Intelligent fan system

Abstract

The present application mainly discloses a kind of intelligent fan systems, comprising: at least one electronic wafer temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of at least one main processor, at least one housing temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of system environment, at least one electronic wafer fan, at least one housing fan, and a microcontroller wafer.According to the present application, microcontroller wafer reads its current rotating speed when each fan is running.Therefore, according to a flow rate-rotating speed lookup table and a first PWM lookup table and a second PWM lookup table corresponding to the electronic wafer fan and the housing fan respectively, the microcontroller wafer adjusts the current flow rate of the electronic wafer fan and the housing fan according to the temperature sensing value of different temperature sensors, so as to provide suitable heat dissipation for main processor and system environment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of cooling fans, and more particularly to an intelligent fan system that can adaptively adjust its speed based on CPU temperature and ambient temperature. Background Technology

[0002] It is known that computers have become an indispensable electronic device for every modern person. Therefore, computer mainframes such as desktop computers, all-in-one computers, laptops, industrial computers, and servers are all equipped with multiple cooling fans to assist in cooling the internal electronic chips (such as CPUs, GPUs, AI chips (i.e., DSP chips)) and electronic modules (such as memory (DRAM) and hard drives) to prevent damage caused by overheating. Generally, conventional technology involves placing a temperature sensor inside the mainframe casing to sense the ambient temperature, and then adjusting the duty cycle of a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal based on the ambient temperature, thereby adaptively adjusting the speed of the cooling fans to maintain the cooling efficiency of the fans for the electronic chips and electronic modules.

[0003] For example, Taiwan Patent No. I686125 discloses a fan speed control method. According to the disclosure of Taiwan Patent No. I686125, a cooling fan system including a cooling fan, a control unit, and a temperature sensor is disposed inside a host housing. The temperature sensor measures an ambient temperature, which includes the CPU temperature and / or the temperature of specific electronic components. Furthermore, the control unit, such as a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) chip, is configured to look up a corresponding fan speed from a temperature-duty cycle lookup table based on the ambient temperature, thereby adjusting the duty cycle of the PWM signal to adaptively regulate the cooling fan speed.

[0004] In reality, different electronic chips and / or modules operate at different temperatures under different working conditions. For example, under a load of 60-80%, the CPU's operating temperature can surge to 80-90 degrees Celsius, or even higher; at this time, the hard drive, maintaining normal operation, might only operate at around 40 degrees Celsius, and the GPU, not performing complex graphics calculations, might only operate at around 50 degrees Celsius. In this situation, the fan speed control method described in Taiwan Patent No. I686125 cannot effectively assist in CPU heat dissipation, mainly because it adaptively controls the cooling fan speed based on the "ambient temperature," rather than specifically based on the operating temperature of individual electronic chips and modules.

[0005] To address the aforementioned problems, Taiwan Patent No. I684866 discloses a method for controlling fan speed. According to the disclosure of Taiwan Patent No. I684866, a temperature sensor is specifically placed near the CPU and GPU, allowing the BMC chip to monitor the ambient temperature near the CPU and GPU, thereby controlling the speed of the CPU cooling fan and GPU cooling fan respectively. In short, Taiwan Patent No. I684866 solves the inherent defects of the fan speed control method in Taiwan Patent No. I686125 by adding dedicated temperature sensors for the CPU and GPU.

[0006] However, the prior art of Taiwan Patent No. I684866 has other defects in practical applications, which are summarized as follows:

[0007] (1) The BMC chip is mainly used to monitor the entire server system, such as the power supply status and the status of internal electronic devices. When using the fan speed control method described in Taiwan Patent No. I684866, if each cooling fan in the server system is to be controlled independently, all GPIO pins of the BMC chip will inevitably be occupied. This means that some of the original functions of the BMC chip cannot be used. Therefore, it is necessary to add 1 to 2 more BMC chips to the server system, which increases the manufacturing cost of the server system.

[0008] (2) The method of adjusting the speed of each cooling fan using closed-loop control in conjunction with a temperature-duty cycle lookup table exhibits a significant drawback: it is slow and ineffective in addressing immediate needs. To elaborate further, conventional techniques still involve progressively increasing the duty cycle of the PWM signal in a closed-loop feedback manner—10%, 20%, 30%, ..., 100%—to increase the speed of the controlled cooling fan. However, in reality, the CPU's operating temperature can surge to 80-90 degrees Celsius when the load is between 60-80%. It is conceivable that for a CPU experiencing a sudden increase in operating temperature, the conventional method of gradually adjusting the fan speed cannot achieve an immediate cooling effect, leading to the CPU still experiencing a thermal shutdown.

[0009] As can be seen from the above description, conventional methods for controlling fan speed still have room for improvement. In view of this, the inventors of this case have made great efforts to research and invent, and have finally developed an intelligent fan system. Summary of the Invention

[0010] The main objective of this invention is to provide an intelligent fan system comprising at least one electronic chip temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of at least one main processor, at least one housing temperature sensor for monitoring the system ambient temperature, at least one electronic chip fan, at least one housing fan, and a microcontroller chip. According to this invention, the microcontroller chip reads the current rotational speed of each of the fans while they are operating. Therefore, based on an airflow-speed lookup table and a first PWM lookup table and a second PWM lookup table corresponding to the electronic chip fan and the housing fan respectively, the microcontroller chip adjusts the current airflow of the electronic chip fan and the housing fan according to the temperature readings of the different temperature sensors, thereby providing suitable heat dissipation for the main processor and the system environment.

[0011] As described above, the present invention uses a CPLD or FPGA as the microcontroller chip. Therefore, the microcontroller chip has enough pins to couple multiple temperature sensors and multiple fans, thereby enabling independent control of the speed of each fan.

[0012] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an embodiment of the intelligent fan system, which is installed within a housing of an electronic device and includes:

[0013] At least one electronic chip fan is disposed within the housing and is correspondingly located on or near an electronic chip, the electronic chip fan having the function of providing a speed signal;

[0014] At least one electronic chip temperature sensor is disposed inside the housing to sense a first temperature of the electronic chip;

[0015] At least one housing fan is disposed inside the housing. The housing fan is used to exhaust hot air from inside the housing or to draw outside air into the housing. The housing fan has the function of providing a speed signal.

[0016] At least one housing temperature sensor is disposed within the housing to sense a second temperature of an internal space of the housing; and

[0017] A microcontroller chip is selected from any of the group consisting of Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) chips and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. The microcontroller chip has a memory cell and is coupled to a PWM signal input terminal of each of the said electronic chip temperature sensors, each of the said housing temperature sensors, and each of the said electronic chip fan and each of the said housing fan, and receives the speed signals of each of the said electronic chip fan and each of the said housing fan;

[0018] The memory unit stores at least one airflow-speed lookup table, a first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table, and a second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table.

[0019] When the electronic chip fan and the housing fan are operating, a current speed signal of the electronic chip fan and the housing fan is provided to the microcontroller chip;

[0020] Based on the first temperature sensed by the electronic chip temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip looks up a first PWM analog value from the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a first PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic chip fan according to the first PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the electronic chip fan.

[0021] Specifically, based on the second temperature sensed by the housing temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip retrieves a second PWM analog value from the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a second PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the housing fan according to the second PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the housing fan; and

[0022] The first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains L first PWM analog values ​​and L temperature values ​​corresponding to the L first PWM analog values, and the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains M second PWM analog values ​​and M temperature values ​​corresponding to the M second PWM analog values; where L and M are both positive integers.

[0023] In one feasible embodiment, one of the electronic chips is a central processing unit (CPU) chip, and the other is a graphics chip. The two temperature sensors of the electronic chips are a first temperature diode coupled to the CPU chip and a second temperature diode coupled to the graphics chip, respectively. Furthermore, the microcontroller chip communicates with the CPU chip and the graphics chip via the PECI protocol, thereby transmitting the first temperature sensed by the temperature sensors of the electronic chips to the microcontroller chip via the PECI protocol.

[0024] In another feasible embodiment, one of the electronic chips is a central processing unit (CPU) chip, and the other electronic chip is a graphics chip. The temperature sensors of the two electronic chips are a first temperature diode contained within the CPU chip and a second temperature diode contained within the graphics chip, respectively. Furthermore, the microcontroller chip communicates with the CPU chip and the graphics chip via the PECI protocol, thereby transmitting the first temperature sensed by the first temperature sensor to the microcontroller chip via the PECI protocol.

[0025] In feasible embodiments, the electronic chip is selected from any of the group consisting of central processing unit chips, graphics chips, digital signal processing chips, and application processor chips. Furthermore, the electronic module is selected from any of the group consisting of dynamic random access memory, hard disks, and LED ambient lighting fixtures.

[0026] In a feasible embodiment, the intelligent fan system of the present invention further includes a reading chip for reading and converting the speed signal of the electronic chip fan or the housing fan and providing it to the microcontroller chip.

[0027] Furthermore, in feasible embodiments, the intelligent fan system of the present invention further includes:

[0028] An electronic module fan is disposed within the housing and is correspondingly located above or adjacent to an electronic module. The electronic module fan has the function of providing a speed signal.

[0029] An electronic module temperature sensor, disposed within the housing, is used to sense a third temperature of the electronic module; and

[0030] A third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the air volume-speed lookup table is stored in this memory unit;

[0031] When the electronic module fan is running, a current speed signal of the electronic module fan is provided to the microcontroller chip;

[0032] Specifically, based on the third temperature sensed by the electronic module temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip looks up a third PWM analog value from the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a third PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic module fan according to the third PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the electronic module fan; and

[0033] The third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains N third PWM analog values ​​and N temperature values ​​corresponding to the N third PWM analog values, where N is a positive integer.

[0034] In a feasible embodiment, the intelligent fan system of the present invention further includes: a management unit coupled to a BIOS chip of the electronic device, enabling an external electronic device to communicate with the management unit to write the airflow-speed lookup table and the PWM analog value-temperature lookup table into a data storage space of the BIOS chip.

[0035] In a feasible embodiment, the external electronic device also allows a fan speed control command to be written to the memory unit through the management unit and the BIOS chip, so that the microcontroller chip adjusts the current airflow of the electronic chip fan, the housing fan and / or the electronic module fan according to the fan speed control command. Attached Figure Description

[0036] Figure 1 A first perspective view of a housing including an intelligent fan system according to the present invention;

[0037] Figure 2 This is a first block diagram of the intelligent fan system of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 3 This is a graph showing the rotational speed relative to the air volume.

[0039] Figure 4 A second perspective view of a housing including an intelligent fan system according to the present invention; and

[0040] Figure 5 This is a second block diagram of the intelligent fan system of the present invention.

[0041] [Symbol Explanation]

[0042] 1: Intelligent Fan System

[0043] 11: Reading the chip

[0044] 13: Microcontroller chip

[0045] 131: Memory Unit

[0046] FA1: Electronic Chip Fan

[0047] FA2: Housing Fan

[0048] FA3: Electronic Module Fan

[0049] T1: Electronic chip temperature sensor

[0050] T2: Housing temperature sensor

[0051] T3: Electronic Module Temperature Sensor

[0052] 21: Shell

[0053] 22: Electronic chips

[0054] 221: Management Unit

[0055] 23: Electronic Module

[0056] 24: BIOS chip Detailed Implementation

[0057] To more clearly describe the intelligent fan system proposed in this invention, the preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0058] First Embodiment

[0059] Please see Figure 1 The image shows a first perspective view of a housing comprising an intelligent fan system according to the present invention. Figure 1As shown, the present invention proposes an intelligent fan system 1, which is installed within a housing 21 of an electronic device, and includes: at least one electronic chip fan FA1, at least one housing fan FA2, at least one electronic module fan FA3, a readout chip 11, at least one electronic chip temperature sensor T1, at least one housing temperature sensor T2, at least one electronic module temperature sensor T3, and a microcontroller chip 13. According to the design of the present invention, the at least one electronic chip fan FA1 is disposed within the housing 21 and is correspondingly located above or adjacent to the at least one electronic chip 22. In one embodiment, the central processing unit chip (CPU) and the graphics processing unit (GPU) are two types of electronic chips 22, and the operating temperature of both varies drastically with their load rate. For example, when the load rate suddenly rises to 60-80%, the CPU operating temperature will surge to 80-90 degrees Celsius, or even higher. It is worth noting that, depending on the application, the electronic chip 22 can be a digital signal processing chip (DSP) dedicated to performing digital operations, or it can be an application processor chip.

[0060] like Figure 1 As shown, the at least one electronic module fan FA3 is disposed within the housing 21 and is correspondingly located above or adjacent to the at least one electronic module 23. It should be understood that, depending on the type of electronic device, the electronic module 23 may be dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a hard disk, and / or an LED ambient light fixture within the housing 21 of the electronic device. In other words, the electronic device may be implemented as a server, a cloud computing computer, an industrial computer, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, or an all-in-one.

[0061] On the other hand, such as Figure 1 As shown, at least one housing fan FA2 is disposed within the housing 21, primarily for regulating the system ambient temperature inside the housing 21. Therefore, a typical arrangement involves exposing the exhaust side of some of the housing fans FA2 outside the housing 21 to expel hot air from inside the housing 21; simultaneously, the exhaust sides of the other housing fans FA2 are located inside the housing 21 to draw outside air into the housing 21.

[0062] Continue reading Figure 1 Please also refer to Figure 2 This shows a first block diagram of the intelligent fan system of the present invention. Figure 1 and Figure 2As shown, the readout chip 11 is coupled to a functional signal terminal of each of the electronic chip fans FA1, each of the housing fans FA2, and each of the electronic module fans FA3. It should be noted that commercially available cooling fans typically have four signal pins, three of which are used to couple to an input DC voltage, a ground voltage, and an input PWM signal, respectively, and the last signal pin (i.e., the functional signal terminal) is used for fan speed detection. On the other hand, at least one electronic chip temperature sensor T1 is disposed within the housing 21 to sense a first temperature of at least one electronic chip 22, at least one electronic module temperature sensor T3 is disposed within the housing 21 to sense a third temperature of at least one electronic module 23, and at least one housing temperature sensor T2 is disposed within the housing 21 to sense a second temperature of an internal space of the housing 21.

[0063] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the microcontroller chip 13 is coupled to the at least one electronic chip temperature sensor T1, the at least one housing temperature sensor T2, the at least one electronic module temperature sensor T3, and the readout chip 11. Simultaneously, the microcontroller chip 13 is also coupled to a PWM signal input terminal of each of the electronic chip fans FA1, each of the housing fans FA2, and each of the electronic module fans FA3. Specifically, the present invention provides the microcontroller chip 13 with a memory unit 131, which stores at least one airflow-speed lookup table, a first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table, a second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table, and a third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table.

[0064] Figure 3 Display a graph showing the rotational speed relative to the airflow. For example... Figure 3 As shown, for a cooling fan with a maximum airflow of 20 CFM, under a fixed input DC voltage, the fan speed (unit: RPM) can be controlled by varying the duty cycle of the PWM signal, thereby obtaining... Figure 3 Curve A in the diagram. Similarly, for a cooling fan with a maximum airflow of 40 CFM, under a fixed input DC voltage, the fan speed can be controlled by varying the duty cycle of the PWM signal, thereby obtaining... Figure 3 Curve B in the diagram. Furthermore, for a cooling fan with a maximum airflow of 60 CFM, under a fixed input DC voltage, the fan speed can be controlled by varying the duty cycle of the PWM signal, thereby obtaining... Figure 3 Curve C in the diagram. Furthermore, from... Figure 3It can also be observed that the slope of curve C is greater than that of curve B, and the slope of curve B is greater than that of curve A. In other words, when the duty cycle of the PWM signal jumps from P% (e.g., 30%) to Q% (e.g., 50%), the increase in airflow of the cooling fan in curve C will be greater than that in curve B, and the increase in airflow of the cooling fan in curve B will be greater than that in curve A. It should be understood that "airflow" is directly related to the cooling capacity (or heat dissipation capacity) of the cooling fan.

[0065] For example, commercially available CPU cooling fans (i.e., the electronic chip fan FA1) can achieve an airflow of 30-40 CFM, commercially available memory (DRAM) cooling fans (i.e., the electronic module fan FA3) can achieve an airflow of 20-25 CFM, and commercially available casing fans, depending on size, can achieve an airflow of 60-120 CFM. Therefore, it can be seen that... Figure 3 As shown, after measuring the speed-airflow curves of each fan (FA1, FA2, FA3), the duty cycle-airflow curve is also obtained. Therefore, based on the different duty cycle-airflow curves (such as curve A, curve B and curve C), a lookup table for the duty cycle-PWM analog value can be generated, as shown in Table (1) below.

[0066] Table (1)

[0067]

[0068]

[0069] After obtaining the lookup table for the duty cycle-PWM analog value, you can then customize the lookup table for the PWM analog value-temperature, as shown in Table (2) below.

[0070] Table (2)

[0071] PWM analog numerical Temperature (°C) 0 0–49 100 50–59 150 60–69 200 70–89 255 80–89

[0072] It must be specifically noted that the number of switching segments of the PWM analog value (i.e., duty cycle) can be adjusted according to the actual application, for example, to 5, 7, or 10 segments. Furthermore, after setting the number of switching segments of the PWM analog value (i.e., duty cycle), the quiet energy-saving zone and the high-efficiency heat dissipation zone can be distinguished according to the relationship between airflow and speed. To explain in more detail, when the system operates in the quiet energy-saving zone, the speed of each fan (FA1, FA2, and FA3) will fall within the range of the quiet energy-saving zone. Conversely, when the system operates in the high-efficiency heat dissipation zone, the speed of each fan (FA1, FA2, and FA3) will fall within the range of the high-efficiency heat dissipation zone. Of course, the temperature values ​​corresponding to the PWM analog values ​​of each stage listed in Table (2) can also be appropriately adjusted according to the actual application.

[0073] As described above, the memory unit 131 of the microcontroller chip 13 stores at least one airflow-speed lookup table (e.g., ...). Figure 3 As shown), further, based on the airflow-speed lookup table, a first PWM analog numerical-temperature lookup table for speed (airflow) control of the electronic chip fan FA1, a second PWM analog numerical-temperature lookup table for speed (airflow) control of the housing fan FA2, and a third PWM analog numerical-temperature lookup table for speed (airflow) control of the electronic module fan FA3 can be generated. (Refer to...) Figure 3 In the context of Tables (1) and (2) above, it should be understood that the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains L first PWM analog values ​​and L temperature values ​​corresponding to the L first PWM analog values, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains M second PWM analog values ​​and M temperature values ​​corresponding to the M second PWM analog values, and the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains N third PWM analog values ​​and N temperature values ​​corresponding to the N third PWM analog values. More specifically, L, M, and N refer to the number of switching segments as described above, therefore L, M, and N are all positive integers.

[0074] Based on this design, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2As shown, when the first fan FA1 of the electronic chip, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3 are operating, the read chip 11 reads a speed sensing signal through the functional signal terminal, thereby correspondingly transmitting a current speed value of the electronic chip fan FA1, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3 to the microcontroller chip 13. In one embodiment, the read chip 11 is a decoder chip, and the microcontroller chip 13 is a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

[0075] Furthermore, based on the first temperature (i.e., the operating temperature of the CPU or GPU) sensed by the electronic chip temperature sensor T1, the microcontroller chip 13 retrieves a first PWM analog value from the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, thereby setting the duty cycle of a first PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic chip fan FA1 according to the first PWM analog value, and thus adjusting the speed of the electronic chip fan FA1. Simultaneously, based on the second temperature (i.e., the system ambient temperature) sensed by the housing temperature sensor T2, the microcontroller chip 13 retrieves a second PWM analog value from the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, thereby setting the duty cycle of a second PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the housing fan FA2 according to the second PWM analog value, and thus adjusting the speed of the second fan (i.e., the housing fan) FA2. Simultaneously, based on the third temperature sensed by the electronic module temperature sensor T3 (i.e., the operating temperature of the electronic module 23), the microcontroller chip 13 looks up a third PWM analog value from the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a third PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic module fan FA3 according to the third PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the speed of the electronic module fan FA3.

[0076] In other words, the microcontroller chip 13 adjusts the rotation speeds of the electronic chip fan FA1, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3 based on the temperature readings from different temperature sensors (T1, T2, T3), thereby providing optimal heat dissipation for the electronic chip 22 (i.e., CPU, GPU, DSP, etc.), the electronic module 23 (i.e., DRAM, hard drive, LED lights, etc.), and the system environment. For example, when the operating temperature of the electronic chip 22 (CPU, GPU) suddenly rises to 80-90 degrees Celsius, the microcontroller chip 13 controls the rotation speeds of the electronic chip fan FA1, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3, ensuring that the intelligent fan system 1 of this invention operates entirely within the high-efficiency heat dissipation zone, thereby maximizing the cooling effect (or heat dissipation effect) in the shortest possible time and preventing the electronic chip 22 (CPU, GPU) from overheating due to its continued rising operating temperature. Conversely, when the operating temperature of the electronic chip 22 (CPU, GPU) drops instantaneously with the load rate, the microcontroller chip 13 controls the speed of the electronic chip fan FA1, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3, so that the intelligent fan system 1 of the present invention operates as a whole in the quiet energy-saving zone, thereby reducing system noise in the shortest possible time.

[0077] Furthermore, in practical applications of this invention, the airflow-speed lookup table (such as...) can be used according to the type of application environment of the electronic chip 22, electronic module 23, and electronic device. Figure 3 As shown, multiple copies of a first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, multiple copies of a second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and multiple copies of a third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table are edited. With this design, after the microcontroller chip 13 is enabled, during chip initialization, the microcontroller chip 13 loads the airflow-speed lookup table, the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table stored in the data storage space of the BIOS chip 24 into its register (i.e., the memory unit 131). It is worth noting that when loading the lookup tables, the microcontroller chip 13 selects the corresponding PWM analog value-temperature lookup table based on the model of the electronic chip 22 and the model of the electronic module 23.

[0078] It should be further explained that, for existing CPUs and GPUs, an external temperature diode is typically used to monitor the chip temperature. In this case, it can be interpreted that one of the electronic chips 22 is a central processing unit (CPU) chip, and the other electronic chip 22 is a graphics processing unit (GPU) chip, and the two electronic chip temperature sensors T1 are respectively a first temperature diode coupled to the CPU chip and a second temperature diode coupled to the GPU chip.

[0079] To further clarify, high-end CPUs and GPUs typically include a temperature diode for monitoring chip temperature. In this second scenario, it can be explained that one of the electronic chips 22 is a central processing unit (CPU) chip, and the other electronic chip 22 is a graphics chip, with the two temperature sensors T1 being a first temperature diode contained within the CPU chip and a second temperature diode contained within the graphics chip, respectively.

[0080] However, as Figure 2 As shown, since existing CPUs and GPUs both have a Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI), the microcontroller chip 13 can communicate with the CPU and / or GPU through the PECI protocol in either case one or case two. The CPU and / or GPU can then transmit the first temperature sensed by the electronic chip temperature sensor T1 (i.e., temperature diode) to the microcontroller chip 13 through the PECI protocol.

[0081] It is worth noting that the temperature diodes inside the CPU (or GPU) can accurately reflect the current operating temperature of the CPU (or GPU), and temperature monitoring does not require prior temperature calibration. Conversely, the housing temperature sensor T2, used to monitor the ambient system temperature within the housing 21, and the electronic module temperature sensor T3, used to monitor the operating temperature of the electronic module 23, must undergo temperature calibration. More specifically, the housing temperature sensor T2 and the electronic module temperature sensor T3, for example, are thermistors, and their reference temperature must typically be calibrated during temperature sensing, and this reference temperature changes with the ambient temperature.

[0082] Second Embodiment

[0083] Please see Figure 4 The image shows a second perspective view of a housing comprising an intelligent fan system according to the present invention. Please also refer to... Figure 5 This shows a second block diagram of the intelligent fan system of the present invention. Compared to Figure 1 and Figure 2In the first embodiment illustrated, in the second embodiment, the intelligent fan system 1 of the present invention further includes a management unit 221 coupled to a BIOS chip 24 of the electronic device. For example... Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the management unit 221 can communicate with an external electronic device. Therefore, by operating the external electronic device, the airflow-speed lookup table, the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table can be written into a data storage space of the BIOS chip 24. With this design, since the memory unit 131 of the microcontroller chip 13 (i.e., CPLD or FPGA) is a register, after the microcontroller chip 13 is enabled, during chip initialization, the microcontroller chip 13 will load the airflow-speed lookup table, the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table stored in the data storage space of the BIOS chip 24 into its register (i.e., the memory unit 131).

[0084] If the management unit 221 can be an AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP) or an Intel Management Engine (IME), both PSP and IME support remote control. In other words, with the management unit 221 (i.e., PSP or IME) included, external electronic devices can be used to remotely adjust and change the airflow-speed lookup table, the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and / or the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, which is very convenient. In addition, an external electronic device can also write a fan speed control command to the memory unit 131 through the management unit 221 and the BIOS chip 24, so that the microcontroller chip 13 adjusts the speed of the electronic chip fan FA1, the housing fan FA2, and the electronic module fan FA3 according to the fan speed control command.

[0085] Thus, the present invention has been fully and clearly described above as an intelligent fan system and intelligent fan control method. However, it must be emphasized that the embodiments disclosed above are preferred embodiments, and any partial changes or modifications that originate from the technical concept of this invention and are easily deduced by those skilled in the art are not outside the scope of the patent rights of this invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent fan system, characterized in that, It is installed within a housing of an electronic device and includes: At least one electronic chip fan is disposed within the housing and is correspondingly located on or near an electronic chip, the electronic chip fan having the function of providing a speed signal; At least one electronic chip temperature sensor is disposed inside the housing to sense a first temperature of the electronic chip; At least one housing fan is disposed inside the housing. The housing fan is used to exhaust hot air from inside the housing or to draw outside air into the housing. The housing fan has the function of providing a speed signal. At least one housing temperature sensor is disposed within the housing to sense a second temperature of an internal space of the housing; and A microcontroller chip is selected from any of the group consisting of Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) chips and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. The microcontroller chip has a memory cell and is coupled to a PWM signal input terminal of each of the said electronic chip temperature sensors, each of the said housing temperature sensors, and each of the said electronic chip fan and each of the said housing fan, and receives the speed signals of each of the said electronic chip fan and each of the said housing fan; The memory unit stores at least one airflow-speed lookup table, a first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table, and a second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the airflow-speed lookup table. When the electronic chip fan and the housing fan are operating, a current speed signal of the electronic chip fan and the housing fan is provided to the microcontroller chip; Based on the first temperature sensed by the electronic chip temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip looks up a first PWM analog value from the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a first PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic chip fan according to the first PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the electronic chip fan. Specifically, based on the second temperature sensed by the housing temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip retrieves a second PWM analog value from the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a second PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the housing fan according to the second PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the housing fan; and The first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains L first PWM analog values ​​and L temperature values ​​corresponding to the L first PWM analog values, and the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains M second PWM analog values ​​and M temperature values ​​corresponding to the M second PWM analog values; where L and M are both positive integers.

2. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The electronic chip is selected from any one of the group consisting of central processing unit chips, graphics chips, digital signal processing chips, and application processor chips.

3. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The electronic chip temperature sensor is coupled to a temperature diode of the electronic chip.

4. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The temperature sensor of the electronic chip is a temperature diode contained inside the electronic chip.

5. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The electronic device is selected from any of the group consisting of servers, cloud computing computers, industrial computers, desktop computers, notebook computers, and all-in-one computers.

6. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, It further includes a read chip for reading and converting the speed signal of the electronic chip fan or the housing fan and providing it to the microcontroller chip.

7. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Further includes: An electronic module fan is disposed within the housing and is correspondingly located above or adjacent to an electronic module. The electronic module fan has the function of providing a speed signal. An electronic module temperature sensor is disposed inside the housing to sense a third temperature of the electronic module; as well as A third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table corresponding to the air volume-speed lookup table is stored in this memory unit; When the electronic module fan is running, a current speed signal of the electronic module fan is provided to the microcontroller chip; Specifically, based on the third temperature sensed by the electronic module temperature sensor, the microcontroller chip looks up a third PWM analog value from the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and then sets the duty cycle of a third PWM signal transmitted to the PWM signal input terminal of the electronic module fan according to the third PWM analog value, thereby adjusting the current airflow of the electronic module fan; and The third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table contains N third PWM analog values ​​and N temperature values ​​corresponding to the N third PWM analog values, where N is a positive integer.

8. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The electronic module is selected from any one of the group consisting of dynamic random access memory, hard disk and LED ambient lighting.

9. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The microcontroller chip communicates with the electronic chip using a Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI), so that the electronic chip transmits the first temperature sensed by the first temperature sensor to the microcontroller chip through the PECI.

10. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 7, characterized in that, Also includes: A management unit coupled to a BIOS chip of the electronic device enables an external electronic device to communicate with the management unit, thereby writing the airflow-speed lookup table and the PWM analog value-temperature lookup table into a data storage space of the BIOS chip.

11. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The memory unit is a register, and when the microcontroller chip is enabled, it loads the airflow-speed lookup table, the first PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, the second PWM analog value-temperature lookup table, and the third PWM analog value-temperature lookup table stored in the data storage space into the memory unit.

12. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The external electronic device allows a fan speed control command to be written to the memory unit through the management unit and the BIOS chip, so that the microcontroller chip adjusts the fan speed according to the fan speed control command.

13. The intelligent fan system as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The management unit is selected from either the Platform Security Processor (PSP) or the Intel Management Engine (IME).

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