Proactive cooling control using power consumption trend analysis

Abstract

A method combines temperature-based and power-based control of a cooling subsystem. In one method, a power consumption of heat-generating electronic devices is sensed, and a power consumption trend over a moving time interval is identified and quantified. A cooling fluid flow rate is proactively increased in response to the power consumption trend exceeding a power consumption trend threshold during a period that a temperature of the heat-generating electronic devices does not exceed a temperature threshold. The magnitude of the power consumption threshold is used to anticipate and respond to imminent heating, before a temperature threshold is reached.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 monitoring a temperature of an electronic device;   increasing a cooling fluid flow rate to the electronic device in response to the temperature exceeding a temperature threshold;   monitoring a power consumption of the electronic device;   identifying and quantifying an increasing power consumption trend over a target time interval; and   during a period that the temperature of the electronic device does not exceed the temperature threshold, increasing a cooling fluid flow rate to the electronic device in response to the magnitude of the increasing power consumption trend exceeding a power threshold.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 dynamically varying the cooling fluid flow rate in relation to the magnitude of the power consumption trend.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 quantifying the increasing power consumption trend as a fractional increase in power over the target time interval.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 quantifying the power consumption trend as the ratio of (P 2 -P 1 )/P 1 , where P 1  is the moving average power consumption over the target time interval and P 2  is the moving average power consumption over a shorter time interval.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the shorter time interval is less than half of the target time interval. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the target time interval has a fixed length of between 5 and 30 seconds. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 maintaining a present cooling fluid flow rate where the power consumption trend includes power consumption spikes of less than a predefined duration.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 overriding a current value of the cooling fluid flow rate that was previously selected in response to the magnitude of the increasing power consumption trend, and adjusting the cooling fluid flow rate to a predefined maximum value in response to the temperature exceeding the temperature threshold.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of increasing the cooling fluid flow rate comprises one or both of increasing a fan speed and increasing a liquid coolant circulation rate. 
     
     
         10 . A method, comprising:
 monitoring a temperature of an electronic device;   increasing a cooling fluid flow rate to the electronic device in response to an increase in the temperature of the electronic device;   monitoring power consumption of the electronic device;   detecting an increasing power consumption trend; and   increasing a cooling fluid flow rate to the electronic device in response to the magnitude of the increasing power consumption trend exceeding a power threshold.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 dynamically varying the cooling fluid flow rate in relation to the magnitude of the power consumption trend.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 quantifying the increasing power consumption trend as a fractional increase in power consumption.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 quantifying the power consumption trend as the ratio of (P 2 -P 1 )/P 1 , where P 1  is a moving average power consumption over a first time interval and P 2  is a moving average power consumption over a second time interval that is shorter than the first time interval.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the cooling fluid flow rate is increased by one or both of increasing a fan speed and increasing a liquid coolant circulation rate.