ADJUSTABLE FAN SPEED
A fan assembly includes a fan and a control module. The fan includes an adjustable fan speed. The fan generates a rate of air flow in a direction to cool a power supply unit of an electronic system based on the adjustable fan speed. The control module includes a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output. The control module communicates with the fan to adjust the adjustable fan speed based on a value provided by the comparator output.
A fan may generate and direct air flow to cool off a power supply unit of an electronic system. The power supply unit may get hot as it provides power to the electronic system. The fan may generate and direct the air flow at a constant rate.
Non-limiting examples are described in the following description, read with reference to the figures attached hereto and do not limit the scope of the claims. Dimensions of components and features illustrated in the figures are chosen primarily for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily to scale. Referring to the attached figures:
A fan may generate and direct air flow to cool off a power supply unit of an electronic system. The power supply unit may get hot as it provides power to the electronic system. The fan may generate and direct the air flow at a constant rate and/or direction. At times, however, a secondary fan to cool off electronic components of the electronic system may create an environment proximate to the power supply unit of high pressure and/or air back flow. That is, the secondary fan may cool off the electronic components, for example, with a higher fan speed and/or have larger size fan blades than the fan resulting in a high pressure. Air back flow, for example, may be the flow of air changing its direction from that intended. Under such conditions, the rate and/or direction of the air flow generated by the fan may compete with and adversely affect the rate and/or direction of the air flow generated by the secondary fan. Thus, under such conditions, the fan generating and directing the air flow at the constant rate and/or at the constant direction may result in the cooling of the power supply unit in an inefficient manner.
In examples, a fan assembly includes a fan and a control module. The fan includes an adjustable fan speed. The fan also generates a rate of air flow in a direction to cool a power supply unit of an electronic system based on the adjustable fan speed. The control module includes a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output. The control module communicates with the fan to adjust the adjustable fan speed based on a value provided by the comparator output. At times, for example, when the power supply unit is in an environment of high pressure and/or air back flow such as that caused by a secondary fan, the air flow rate and/or air flow direction caused by the fan may change to achieve thermal balance in the electronic system and efficiency in the cooling of the power supply unit.
Referring to
In some examples, the control module 11 may be implemented in hardware, software including firmware, or combinations thereof. The firmware, for example, may be stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction-execution system. If implemented in hardware, as in an alternative example, the control module 11 may be implemented with any or a combination of technologies which are well known in the art (for example, discrete-logic circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable-gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), and/or other later developed technologies. For example, the control module 11 may be implemented in an electronic circuit. In other examples, the control module 11 may be implemented in a combination of software and data executed and stored under the control of a computing device.
The control module 11 may also communicate with the fan 10 to change the direction of air flow generated by the fan 10. In some examples, a respective one of the comparator inputs is configured to receive a positive input corresponding to a fan input level. For example, the positive input may correspond to a fixed voltage level corresponding to constant reference signal. Another one of the comparator inputs is configured to receive a negative input from the electronic system. In some examples, the negative input may correspond to current thermal conditions of the electronic system, secondary fan running status, and the like, to determine, for example, whether high pressure exists. The monitoring of differences in temperature distribution may identify whether high pressure and/or air back flow exists. In some examples, the value provided by the comparator output 14 may correspond to real-time conditions of the power supply unit 25, air pressure and/or air flow proximate thereto, and the like, based on the information received by the comparator inputs 13.
Referring to
In some examples, the control module 11 is configured to change a frequency of a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to form a changed PWM signal. The control module 11 may provide the changed PWM signal to the fan 10. In some examples, the control module 11 is configured to control the fan 10 to change the rate of air flow generated by the fan 10 to cool the power supply unit 25 based on the adjustable fan speed 10a. In some examples, the control module 11 is configured to control the fan 10 to change the direction of air flow generated by the fan 10 based on a change-of-direction condition. Thus, the creation of ventilation or suction by the fan 10 based on existing conditions of the electronic system may cool the power supply unit 25 in an efficient manner,
In some examples, the change-of-direction condition may correspond to a second fan 20 of the electronic system generating a respective rate of air flow in a respective direction. That is, in some examples, the second fan 20 may cause high pressure and/or air back flow proximate to the power supply unit, 25 of the electronic system. Such existing conditions may be identified by the comparison of the comparator inputs and the resulting comparator output. In some examples, the rate of air flow caused by the fan 10 may be less than the respective rate of air flow caused by the second fan 20. Thus, power consumed by the fan 10 to cool the power supply unit 25 may be reduced.
Referring to
In some examples, the control module 11 may be implemented in hardware, software including firmware, or combinations thereof. The firmware, for example, may be stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction-execution system. If implemented in hardware, as in an alternative example, the control module 11 may be implemented with any or a combination of technologies which are well known in the art (for example, discrete-logic circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable-gate arrays (PGAs), programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), and/or other later developed technologies. For example, the control module 11 may be implemented in an electronic circuit. In other examples, the control module 11 may be implemented in a combination of software and data executed and stored under the control of a computing device.
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The present disclosure has been described using non-limiting detailed descriptions of examples thereof that are not intended to limit the scope of the general inventive concept. It should be understood that features and/or operations described with respect to one example may be used with other examples and that not all examples have all of the features and/or operations illustrated in a particular figure or described with respect to one of the examples. Variations of examples described will occur to persons of the art. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,” “include,” “have” and their conjugates, shall mean, when used in the disclosure and/or claims, “including but not necessarily limited to.”
It is noted that some of the above described examples may include structure, acts or details of structures and acts that may not be essential to the general inventive concept and which are described for illustrative purposes. Structure and acts described herein are replaceable by equivalents, which perform the same function, even if the structure or acts are different, as known in the art. Therefore, the scope of the general inventive concept is limited only by the elements and limitations as used in the claims.
Claims
1. A fan assembly usable with a power supply unit of an electronic system, the fan assembly comprising:
- a fan having an adjustable fan speed, the fan to generate a rate of air flow in a direction to cool the power supply unit, based on the adjustable fan speed; and
- a control module including a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output, the control module to communicate with the fan to adjust the adjustable fan speed based on a value provided by the comparator output.
2. The fan assembly of claim 1, wherein a respective one of the comparator inputs is configured to receive a positive input with a fan input level and another one of the comparator inputs is configured to receive a negative input from the electronic system.
3. The fan assembly of claim 2, wherein the control module is configured to adjust the adjustable fan speed in response to a change in the value of the comparator output.
4. The fan assembly of claim 2, wherein the control module is configured to increase the adjustable fan speed in response to an increase in the value of the comparator output.
5. The fan assembly of claim 2, wherein the control module is configured to decrease the adjustable fan speed in response to a decrease in the value of the comparator output.
6. The fan assembly of claim 2, wherein the control module is configured to change a frequency of a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to form a changed PWM signal, and provide the changed PWM signal to the fan.
7. The fan assembly of claim 2, wherein the control module is configured to control the fan to generate a rate of air flow in a respective direction based on a change-of-direction condition.
8. The fan assembly of claim 7, wherein the control module is configured to change the direction of the air flow generated by the fan based on the change-of-direction condition.
9. The fan assembly of claim 7, wherein the change-of-direction condition corresponds to a second fan of the electronic system generating a rate of air flow in an opposite direction than the air flow direction generated by the fan.
10. An electronic system, comprising:
- a plurality of electronic components;
- a power supply unit to provide power to the electronic components; and
- a fan assembly including a fan and a control module; the fan having an adjustable fan speed, the fan to generate a rate of air flow in a direction to cool the power supply unit based on the adjustable fan speed; and the control module including a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output, the control module to communicate with the fan to adjust the adjustable fan speed based on a value provided by the comparator output.
11. The electronic system of claim 10, wherein the fan assembly further comprises:
- a second fan to cool the electronic components, the second fan to generate a rate of air flow in a direction.
12. The electronic system of claim 11, wherein the control module is configured to control the fan to change the direction of air flow generated by the fan based on a respective direction of air flow generated by the second fan.
13. A method of controlling a fan to cool a power supply unit of an electronic system, the method comprising:
- generating a rate of air flow in a direction by the fan with an adjustable fan speed to cool the power supply unit based on the adjustable fan speed; and
- communicating with the fan by a control module including a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output to adjust the adjustable fan speed based on a value provided by the comparator output such that the control module adjusts the adjustable fan speed in response to a change in the value of the comparator output.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the communicating with the fan by a control module including a comparator having a plurality of comparator inputs and a comparator output to adjust the adjustable fan speed further comprises:
- increasing the adjustable fan speed in response to an increase in the value of the comparator output; and
- decreasing the adjustable fan speed in response to a decrease in the value of the comparator output.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
- controlling the fan by the control module to change the direction of air flow generated by the fan based on a change-of-direction condition.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 2, 2013
Publication Date: Sep 15, 2016
Inventor: Chin Pin Chen (Taipei)
Application Number: 15/033,112