JPH11184566A - Cooling control method for electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform an optimum cooling in accordance with the rapidly changing heat of a heat generating part and to reduce noises with a simple and high accuracy control by collecting component information in the heat generating part of an electronic device, operation information of each component and temperature information of the heat generating part and performing fan control based on them. SOLUTION: A cooling controller is provided with a temperature sensor 17 installed in a CPU 13 to measure the temperature of a cooled part 11, four fans 22 which send cooling wind to the part 11, a fan controlling part 12, etc. The part 12 collects configuration information 18 from a memory/processor, operation information 19 from a processor and ambient temperature information from the sensor 17, so as to perform calculation processing and appropriate fan speed control based on a fan control table 120. In a power supply part 10, two power supply units 14 respectively have a fan 21 and a temperature detection function and feed power to the part 11 of an electronic device and the part 12 of the cooling controller.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling cooling of an electronic device, and more particularly to a technique effective when applied to a method for controlling cooling of an electronic device having a plurality of heat generating parts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a general electronic device has a function of controlling a cooling (air cooling) capability, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 42494, the ambient temperature and the amount of heat generated are estimated from the temperature change data in the housing collected by the temperature sensor using a fuzzy logic inference method to determine the rotation speed of the cooling fan. To achieve a cooling effect and low noise.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As a result of studying the above prior art, the present inventor has found the following problems. In a general air-cooled electronic device, the cooling is designed so that the ambient (inlet) temperature of the device is the maximum specified value, the portion to be cooled has the maximum configuration, and the cooling capacity necessary for the maximum heat generation operation can be secured.

However, in the actual use state, the above conditions are not always satisfied (the ambient temperature is lower than the specified value, the cooled part is not the maximum configuration, or the maximum heat generation operation is not performed).
In that case, it becomes an overcooled state and involves more noise than necessary.

In the apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-42449, the temperature of a portion having a large amount of heat generation in the apparatus is measured, and a temperature change factor (the ambient temperature of the apparatus, the structure of the heat generating portion in the apparatus) is measured. And the operation, etc.), the required cooling capacity is inferred from the temperature change data, the rotation of the cooling fan is controlled, and an appropriate cooling effect and low noise are realized.

However, in a general electronic device, heat-generating portions are scattered in the device, and the arrangement is not necessarily a simple arrangement mechanism. Therefore, a plurality of temperature measurement points are required to properly infer the required cooling capacity. In addition, complicated inference is caused by different conditions under which the temperature change factor affects the measured value depending on the measurement point.

Also, with respect to the heat value that changes in a relatively short time, there has been a problem that inference accuracy cannot be expected in some cases because the temperature change around the heat generating portion is slow.

[0008] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, not to infer the temperature change factor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology capable of realizing an optimum cooling effect and a low noise corresponding to a heat generation amount of a heat generation portion in an apparatus which changes in a short time by simple and high-precision control.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows. Control of a fan that cools a heat-generating portion that generates heat in the electronic device collects component information in the heat-generating portion of the electronic device, operation information of each component, and temperature information in the heat-generating portion of the electronic device, and collects the collected information. This is performed based on the obtained component information, operation information, and temperature information.

In addition, power consumption information and temperature information in the heat generating part of the electronic device are collected, and the operation of the fan is controlled based on the collected power consumption information and temperature information.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an electronic system including a cooling control device having a function of realizing a cooling control method according to an embodiment of the present invention and an electronic device will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a computer is taken as an example of an electronic system, and a cooling control device that cools a processor and a memory portion will be described in detail.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of components of a portion that generates heat in the electronic device (hereinafter, referred to as a cooled portion),
And a cooling control device (first embodiment) for controlling the cooling capacity as a function of the power consumption fluctuation and the ambient temperature fluctuation due to the operation mode, and the output current fluctuation of the power supply of the cooled part and the ambient temperature fluctuation as functions. A cooling control device (second embodiment) for controlling the cooling capacity will be described.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an electronic system having a cooling control device for controlling a cooling capacity as a function of the number of components of a part to be cooled, fluctuations in power consumption depending on an operation mode, and fluctuations in an ambient temperature. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of FIG.

The electronic system according to the first embodiment has a CPU including four memories 15 and a processor 16.
An electronic device having the unit 13 (however, only the CPU unit 13 corresponding to the cooled portion 11 of the electronic device is shown in FIG. 1) and provided in the CPU unit 13 to measure the temperature of the cooled portion 11 A temperature sensor 17, four fans 22 for sending cooling air 23 to the cooled part 11, configuration information 18 from a memory / processor, operation information 19 from a processor, and ambient temperature information 20 from the temperature sensor 17 are collected. A cooling control device including a fan control unit 12 that performs calculation processing and performs appropriate fan rotation control based on a fan control table 120 described later;
The power supply unit 4 includes a fan 21 and a temperature detection function (not shown), and supplies power to the cooled unit 11 of the electronic device and the fan control unit 12 of the cooling control device.

The CPU unit 1 of the above-mentioned cooled part 11
In 3, the maximum number of components (memory / processor) is not always installed, and the status is reported to the fan control unit 12 as configuration information 18.

The processor has an active state (operating state) and a standby state (standby state). The state is reported to the fan control unit 12 as operation information 19.

Further, the temperature sensor 17 is connected to the cooled part 11.
The air inlet temperature is measured, and the state is reported to the fan control unit 12 as ambient temperature information 20.

The four memories 1 in the CPU unit 13
The maximum cooling capacity of the fan 22 required at the time of the maximum mounting / maximum operation of the five or four processors 16 and the maximum inlet temperature is four fans of the regular rotation.

In the first embodiment, the number of components, operation mode, and ambient temperature information are classified into two categories (other than two categories).
And the number of components is 3 or more processors or memory 3
More than one unit is defined as heavy equipment, and two or less processors and two or less memories are defined as light equipment. The number of components is detected by mounting a memory / processor in a slot and receiving a mounting signal from the memory / processor.

The operation mode is defined as active when the processor is performing a processing operation, and standby is defined as when the processor is in a standby state. When two or more processors are in an active state, they are in heavy operation, and one processor is in an active state. , Or when four processors are on standby is defined as light operation. In this operation mode, a signal is received from each processor 16 and detected.

Further, the ambient temperature information indicates that 30 ° C. or more is H
High, 30 ° C. or lower is set to Low. The ambient temperature is
A signal is received from the temperature sensor 17 and detected. The first
In the embodiment, the ambient temperature of the cooled part is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The temperature of each operating part (processor, memory, etc.) of the cooled part may be used. In addition, the ambient temperature may be a temperature that takes into account the inlet air temperature and the exhaust air temperature of the cooled part.

For controlling the rotation of the fan, a steady rotation
Three rotation modes, low-speed rotation and stop, are set, and each is defined by a fan control table 120 in which the number of components, operation mode, and ambient temperature are functions.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a fan control table 120 showing the relationship between the operating states of the four fans when the number of components, operation mode, and ambient temperature are functions.

As shown in FIG. 2, the fan control table 120 includes a number 121 of components, an operation mode 122, an ambient temperature 123, and rotation controls 124, 1 of the fans 1, 2, 3, and 4.
25, 126, and 127.

In the fan control table 120 shown in FIG. 2, for example, the number of components 121 is "heavy equipment", the operation mode 122 is "light operation", and the ambient temperature 123 is "Hig".
In the case of "h", the operating state of the four fans is "steady rotation" for two fans and "low speed rotation" for two fans.

The number 121 of components is “light equipment”, the operation mode 122 is “heavy operation”, and the ambient temperature 123 is “Lo”.
In the case of "w", the operating state of the four fans is "low speed rotation" for three fans and "stop" for one fan.

Since there are cases where the rotational states of the four fans are not the same, air mixing using an air tank or the like for preventing uneven cooling may be considered.

Further, in the first embodiment, the control is performed by signal control since the control is performed for the fan having the rotation mode function. However, the control can be similarly applied to the fan without the rotation mode function. Is controlled by the supply voltage. At this time, the fans 1, 2, 2,
The items of the rotation controls 124, 125, 126, and 127 of the 3, 4 are supply voltages of the fans 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Next, the processing of the fan control unit 12 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the fan control unit 12 according to the first embodiment.

The fan control unit 1 according to the first embodiment
In the process 2, as shown in FIG. 3, first, the configuration information 18 such as the mounting signal is acquired from the memory / processor (step 301).

Then, it is determined whether there are three or more processors or memories (step 302). If there are three or more processors, the number of components is changed to "heavy equipment".
(Step 303), and when the number is less than three, the number of components is stored as "light equipment" (step 304).

Subsequently, the operation information 19 is obtained from each processor (step 305), and it is determined whether or not two or more processors are active (step 306). The mode is stored as "heavy operation" (step 307), and if less than two are active, the operation mode is stored as "light operation" (step 309).

Subsequently, ambient temperature information 20 is obtained from the temperature sensor 17 (step 309), and it is determined whether the temperature is 30 ° C. or higher (step 310). The temperature is stored as “High” (step 311), and if it is lower than 30 ° C., the ambient temperature is stored as “Low” (step 3).
12).

And the number of stored components,
Fan control table 1 based on operation mode and ambient temperature
The rotation mode is determined from 20 and each fan 22 is controlled (step 313).

Therefore, the number of components and the operation mode of the cooled portion in the apparatus are treated as direct data to determine the amount of heat generated in the cooled portion. By performing the rotation control, it is possible to realize an optimum cooling effect corresponding to the amount of heat generated by the portion to be cooled in the apparatus that changes in a short time with simple and accurate control.

Further, by cooling in accordance with the number of components of the portion to be cooled, the operating mode, and the ambient temperature, it is possible to eliminate excessive noise (excessive cooling) and reduce the noise of the electronic device. .

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the configuration of an electronic system having a cooling control device for controlling the cooling capacity as a function of the output current fluctuation of the power supply of the part to be cooled and the ambient temperature fluctuation. FIG.

An electronic system according to the second embodiment has a CPU including four memories 35 and a processor 36.
An electronic device having a unit 33 (however, only the CPU unit 33 corresponding to the cooled portion 31 of the electronic device is shown in FIG. 4) and a temperature sensor provided in the CPU unit 33 for measuring the temperature of the cooled portion 31 38, cooled part 3
4 fans 42 for sending the cooling air 43 to the cooling unit 1
A power measurement unit 37 that measures the power consumption of the power supply, power consumption information 39 from the power measurement unit 37, and ambient temperature information 40 from the temperature sensor 38 are collected and calculated, and are appropriately calculated based on a fan control table 320 described later. A cooling control device consisting of a fan control unit 32 for performing fan rotation control, and two power supply units 34 each equipped with a fan 41 and a temperature detection function (not shown), Power supply unit 3 for supplying power to fan control unit 32 of the control device
0.

In the second embodiment, the CPU unit 3
Utilizing the fact that power consumption fluctuates depending on the number of mounted memories 35, processors 36, and the like in 3 and operating conditions, the fluctuation is measured by a power measuring unit 37 (eg, current measurement of +5 V, +3.3 V, etc.). Obtained power consumption information 39 and temperature sensor 3
The fan control unit 32 controls the rotation of the fan by calculating the ambient temperature information 40 from 8 in the fan control unit 32. The power consumption is measured, for example, based on the output current fluctuation of the power supply unit 30.

Here, it is assumed that the maximum cooling capacity of the fan 42 required at the time of the maximum mounting / maximum operation of the memory 35, the processor 36 and the like and the maximum air inlet temperature is four fans at the regular rotation speed. Classification (other than four) is possible, and ambient temperature information 40 is divided into two (other than two).

In the second embodiment, the power consumption information 39
Is defined as 80% or more, 60% or more, 40% or more, and less than 40% of the maximum power value. The power consumption information 39 is +5
V, + 3.3V, etc. are detected by current measurement.

The ambient temperature information 40 defines 30 ° C. or higher as “High” and 30 ° C. or lower as “Low”. The ambient temperature is detected by receiving a signal from a temperature sensor.

For controlling the rotation of the fan, a steady rotation
Fan control table 3 that sets three rotation modes, low-speed rotation and stop, and uses power consumption and ambient temperature as functions.
20.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a fan control table 320 showing the relationship between the operating states of the four fans when the power consumption and the ambient temperature are functions.

As shown in FIG. 5, the fan control table 320 includes a power consumption 321, an ambient temperature 322,
2, 3, 4 rotation control 323, 324, 325, 326
It consists of.

In the fan control table 320 shown in FIG. 5, for example, when the power consumption is “60% or more” and the ambient temperature is “High”, the operating state of the four fans is “normal rotation”, The table becomes “slow rotation”.

When the power consumption is “40% or more” and the ambient temperature is “Low”, the operating state of the four fans is “low speed rotation” for three fans and “stop” for one fan.

As in the case of the first embodiment, there are cases where the rotation states of the four fans are not the same, so that air mixing using an air tank or the like for preventing uneven cooling is considered.

In the second embodiment, a fan having a rotation mode function is targeted, so that the control is performed by signal control. However, a fan without a rotation mode function is different from the first embodiment. It can be adapted as well.

Next, the processing of the fan control unit 32 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the fan control unit 32 according to the second embodiment.

The fan control unit 3 according to the second embodiment
As shown in FIG. 6, the processing of the second
The power consumption information 39 is acquired from (step 601).

Then, it is determined whether or not the value of the power consumption information 39 is 80% or more of the maximum power value (step 60).
2) If the power consumption is 80% or more, the power consumption is stored as “80% or more” (step 603). If the power consumption is less than 80%, it is determined whether there is the next 60% or more. (Step 604) If the power consumption is 60% or more, the power consumption is stored as "60% or more" (Step 605). If the power consumption is less than 60%, it is determined whether there is the next 40% or more. Is determined (step 606). If the power consumption is 40% or more, the power consumption is stored as “40% or more” (step 607). If the power consumption is less than 40%, the power consumption is reduced to “less than 40%”. (Step 608).

Subsequently, ambient temperature information 40 is obtained from the temperature sensor 38 (step 609), and it is determined whether or not the temperature is 30 ° C. or higher (step 610). The temperature is stored as “High” (step 611), and if it is lower than 30 ° C., the ambient temperature is stored as “Low” (step 6).
12).

Then, the rotation mode is determined from the fan control table 320 based on the stored power consumption and ambient temperature, and the respective fans 42 are controlled (step 613).

Therefore, the fluctuation of the power consumption of the cooled portion in the apparatus is treated as direct data to determine the amount of heat generated in the cooled portion, and the rotation control of the cooling fan is performed together with the measured data of the ambient temperature. By doing so, it is possible to improve the reliability with respect to the fluctuation width (thermal stress) of the semiconductor junction temperature, etc., and to cope with the heat generation amount of the cooled portion in the device that changes in a short time with simple and accurate control. An optimum cooling effect can be realized.

Further, by cooling in accordance with the number of constituent elements of the portion to be cooled, the operation mode, and the ambient temperature, it is possible to eliminate excessive noise (excessive cooling) and reduce the noise of the electronic device. .

In the first and second embodiments, the amount of generated heat is classified by a predetermined amount based on the number of components, operation mode, power consumption, and ambient temperature information, and the fan control corresponding thereto is performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the amount of heat generated may be directly obtained from each of the information and the fan control may be performed so as to correspond thereto.

As described above, in the conventional cooling based on temperature sensing, the amount of heat generated is inferred from the temperature of the portion to be cooled, and is not based on the actual amount of heat generated. Although it was not expected, as in the present invention, the number of components and the operation mode of the cooled portion in the apparatus, or the fluctuation in power consumption is treated as direct data to determine the amount of heat generated in the cooled portion. By doing
Cooling can be performed more effectively.

Further, in the present invention, a more optimal cooling effect can be realized by obtaining the heat generation amount by combining the first and second embodiments.

[0060]

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize an optimum cooling effect corresponding to the amount of heat generated by a portion to be cooled in a device which changes in a short time with simple and accurate control. In addition, it is possible to reduce the noise of the electronic device by eliminating excessive noise (excessive cooling).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of an electronic system having a cooling control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a fan control table 120 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a fan control unit 12 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of an electronic system having a cooling control device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a fan control table 320 according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a fan control unit 32 according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 30 ... power supply unit, 11, 31 ... cooled part, 12, 3
2 ... fan control unit, 13, 33 CPU unit, 14,
34 power supply unit, 15, 35 memory, 16, 36
... Processor, 17, 38 ... Temperature sensor, 18 ... Configuration information, 19 ... Operation information, 20,40 ... Ambient temperature information, 2
1, 22, 41, 42 ... fan, 23, 43 ... cooling air,
37: power measuring unit, 39: power consumption information.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cooling control method for an electronic device that controls a fan that cools a heat-generating portion that generates heat in the electronic device, comprising: component information in the heat-generating portion of the electronic device; operation information of each component; A cooling control method for an electronic device, comprising: collecting temperature information in a heat generating portion of the device; and controlling operation of a fan based on the collected component information, operation information, and temperature information. 2. A cooling control method for an electronic device that controls a fan that cools a heat generating portion that generates heat in the electronic device, wherein information on power consumption and temperature in the heat generating portion of the electronic device is collected. And controlling the operation of the fan based on the power consumption information and the temperature information.