device temperature. For example, if an air cooling fan fails, the device temperature sensor detection mechanism 62 issues an alarm (
Warning) information will be generated and the system will stop.

Furthermore, the air conditioner 53 is provided with an installed temperature sensor 63 and an installed humidity sensor 64, and controls the cooling output of the air conditioner 53 according to the heat load of the work room.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As explained above, in the conventional forced air cooling system, the air cooling system is composed of a fan for forced air cooling inside the electronic equipment and an air conditioner placed in the electronic equipment installation room. However, there are problems as shown below.

When power is turned on to electronic equipment, the air cooling fans are started all at once, and air is forced into the equipment by controlling the number of rotations of the fans according to the internal temperature of the electronic equipment and the internal temperature. It is ventilated and cooled.

However, since the temperature inside electronic devices is controlled only by controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the load on the fan is heavy, which makes it more likely to cause mechanical failure and system downtime due to fan failure. When this happens frequently and the fan is rotated at high speed, there is a problem of noise caused by the rotation of the fan.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is designed to prevent fan failures from occurring in rooms where electronic equipment is installed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a forced air cooling control system for electronic equipment that can reduce noise.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, the above objects are achieved by the means described in the claims.

That is, the present invention provides an electronic device comprising a forced air cooling type electronic device using one or more air cooling fans, and an air conditioner that performs air convection with the electronic device and absorbs waste heat from the electronic device. In a forced air cooling system for equipment, the air conditioner is provided with means for variably controlling its cooling output using a control signal, and the electronic equipment is provided with means for variably controlling the rotation speed of an air cooling fan in the electronic equipment. Further, an intake air temperature sensor that monitors the intake air temperature to the electronic device, an electronic device internal temperature sensor that monitors the internal temperature of the electronic device, a noise sensor that monitors ambient noise of the electronic device, and the above-mentioned intake air temperature sensor. , a control unit configured to obtain information from an electronic device internal temperature sensor and a noise sensor and output a rotation speed control amount of the air cooling fan and the air conditioner control amount based on a predetermined control rule; This is a forced air cooling control system for an electronic device in which the rotational speed of an air cooling fan in the electronic device and the cooling output of an air conditioner are controlled in conjunction with the control amount output from the control unit.

Further, in a second aspect of the invention, the control section is configured by a fuzzy inference mechanism.

[Function] In the present invention, an air cooling fan whose rotation speed can be varied is installed in an electronic device, and the cooling output of the air conditioner is configured to be controlled by an external signal.

In addition, the electronic device is provided with an intake air temperature sensor, an electronic device internal temperature sensor, and a noise sensor, and based on the sensor information, predetermined control rules are applied to adjust the rotation speed of the air cooling fan and the air conditioner. The control amount is determined, and if necessary, error detection information is also obtained.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention,
1 is a work room, 2 is an electronic device, 3a to 3n are air cooling fans, 4a to 4n are electronic device internal temperature sensors, 5 is a sensor monitoring mechanism, 6 is an intake air temperature sensor, 7 is a noise sensor, 8 is a variable fan A control mechanism, 9 is an AC/DC converter that converts alternating current to direct current, 10a to 10n are adjustment points for controlling the fan rotation speed, 1l is a knowledge base that holds control rules used in fuzzy inference, and 12 is for executing fuzzy inference. Fuzzy inference mechanism, l3 is error detection mechanism, 15 is air conditioner, 16
17 represents a temperature sensor installed in the air conditioner, and 17 represents a humidity sensor installed in the air conditioner.

In this embodiment, DC fans are used for the air cooling fans 3a to 3n, and the rotation speed of each of the air cooling fans 38 to 3n is changed by a rotation speed command from the variable fan control mechanism 8. This fan variable control mechanism 8 is controlled by a fuzzy inference mechanism 12.

Further, various sensors are provided in the electronic device 2, namely, electronic device internal temperature sensors 4a to 4n1, an electronic device intake air temperature sensor 6, and a noise sensor 7, and these sensors are connected to the monitor mechanism 5.

Information from the various sensors mentioned above is transmitted via the monitor [5].
The fuzzy inference mechanism 1 is sent to the fuzzy inference mechanism l2.
In Step 2, fuzzy inference is performed based on the control rules stored in the knowledge base 11 using the sensor information.

In this embodiment, the information obtained by fuzzy inference is the rotation speed information of the cooling fans 38 to 3n, the cooling output control information of the air conditioner 15, and the error detection information.

Then, the fan rotation speed information is sent to the variable fan control mechanism 8.
The air conditioner control amount is sent to the air conditioner 15, and the error detection information is sent to the error detection mechanism 13, respectively, and the interlocking control of the entire system is performed.

Further, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a control rule (also referred to as "rule j") in the knowledge base X1, and the knowledge base ll
Among them, information from the intake air temperature sensor 6 of the electronic device, information from the electronic device internal temperature sensors 4a to 4n, and information from the noise sensor 7 are used as input variables to calculate the rotation speed of the air cooling fan, the air conditioner control amount, and the like. A plurality of rules for fuzzy inference using error detection information as an output value are stored.

As is well known, the rules are expressed by membership functions based on predetermined evaluation criteria. For example, rule (1) in Figure 2
In this case, the electronic device intake air temperature is a membership function whose evaluation standard is "quite high", and similarly, the electronic device internal temperature is "slightly low" and the noise level is "very noisy".
is the evaluation standard.

Also, rule (2) states that the intake air temperature is "just right."
The evaluation criteria are that the internal temperature is "just right" and the noise level is "slightly noisy." Further, in rule (n), the evaluation criteria are that the intake air temperature is "quite low", the internal temperature is "slightly high", and the noise level is "very low".

In this way, multiple rules (rule (1) to rule (n
)), and the final fuzzy inference results, that is, the fan control amount Vn, the air conditioner control amount En, and the normal value amount 1, are obtained by applying the rMIN-MAX center of gravity method.

Further, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the external appearance of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which the electronic equipment 2 is housed in the control panel 20, and the air conditioner l5
The cold air is drawn into the electronic equipment 2 through the floor of the work room. The electronic device 2 is equipped with an intake fan 22 and an exhaust fan 2l.

Furthermore, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of application of the present invention, in which noise transmitted from the air conditioner 8!15 to the work room is blocked by providing a sound-insulating partition wall 23. In addition, the partition wall 23
A ventilation hole 24 is provided.

In the present invention, since the electronic device 2 and the air conditioner 15 are controlled in conjunction with each other, such a configuration is also possible.

In this case, instead of using the sound insulation partition wall 23, the air conditioner l
It is also possible to install 5 in a separate room and use a ventilation duct.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the forced air cooling control system of the present invention has the following effects.

(1.) Cooling is controlled not only by the cooling fan but also by the air conditioner, reducing the burden on the cooling fan.
The frequency of cooling fan failures can be reduced.

(2) Since the air conditioner is also controlled, electronic equipment can be effectively cooled with the minimum fan size and air volume.

(3) It is possible to minimize fan noise.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of control rules in the knowledge base, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the external appearance of the device in the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an application example of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram explaining a conventional forced air cooling system, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the basic structure of the conventional forced air cooling system.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A forced air-cooled electronic device using one or more cooling fans, and an air conditioner that performs air convection with the electronic device and absorbs waste heat from the electronic device. In a forced air cooling system for electronic equipment, the air conditioner is provided with means for variably controlling its cooling output using a control signal, and the electronic equipment is provided with means for variably controlling the rotation speed of an air cooling fan within the electronic equipment. further comprising: an intake air temperature sensor that monitors the intake air temperature to the electronic device; an electronic device internal temperature sensor that monitors the internal temperature of the electronic device; a noise sensor that monitors ambient noise of the electronic device; A control unit that obtains information from a temperature sensor, an electronic device internal temperature sensor, and a noise sensor and outputs a rotation speed control amount of the air cooling fan and the air conditioner control amount based on a predetermined control rule. A forced air cooling control system for an electronic device, characterized in that the rotation speed of an air cooling fan in the electronic device and the cooling output of an air conditioner are controlled in conjunction with the control amount output from the control section. . 2. The forced air cooling control system for electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein the control section is configured by a fuzzy inference mechanism.