Temperature sensing unit and temperature sensing method for protecting graphics accelerator card

Abstract

This disclosure presents a temperature sensing unit and method for thermal protection of power connectors in graphics accelerator cards based on a non-contact thermopile sensor. This method measures the ambient temperature (Ta) and the surface temperature (Tb) of the power connector, and then calculates the contact pin temperature (Tcontact) and the pin's heat dissipation power (Pheat). Tcontact is calculated as (where Rc is the thermal resistance between the connector pin and the power connector surface, and Ra is the thermal resistance between the power connector surface and the ambient air). Simultaneously, the heat power from the pin is calculated as (where Rc is the thermal resistance between the connector pin and the power connector surface, and Ra is the thermal resistance between the power connector surface and the ambient air). When Tcontact (δ1) or Pheat (δ2) exceeds a fixed threshold value, a warning message can be generated; alternatively, a lower fixed threshold value can be used to generate another set of warning messages based on the slope of Tcontact or Pheat changes.

Claims

1. A temperature sensing unit for a graphics accelerator card, the temperature sensing unit comprising: a non-contact thermopile sensor for sensing an ambient temperature (Ta) and a surface temperature (Tb) of a power connector of the graphics accelerator card; and a processing element for obtaining a ratio of a first thermal resistance (Ra) to a second thermal resistance (Rc) through a calibration procedure, to calculate a contact pin temperature (Tcontact) based on [a specific parameter], and to calculate the power (Pheat) generated by a plurality of contact pins based on [a specific parameter], wherein the first thermal resistance (Ra) is the thermal resistance between the surface temperature (Tb) of the power connector and the ambient temperature (Ta), and the second thermal resistance (Rc) is the contact pin temperature (Tcontact). The thermal resistance between the power connector and the surface temperature (Tb); and when Tcontact or Pheat is greater than a fixed threshold value, i.e., Tcontact corresponds to Tcontact(δ1) or Tcontact(δ31), Pheat corresponds to Pheat(δ2) or Pheat(δ41), and when the slope change of Tcontact or Pheat is greater than a preset value, i.e., the slope of Tcontact slope_1 is greater than δ32, and the slope of Pheat slope_2 is greater than δ42, a set of warning messages is generated.

2. The temperature sensing unit as described in claim 1, wherein the fixed threshold value of the contact pin temperature (Tcontact) satisfies Tcontact(δ31) < Tcontact(δ1), and the fixed threshold value of the power (Pheat) satisfies Pheat(δ41) < Pheat(δ2).

3. The temperature sensing unit as described in claim 2, wherein the contact pin temperature (Tcontact(n)) or the power (Pheat(n)) having a time parameter n is stored in memory for calculating the slope change.

4. The temperature sensing unit as described in Request 1, wherein the set of warning messages is generated when the temperature of the contact pin (Tcontact) is greater than Tcontact(δ1), where Tcontact(δ1) is 100°C.

5. The temperature sensing unit as described in claim 1, wherein the set of warning messages is generated when the power (Pheat) is greater than Pheat (δ2), where Pheat (δ2) is 2 watts.

6. The temperature sensing unit as described in claim 1, wherein the non-contact thermopile sensor includes two thermopile sensing elements, one of which is used to sense the surface temperature of the power connector, and the other of which is a dumb unit for generating a temperature signal for compensation.

7. The temperature sensing unit as described in claim 6, wherein the ambient temperature is sensed by a built-in thermistor of the non-contact thermopile sensor or a built-in temperature sensor of the processing element.

8. A temperature sensing method for a graphics accelerator card, the temperature sensing method unit comprising: sensing an ambient temperature (Ta) and a surface temperature (Tb) of a power connector of the graphics accelerator card; calculating a contact pin temperature (Tcontact) based on (), where Ra is the thermal resistance between the surface temperature (Tb) of the power connector and the ambient temperature (Ta), and Rc is the thermal resistance between the contact pin temperature (Tcontact) and the surface temperature (Tb) of the power connector; calculating the power (Pheat) generated by a plurality of contact pins based on (); and generating a set of warning messages when Tcontact or Pheat is greater than a fixed threshold value Tcontact(δ1) or Pheat(δ2).

9. The temperature sensing method as described in Request 8, wherein generating the set of warning messages includes: generating the set of warning messages when Tcontact is greater than a fixed threshold value Tcontact(δ1) or Tcontact(δ31), or Pheat is greater than a fixed threshold value Pheat(δ2) or Pheat(δ41), and when the slope change of Tcontact or Pheat is greater than a preset value δ32 or δ42.

10. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 9, wherein Tcontact(δ1) is 100°C and Pheat(δ2) is 2 watts.

11. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 10, wherein the fixed threshold value of the contact pin temperature (Tcontact) satisfies Tcontact(δ31) < Tcontact(δ1), and the slope change of the contact pin temperature (Tcontact) is greater than δ32.

12. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 10, wherein the fixed threshold value of the power (Pheat) satisfies Pheat (δ41) < Pheat (δ2), and the slope change of the power (Pheat) is greater than δ42.

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