Patent Application
20080049394
Various advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following specification and appended claims, and by referencing the following drawings, in which:
Reference is made to some embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, in the following detailed description of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without these specific details. -In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the invention.
Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a method, apparatus and computer system for configuring an air mover. In some embodiments of the invention, the computer system may include computing devices and electronic appliances, including, but not limited to, mobile computers, notebooks, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), desktop computers, servers, such as blade or rack mounted servers, cellular telephones, personal electronic devices, and the like. Moreover, in some embodiments, the air mover is a blower fan, an axial fan, a coaxial fan, a piezoelectric fan, and/or a membrane fan.
Indeed, reference in the specification to an embodiment or some embodiments of the invention means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in some embodiments” appearing in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and are not meant to require the presence of other embodiments, which may be used exclusively, inclusively, or alternatively, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate based at least on the teachings provided herein.
Furthermore, while air and air movers are described with respect to the embodiments of the invention, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate the application of the embodiments to other fluid mediums besides air, such as, but not limited to other gases, gaseous mixtures, liquids and other mediums which exhibit flow. In some embodiments, a medium or mediums other than air may be used, and certain implementation details may be altered as needed to accommodate the differences in density and flow rate of the medium as compared to air. Thus, while air and air movers are specifically discussed, they are not meant to preclude the application of embodiments of the invention with mediums other than air.
The air mover 108 may force air out of the computer system 100 by passing near, over, or through the heat exchanger 106. The air mover 108 may serve to establish or provide a direction for air flow, shown at 110, where external air comes into the system at one or more of the air intakes 112, according to some embodiments of the invention.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, the intake region 202 may be formed from the relative positions of the air mover 108 within the house 101. In some embodiments, the intake region 202 may be bisected into two regions—202a and 202b. In
The term ‘bisect’ and ‘bisection’ are used to describe two distinct areas or volumes of the intake region. As one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, the two bisected regions are constrained by the bounds of the intake region, as a whole. Description of one region with respect to another is mean to aid the discussion of the method and apparatus for altering the intake region such that one bisected region encompasses a greater area or volume than the other bisected region.
Furthermore, based on the teachings described herein, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate that the CPU 102 and air mover 108 may operate without the heat exchanger 106. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate that the shapes, sizes, and/or positions of the various components may be altered and are described in relative terms. As such, in some embodiments, the constraining nature of the housing 101 may serve to increase the benefit of tilting the air mover 108, as is described in additional detailed elsewhere herein.
According to some embodiments, as described in detail elsewhere herein, the substantially non-uniform intake region provides advantages for the cooling of the computer system. In some embodiments, the angle or tilt of the air mover 108 may be only about a single or a few degrees; or the angle may be approaching 90 degrees relative to the surface of the housing 101 or heat exchanger 106. As one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings provided herein, the angle of the air mover may depend on the direction of output. As shown in
Furthermore, in some embodiments, an electronic component 104 may be used instead of or along with CPU 102. In some embodiments, the electronic component 104 may be one of a central processing unit, a processor, a memory, a hard drive, a network card, a video graphics card, a motherboard, and/or a heat source. In some embodiments, the computer system may be an electronic device such as a mobile computer, personal computer, and/or server, such as, but not limited to blade or rank-mounted servers.
In addition, with respect to
In alternative embodiments of the invention, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings described herein, that the embodiments of the invention may not require but may utilize more than one air mover 108. Furthermore, that one of ordinary skill would appreciate that the heat exchanger 106 may be replaced with alternative heat transfer components, as are well-known in the art and described with some alternatives elsewhere herein.
In some embodiments, measurements may be taken to arrive at examples similar to
In some embodiments, the air mover may be configured as air mover 514, at an angle that increased the width of intake region 520 at one side to about 3 mm wide. As one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings provided herein, the actual widths and measurements are not a restriction on the embodiments of the invention and are merely for illustration.
As one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings described herein, the term ‘flow’ may also mean ‘flow capacity’, ‘discharge capacity’ and/or ‘intake capacity’, and may be represented by the letter Q. Flow is typically described in terms of cubic feet per minute (CFM) or ft3/min. Moreover, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings described herein, flow may be proportional to an area of intake or discharge and a flow velocity. While the term ‘flow’ is used throughout the description of these embodiments, one or more of the other terms may be used and are not be meant to infer a different quality.
Similarly, the term ‘pressure’ may be used to describe the force exerted in all directions, measured perpendicular to the flow of the medium, and may be created by the air mover. Pressure may be represented by the letter P and is typically quantitatively described as a number of inches (in.) of water (H2O).
In some embodiments, a temperature sensor 806 may be optionally coupled to the air mover 802. The temperature sensor 806 may be further coupled to an electronic component, such as, but not limited to the electronic component 104. In operation, in some embodiments, the temperature sensor 806 may determine a temperature of the electronic component and notify or activate the air mover 802, which may be off, or in a low or high mode of operation, depending on the amount of enhancement (cooling) required. In other embodiments, the temperature sensor may determine the temperature of the chassis skin in the vicinity of the electronic component if its temperature is likely to exceed acceptable limits.
In some embodiments, a configuration module 808 may be optionally coupled to the air mover 802. The configuration module 808 may be further coupled to the electronic component, such as, but not limited to the electronic component 104. In operation, in some embodiments, the configuration module 808 may alter the configuration of the air mover 802 such that the intake region is altered. In some embodiments, the configuration module 808 may determine the appropriate configuration based on temperature information. According to some embodiments, the air mover 802 may include one or more levers, actuators, motors, or guides to alter the tilt, angle, or position of the air mover 802, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate based at least on the teachings described herein.
In some embodiments, the electronic component may include a spreader or heat exchanger. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the air mover may be integrated into the spreader or the heat exchanger, and/or the air mover (without or without the spreader or the heat exchanger) may be coupled to the electronic component.
As one of ordinary skill would appreciate based at least on the teachings provided herein, the electronic component may be a memory, a hard drive, a network card, a video graphics card, a motherboard, or a heat source. Moreover, in some embodiments, the apparatus and the electronic component may be implemented within an electronic device, which may include a computer system, computing device, or electronic appliance.
At 906, the method may align the air mover in at least one of the one or more configurations. In some embodiments, the configuration module may facilitate this alignment. In some embodiments, the air mover may be able to align itself. In some embodiment, the air mover may be aligned during assembly of the apparatus or system. The method may then proceed to 908.
At 908, the method may optionally operate the air mover. In some embodiments the air mover may be the air mover 108 or 808, and, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate based at least on the teachings provided herein, the operation of the air mover with a non-uniform intake region may improve the operation of the air mover. In some embodiments, the air mover may operate to move air directly over an electronic component rather than onto a heat exchanger. Moreover, in some embodiments, the electronic component may be a central processing unit, a processor, a memory, a hard drive, a network card, a video graphics card, a motherboard, or a heat source. The method may then proceed to 910.
At 910, the method may optionally determine the flow dependence for at least one of the one or more configurations. In some embodiments, the flow dependence information may be used to further improve the performance of the configured air mover. In some embodiments, the flow dependence information may be use in the one or more configurations of element 904. The method may then proceed to 912.
At 912, the method may terminate and may repeat any or all of the elements 902-910, as one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would appreciate, based at least on the teachings provided herein. According to some embodiments of the invention, one or more of the elements 904, 906, 908, and/or 910 may occur independently.
Embodiments of the present invention may be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized, and structural, logical, and intellectual changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Moreover, it is to be understood that various embodiments of the invention, although different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in one embodiment may be included within other embodiments. Those skilled in the art can appreciate from the foregoing description that the techniques of the embodiments of the invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while the embodiments of this invention have been described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the embodiments of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, specification, and following claims.
