JPS62211997A - Monitor for abnormality in cooling of electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an abnormality monitoring device for a cooling system in an electronic device including a rack for housing electronic circuit components and a cooling blower.

[Conventional technology]

In electronic devices such as computers, a rack 2 is housed in a housing 1 as shown in FIG. A cooling structure is generally adopted in which a blower 5 for sending cooling air into the rack 2 is mounted on one or both of the racks 2, and heat emitted from the electronic circuit components is discharged to the outside of the housing 1.

In such electronic equipment, a cooling design such as selection of the blower 5 is made so that the temperature of the electronic circuit components 3, mainly the semiconductor elements in the rack 2, is below the upper limit temperature at which each component can function normally. ing.

In this type of mounted cooling structure, if an abnormality occurs in the cooling system, such as a failure of the blower 5 or a blockage of the cooling air passage, the electronic circuit components 3 will not be cooled enough, and the reliability of the components will decrease. As a result, this can cause serious problems in the operation of electronic equipment, such as thermal breakdown due to malfunction.

For this reason, in conventional electronic equipment, when the air temperature exceeds a specified temperature, a
A thermostat 7 that operates with a built-in switch is installed to monitor the exhaust temperature, and an alarm circuit 8 is installed to issue an alarm or turn off the power to the equipment when the thermostat 7 is activated to protect the equipment and parts.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in this conventional cooling abnormality monitoring method, the operating temperature of the thermostat 7 that detects the exhaust temperature is based on the upper limit temperature of the allowable operating temperature range of the electronic equipment, and the temperature rise inside the rack 2 is taken into account. This has the disadvantage that it is not possible to adequately monitor abnormalities in the cooling system during normal operation.

In other words, it is a well-known fact that the reliability of semiconductor devices, etc. is generally temperature dependent, and the higher the temperature, the worse the reliability. It is often operated in a temperature environment close to the lower limit of the operating temperature range. For this reason, the load on the blower 5 inside the rack 2 becomes heavy due to clogging of the cooling air inlet with dust or failure of the air conditioner in the underfloor air conditioning system that supplies cooling air from under the floor. When the cooling air volume decreases, the air temperature inside the rack 2 increases in inverse proportion to the air volume, but because the intake air temperature is low, it often does not reach the operating temperature of the thermostat 7. For example, if an electronic device with an air temperature rise of 10 degrees Celsius is used with the suction temperature 10 degrees lower than the device's allowable operating temperature, the air temperature rise inside the rack will be 10 degrees lower than the normal air flow rate. If the temperature rises, that is, the air volume does not decrease to 1/2, thermostat 7
will not operate and no abnormality will be detected.

As described above, the conventional method of monitoring exhaust gas temperature has the drawback that it is difficult to early detect abnormalities in the cooling system that cause insufficient air volume, and it has a considerable impact on the reliability of electronic equipment. was.

[Means for solving problems]

The object of the present invention is to provide an abnormality monitoring device for an electronic equipment cooling system that eliminates the two conventional drawbacks.

According to the present invention, in an electronic device including a rack for housing electronic components and a cooling blower, the first temperature detection means provided near the cooling air intake port of the case of the electronic device; a second temperature detection means provided near the exhaust port of the housing; a circuit for detecting the difference between the detected temperatures from the first and second temperature detection means; and a circuit for detecting the difference in temperature detected by the first and second temperature detection means; It consists of an alarm circuit that issues an alarm if the detected temperature difference exceeds a specified value.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure shows an overall configuration diagram representing one embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the conventional device shown in Figure 3, a large number of ICs, LS
A plurality of electronic circuit packages 4 carrying electronic circuit components 3 such as I are mounted on a rack 2, and an electronic device housing 1 is configured including a cooling blower 5 attached to the rack 2. In this invention, a first temperature sensor 11 is installed near the cooling air intake port 90 of the rack 2, a second temperature sensor 12 is installed near the cooling air exhaust port 6 at the top of the rack 2, and a second temperature sensor 12 is installed near the cooling air intake port 6 of the rack 2. A temperature detection circuit 21 and an alarm circuit 31 to which two temperature sensors 11, 12 are connected are provided.

Here, the temperature detection circuit 21 detects the intake temperature 1 of the cooling air and the exhaust temperature t2, and also detects the temperature difference (tztt
), and if the temperature and temperature difference detected by the temperature detection circuit 21 are higher than a preset temperature or temperature difference, the alarm circuit 31 issues an alarm or turns off the power to the electronic device. It has a function.

FIG. 2 shows this temperature detection circuit 21 and alarm circuit 31.
A specific example is shown below. The temperature detection circuit 21 is the temperature sensor 11
．． Intake air temperature t1, exhaust temperature IIt2f measured at 12:,
Two temperature detecting sections 22 and 23 convert and amplify predetermined voltages T1pT2 proportional to the respective temperature detecting sections 22.
23 output voltage T1+T2 as input, this difference voltage (
T2 Tt). The alarm circuit 31 also includes a comparison circuit 33 that compares the output voltage T2 and a voltage V2 corresponding to the upper limit temperature of the exhaust gas temperature, and a comparison circuit 33 that compares the output voltage T2 with a voltage V2 corresponding to the upper limit temperature of the exhaust gas. Comparison circuit 32 for comparing voltage VO corresponding to temperature rise, and these comparison circuits 32°33
It consists of an alarm circuit 34 which issues an alarm based on the output of the alarm.

By configuring cooling system abnormality monitoring in this way,
The temperature and temperature rise inside the rack 2 can be constantly monitored, and it is possible to not only detect cooling system abnormalities that are fatal to the operation of electronic equipment, such as the stoppage of the blower 5 or an extreme decrease in the flow of cooling air. By monitoring the temperature rise inside the rack 2, we can detect insufficient cooling air volume in the rack due to a decline in the function of the cooling blower 5, clogging of the housing intake port 9, or a lack of cooling air in the case of underfloor air conditioning. Although it cannot be said that it is a fatal abnormality,
It is now possible to detect cooling system abnormalities that can be a factor in deteriorating the reliability of electronic circuit components.

In this embodiment, the temperature is detected at one location each on the intake side and the exhaust side, but especially in large equipment, it may be detected at multiple locations, and if any one of them becomes abnormal, an alarm will be issued. It is desirable to do so.

Furthermore, although the temperature and temperature difference are compared with the specified values only using the Lebel, it is also possible to prepare multiple comparison circuits for each of them and issue warnings ranging from warning level to fatal level.
Further, the alarm circuit 34 is not particularly limited as long as it matches the abnormality handling method of the entire electronic device, such as lamp display or abnormality reporting to a higher system monitoring device or the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, this invention detects the intake temperature and exhaust temperature of the cooling air of the rack, and furthermore, by providing a circuit that detects the temperature difference between them, it is possible to accurately detect abnormalities in the cooling system that cause insufficient air volume. This has the effect of allowing electronic equipment to operate stably with high reliability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration including the cooling system abnormality monitoring device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the temperature detection circuit and alarm circuit portion in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional device. ■... Housing, 2... Frame, 3... Electronic circuit components, 4
...Electronic circuit package, 5...Blower, 6...
Exhaust port, 7... Thermostat, 9... Cooling air intake port, 11° 12... Temperature sensor, 21... Temperature detection circuit, 22° 23... Temperature detection section, 24... Temperature Difference detection section, 31... Alarm circuit, 32.33...
- Comparison circuit, 34... Alarm circuit. Patent applicant: NEC Corporation Representative Takuo Kusano 1 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an electronic device that includes a rack for housing electronic circuit components and a cooling blower, a first temperature detection means provided near the cooling air intake port of the electronic device housing; a second temperature detection means provided near the exhaust port of the body; a circuit for detecting the detected temperature difference from the first and second temperature detection means; and a circuit for detecting the detected temperature difference and the second temperature detection means. A cooling abnormality monitoring device for electronic equipment, characterized in that it is equipped with an alarm circuit that issues an alarm when the temperature of each exceeds a specified value.