Thermal Control Systems And Methods For Information Handling Systems

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for information handling system thermal control that employ configuration-based temperature feedback, e.g., by using configuration-based fan speed control based on real time individual measured component temperatures. In one example, the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented to allow inputs from one or more hardware temperature sensors to set cooling fan speeds and/or power capping levels in a closed loop fashion, rather than relying solely (or at all) on system inlet ambient temperature.

1 . An information handling system, comprising:
 an enclosure;   one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure; and   thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon, and the processing device being configured to access the stored thermal configuration information and to perform thermal control by controlling at least one of cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with feedback of the sensed temperature of at least one of the hardware components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and   where the processing device is configured to compare a system inventory of hardware circuitry components of the information handling system that are coupled to the processing device against configuration entries in a configuration table of the thermal configuration information to determine matched configurations for use in the thermal control.   
     
     
         2 . The information handling system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure to cool at least one of the heat generating components; and   a temperature sensor configured to sense temperature of the at least one heat generating component cooled by the cooling fan, the temperature sensor being configured to supply feedback temperature information representative of the sensed temperature of the at least one heat generating component to the processing device;   where the processing device is configured to control speed of the at least one cooling fan based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with the feedback temperature information representative of the sensed temperature of the at least one heat generating component.   
     
     
         3 . (canceled) 
     
     
         4 . An information handling system, comprising:
 an enclosure;   one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure; and   thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon, and the processing device being configured to access the stored thermal configuration information and to control at least one of cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with feedback of sensed temperature of at least one of the hardware components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and   at least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure to cool at least one of the heat generating components; and   where the thermal configuration information comprises a configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and   where the thermal configuration information is editable by a local or remote user.   
     
     
         5 . The information handling system of  claim 4 , where the selectable variable entries include one or more coefficients of at least one predefined polynomial equation that defines the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level; and where the selectable variable entries include a variable entry that is editable by a local or remote user to select one predefined polynomial equation from multiple predefined polynomial equations that each define a different and unique functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level. 
     
     
         6 . The information handling system of  claim 1 , where the configuration entries in the configuration table are for selectable variables that define the characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and where the information handling system comprises at least on processing device that is configured to:
 provide the system inventory by performing an automatic system inventory of the hardware circuitry components of the information handling system that are coupled to the processing device; and   change one or more of the configuration table entries so as to vary the control characteristics of the defined functional relationship of the thermal configuration information.   
     
     
         7 . An information handling system, comprising:
 an enclosure;   one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure; and   thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon, and the processing device being configured to access the stored thermal configuration information and to control cooling for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with feedback of the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and-sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and   where the information handling system further comprises at least one cooling fan configured to operate at a variable speed to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure to cool at least one of the heat generating components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises:
 a first configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between sensed temperature of a first hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and 
 a second configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between sensed temperature of a second hardware component different from the first hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and 
   where the processing device is configured to simultaneously access both the first and second configuration tables and to control at least one of speed of at least one common cooling fan or power capping of at least one same heat generating hardware component based on the accessed first and second configuration tables in combination with feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components.   
     
     
         8 . The information handling system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least two cooling fans configured to operate at a variable speed to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure; and   where the configuration table includes entries for selectable variables that separately define characteristics of at least first and second different functional relationships between sensed temperature of at least one heat generating component in the feedback to the processing device and respective cooling fan speed levels of the first and second cooling fans.   
     
     
         9 . The information handling system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least two cooling fans configured to operate at a variable speed to supply different flow rates of cooling air within the enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure; and   where the configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of a functional relationship between current fan speed level of the first cooling fan and the current cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan.   
     
     
         10 . A method for managing thermal control for an information handling system, comprising:
 providing an information handling system comprising:
 an enclosure, 
 one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure and 
 thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon; 
   sensing temperature of at least one of the hardware components;   feeding the sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components back to the at least one processing device; and   using the at least one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration information to perform thermal control by controlling at least one of cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with the sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and   where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to compare a system inventory of hardware circuitry components of the information handling system that are coupled to the processing device against configuration entries in a configuration table of the thermal configuration information to determine matched configurations for use in the thermal control.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , where the provided information handling system further comprises at least one cooling fan disposed within the enclosure in a position to cool at least one of the heat generating components; and where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to control speed of the at least one cooling fan to control cooling of the at least one heat generating component based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with the feedback temperature information representative of the sensed temperature of the at least one heat generating component. 
     
     
         12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A method for managing thermal control for an information handling system, comprising:
 providing an information handling system comprising:
 an enclosure,
 one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure and 
 thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon; 
 
   sensing temperature of at least one of the hardware components;   feeding the sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components back to the at least one processing device; and   using the at least one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration information to control cooling for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with the sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device; and   where the provided information handling system further comprises at least one cooling fan disposed within the enclosure in a position to cool at least one of the heat generating components; where the thermal configuration information comprises a configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to:
 accept edits to the thermal configuration information made by a local or remote user; 
 access the configuration table, and 
 control at least one of cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the defined functional relationship of the configuration table. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  13 , where the selectable variable entries include one or more coefficients of at least one predefined polynomial equation that defines the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level; and where the method further comprises using the processing device to:
 accept edits to a variable entry to select one predefined polynomial equation from multiple predefined polynomial equations that each define a different and unique functional relationship between the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and cooling fan speed level; and   control cooling for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the defined functional relationship of the selected predefined polynomial equation.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , where the configuration entries in the configuration table are for selectable variables that define the characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and where the method further comprises using the processing device to:
 provide the system inventory by performing an automatic system inventory of the hardware circuitry components of the information handling system that are coupled to the processing device;   change one or more off the configuration table entries so as to vary the control characteristics of the defined functional relationship of the thermal configuration information; and   control at least one off cooling or power capping for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the varied control characteristics of the defined functional relationship of the configuration table.   
     
     
         16 . A method for managing thermal control for an information handling system, comprising:
 providing an information handling system comprising:
 an enclosure,
 one or more heat generating hardware components contained within the enclosure, and 
 thermal management circuitry comprising at least one processing device coupled to non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including thermal configuration information stored thereon; 
 
   sensing temperature of at least one of the hardware components;   feeding the sensed temperature of the at least one of the hardware components back to the at least one processing device; and   using the at least one processing device to access the stored thermal configuration information to control cooling for the one or more heat generating hardware components based on the accessed stored thermal configuration information in combination with the sensed temperature of at least one hardware component;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level and-sensed temperature of at least one hardware component in the feedback to the processing device;   at least one cooling fan disposed within the enclosure in a position to cool at least one of the heat generating components;   where the thermal configuration information comprises:
 a first configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between the sensed temperature of a first hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level, and 
 a second configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of the functional relationship between sensed temperature of a second hardware component different from the first hardware component in the feedback to the processing device and at least one of cooling fan speed level or power capping level; and 
   where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to:
 simultaneously access both the first and second configuration tables, and 
 control at least one of speed of at least one common cooling fan or power capping of at least one same heat generating hardware component based on the accessed first and second configuration tables in combination with feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components. 
   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , where the provided information handling system comprises:
 at least two cooling fans disposed within the enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that separately define characteristics of different functional relationships between the sensed temperature of the at least one heat generating component in the feedback to the processing device and respective cooling fan speed levels of the first and second cooling fans; and   where the method further comprises using the processing device to use the defined characteristics of different first and second functional relationships to simultaneously control the cooling fan speed level of the first cooling fan based on the first functional relationship and the cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan based on the second functional relationship.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , where the provided information handling system comprises:
 at least two cooling fans disposed within the enclosure, a first one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a first zone within the enclosure, and a second one of the cooling fans configured to cool at least a second zone within the enclosure;   where the thermal configuration information comprises a configuration table that includes entries for selectable variables that define characteristics of a functional relationship between current fan speed level of the first cooling fan and current cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan; and   where the method further comprises using the processing device to use the defined characteristics of the functional relationship to control current cooling fan speed level of the first cooling fan based on current cooling fan speed level of the second cooling fan.   
     
     
         19 . The information handling system of  claim 2 , where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between cooling fan speed level and the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component that specifies a negative cooling fan speed level at sensed temperatures that are below a given temperature and that specifies a positive cooling fan speed level at sensed temperatures that are at or above the given temperature; and where the processing device is configured to turn off the at least one cooling fan at sensed temperatures of the at least one hardware component where a negative cooling fan speed level is specified by the thermal configuration information, and to control speed of the at least one cooling fan to be a positive cooling fan speed at sensed temperatures of the at least one hardware component where the thermal configuration information specifies a positive cooling fan speed level. 
     
     
         20 . The information handling system of  claim 7 , where the processing device is configured to simultaneously access both the first and second configuration tables and to control speed of at least one common cooling fan based on the accessed first and second configuration tables in combination with feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components. 
     
     
         21 . The information handling system of  claim 7 , where the processing device is configured to simultaneously access both the first and second configuration tables and to control speed of at least one common cooling fan to be the maximum cooling fan speed indicated by the first and second configuration tables at that time based on the feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 11 , where the thermal configuration information comprises a defined functional relationship between cooling fan speed level and the sensed temperature of the at least one hardware component that specifies a negative cooling fan speed level at sensed temperatures that are below a given temperature and that specifies a positive cooling fan speed level at sensed temperatures that are at or above the given temperature; and where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to turn off the at least one cooling fan at sensed temperatures of the at least one hardware component where a negative cooling fan speed level is specified by the thermal configuration information, and to control speed of the at least one cooling fan to be a positive cooling fan speed at sensed temperatures of the at least one hardware component where the thermal configuration information specifies a positive cooling fan speed level. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising simultaneously accessing both the first and second configuration tables; and controlling speed of at least one common cooling fan based on the accessed first and second configuration tables in combination with feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising simultaneously accessing both the first and second configuration tables; and controlling speed of at least one common cooling fan to be the maximum cooling fan speed indicated by the first and second configuration tables at that time based on the feedback of different sensed temperatures of both respective first and second different hardware components.