Movable Carriage Data Storage System Power Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data storage systems face challenges in reducing power consumption and heat generation while maintaining quick data access, as existing systems either continuously power all devices, leading to high energy use, or rely on offline methods that take too long to retrieve data.
Innovation Solution
A data storage system with a movable carriage that selectively couples to subsets of data storage devices, allowing for efficient power management and rapid data access by moving between different sets of devices within a housing, reducing energy consumption and cooling costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If all data storage devices are continuously coupled to the host device (online storage), then data access speed is improved, but power consumption and heat generation increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a movable carriage that dynamically moves between different sets of data storage devices, allowing the system to transition between online and offline states. The carriage selectively couples to specific magazines containing data storage devices, enabling rapid access to needed data while leaving other devices in low-power offline states, thus resolving the contradiction between fast access and low power consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The data storage system is divided into multiple magazines, each containing a subset of data storage devices. The movable carriage can selectively access different magazines, segmenting the overall storage capacity into accessible and inaccessible portions. This segmentation allows the system to maintain fast access to active data while keeping inactive data in offline magazines, reducing overall power consumption
2Use of energy by moving object
If data storage devices are stored offline (cold storage), then power consumption is reduced, but data retrieval time increases to tens of seconds or minutes
Solution Approach 1:
The movable carriage is pre-positioned within the housing and can rapidly transition between online and offline positions. Data storage devices are organized in magazines that can be quickly brought into the online position when needed, performing the transition action in advance or on-demand with minimal delay, thus reducing retrieval time while maintaining power efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The movable carriage acts as an intermediary between the host device and the data storage devices in offline magazines. It physically transports or selectively couples to the needed magazine, serving as a mediator that enables rapid access to offline data without requiring all devices to remain continuously online, thus reducing both power consumption and retrieval time
3Reliability
If data storage devices are continuously powered and cooled, then data access is always available, but cooling costs and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts which data storage devices are powered and cooled based on access requirements. The movable carriage enables the system to bring specific magazines online only when needed, allowing the cooling system to operate efficiently on a reduced subset of active devices rather than continuously cooling all devices, thus maintaining reliability for accessed data while reducing cooling energy loss
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus with a housing which stores a plurality of data storage magazines, where each data storage magazine includes a plurality of data storage devices. The housing includes a movable carriage, the movable carriage configured to selectively couple a set of data storage devices held by a particular data storage magazine to a host device. The housing also includes a motor configured to move the movable carriage within the housing to enable the movable carriage to communicatively couple the set of data storage devices held by the particular data storage magazine to the host device.