US20130230411A1

US20130230411A1 - Cooling system

Info

Publication number: US20130230411A1
Application number: US13/490,529
Authority: US
Inventors: Yao-Ting Chang; Zhi-Bin Guan
Original assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2012-03-01
Filing date: 2012-06-07
Publication date: 2013-09-05
Also published as: TW201337512A

Abstract

A cooling system includes a cooling fan and a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) chip. The cooling fan includes a cable and a control chip. The control chip stores a manufacturer's name or a manufacturer's code of the cooling fan. The BIOS chip stores a plurality of manufacturers' names and/or manufacturers' codes and a plurality of control curves. The BIOS chip reads the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code stored in the control chip through the cable and the connector, and transmits a control curve corresponding to the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code to the control chip. The control chip controls the cooling fan according to the control curve.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a cooling system.
2. Description of Related Art
Manufacturers usually have more than one supplier for the same item. This minimizes downtime when one supplier runs out of the item being supplied. However there is a downsize to this strategy. When a manufacturer of servers have more than one cooling fan supplier, the fans will, most of the time, have different actual performance parameters due to differences in manufacturing technique, skills etc. Such differences can be difficult for designers of the servers to accommodate such as when they are designing fan speed control curves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a cooling system, the cooling system including a control chip, a cable, and a connector.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control chip, the cable, and the connector of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of examples and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a cooling system for a server includes a cooling fan 10 and a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) chip 20 set on a motherboard 50.
The cooling fan 10 includes fan blades 100, a driver 110, a control chip 120, a cable 150, and a connector 160. The control chip 120 receives control signals from the BIOS chip 20 through the cable 150 and the connector 160, and controls the driver 110 according to the control signals. The driver 110 drives the fan blades 100. The control chip 120 further transmits working parameters of the cooling fan 10 to the BIOS chip 20. The control chip 120 stores a manufacturer's name and/or a manufacturer's code of the cooling fan 10.
Referring to FIG. 2, the cable 150 includes a speed wire, a power wire, a ground wire, a pulse wire, and an information wire. The connector 160 includes first to fifth pins. The first pin is a speed pin TACH. The second pin is a power pin +12V. The third pin is a ground pin GND. The fourth pin is a pulse pin PWM. The fifth pin is an information pin INFO. First terminals of the five wires of the cable 150 are connected to the control chip 120. Second terminals of the five wires of the cable 150 are respectively connected to the five pins of the connector 160. The connector 160 connects to the motherboard 50. The speed wire transmits speed data of the cooling fan 10 to the BIOS chip 20. The power wire and the ground wire transmit power to the control chip 120. The pulse wire transmits pulse width modulation signal to the control chip 120 for controlling the cooling fan 10. The information wire transmits information of the cooling fan 10, such as the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code of the cooling fan 10, to the control chip 120.
The BIOS chip 20 stores a plurality of different manufacturers' names and/or manufacturers' codes, and a plurality of control curves. Each manufacturer's name and/or manufacturer's code corresponds to a control curve. For example, the manufacturer's name of A corresponds to a first control curve, and the manufacturer's name of B corresponds to a second control curve. Each control curve includes a plurality of duty cycles and a plurality of temperatures. Each duty cycle corresponds to a temperature. For example, when the temperature is 50 degrees Celsius, the duty cycle is 50%. When the temperature is 60 degrees Celsius, the duty cycle is 60%.
When the cooling fan 10 is mounted in the server, the BIOS chip 20 acquires the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code of the cooling fan 10 stored in the control chip 120 through the cable 150 and the connector 160. After that, the BIOS chip 20 obtains a control curve according to the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code, and transmits the control curve to the control chip 120. The control chip 120 controls the cooling fan 10 according to the control curve.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of everything above. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skills in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments described therein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling system comprising:

a cooling fan comprising:

fan blades;

a driver to drive the fan blades;

a connector connected to a motherboard;

a cable; and

a control chip connected to the connector through the cable, and connected to the driver, wherein the control chip stores a manufacturer's name and/or a manufacturer's code of the cooling fan; and

a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) chip storing a plurality of manufacturers' names or manufacturers' codes and a plurality of control curves, wherein each manufacturer's name or manufacturer's code corresponds a control curve; wherein the BIOS chip reads the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code stored in the control chip through the cable and the connector, and transmits a control curve corresponding to the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code to the control chip, the control chip controls the cooling fan according to the control curve.

2. The cooling system of claim 1, wherein the cable comprises a speed wire, a power wire, a ground wire, a pulse wire, and an information wire, the speed wire transmits speed data of the cooling fan to the BIOS chip, the power wire and the ground wire transmit power to the control chip, the pulse wire transmits pulse width modulation signals from the BIOS chip to the control chip for controlling the cooling fan, the information wire transmits the manufacturer's name and/or the manufacturer's code stored in the control chip to the BIOS chip.