IP Library › Granted Patent US 8,156,358
Granted Patent B2
US 8,156,358 · App. 12/388,606 · Granted Apr 10, 2012

System and method for dynamic modular information handling system power distribution

Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,156,358
App. No.
12/388,606
Filed
Feb 19, 2009
Granted
Apr 10, 2012
Kind
B2
Examiner
HUYNH, KIM T
Art Unit
2111
USPC
713/320
Abstract

Infrastructure power resources of a chassis information handling system are made available to run chassis information handling system modules when infrastructure devices are not using the power resources. For example, cooling fans that cool information handling system modules supported by an information handling system chassis run at variable speeds having variable power consumption. A power reserve maintained to run the cooling fans at full speed if needed is made available to information handling system modules when under power management by a chassis manager.

Claims (44)

1. An information handling system comprising:

a chassis operable to accept plural information handling system modules;

plural information handling system modules disposed in the chassis, each information handling system module operable to process information and having a management subsystem that manages power resources used by the information handling system module;

one or more cooling fans associated with the chassis and operable to provide cooling air flow to the information handling system modules;

a power system associated with the chassis and operable to provide power to the information handling system and cooling fans;

a chassis manager interfaced with the power system and the information handling system module management subsystems, the chassis manager operable to allocate power available from the power system to the information handling system modules and the cooling fans; and

a chassis power manager interfaced with the chassis manager and operable to establish a reserve power having adequate power resources to run the one or more cooling fans at full speed and to dynamically allocate the reserve power for use by the information handling system modules when the one or more cooling fans run at less than full speed.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the chassis power manager dynamically allocates the reserve power by determining actual cooling fan power consumption and reporting actual cooling fan power consumption to the chassis manager as the maximum power consumption of the one or more cooling fans.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the information handling system management subsystems are further operable to automatically throttle their associated information handling system upon a determination of a chassis manager failure.

4. The information handling system of claim 3 wherein the one or more cooling fans are further operable to automatically run at full speed upon a determination of a chassis manager failure.

5. The information handling system of claim 4 wherein the chassis power manager is further operable to prevent information handling system modules from powering on if the power consumption of the information handling system modules in throttled states plus the cooling fans at full speed exceeds a capacity of the power subsystem to provide power.

6. The information handling system of claim 4 wherein a determination of a chassis manager failure is performed at each module information handling system by detection of voids on a serial interface between the management subsystem and the chassis manager.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the information handling system modules comprise blade modules.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the chassis manager allocates power to the one or more cooling fans with a higher priority than it allocates power to the information handling system modules.

9. A method for allocating power at an information handling system chassis, the method comprising:

running one or more cooling fans associated with the chassis at up to full speed in response to thermal conditions of the chassis;

determining a reserve power that represents the amount of power to support an increase of cooling fan speed from a current speed to full speed; and

dynamically allocating the reserve power for use by information handling system modules supported by the information handling system chassis.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

changing the speed of one or more cooling fans in response to the thermal conditions;

determining the reserve power at the changed cooling fan speed; and

dynamically allocating the determined reserve power.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein changing the speed further comprises increasing the speed and determining the reserve power comprises decreasing the reserve power.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein changing the speed further comprises decreasing the speed and determining the reserve power comprises increasing the reserve power.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein dynamically allocating the reserve power further comprises:

determining current power consumption by the one or more cooling fans;

reporting the current power consumption to a chassis manager as the maximum power consumption of the one or more cooling fans; and

allocating with the chassis manager to the information handling system modules a total power available from a power supply minus the reported maximum power consumption.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

detecting a failure of a chassis manager associated with the information handling system chassis; and

reverting the information handling system modules and the one or more cooling fans to a known safe level of operation.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein reverting further comprises:

running the cooling fans at full speed; and

running the information handling systems at a predetermined throttled state.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving a request for a power up by an information handling system module;

allowing power up of the information handling system module if power consumed by the information handling system module in a throttled state plus power consumed by running information handling modules in a running state and power consumed by the cooling fans at full speed is less than power available at the information handling system chassis.

17. A system for allocating power to plural information handling system modules supported by an information handling system chassis, the system comprising:

a power system operable to supply a total power at the chassis;

a chassis manager operable to allocate the total power between information handling system modules supported by the information handling system chassis and plural cooling fans; and

a chassis power manager interfaced with the chassis manager and the cooling fans, the chassis power manager operable to establish a reserve power having adequate power resources to run the cooling fans at full speed and to dynamically allocate the reserve power for use by the information handling system modules when the cooling fans run at less than full speed.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the chassis power manager establishes a reserve power by reporting current power used by the cooling fans as the maximum power that the cooling fans will consume.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the chassis power manager is further operable to detect a request for an information handling system module to power up and to deny the request if the power consumed by the requesting information handling system module in an throttled state, currently running information handling system modules in an throttled state and the cooling fans running at full speed exceeds the total power.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the system comprises logic associated with the information handling system modules and the cooling fans operable to detect failure of the chassis manager and in response to detection of failure of the chassis manager to throttle the information handling system modules and to run the cooling fans at full speed.

Assignments (15)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (045455/0001) Recorded May 20, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061753/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (040136/0001) Recorded Apr 26, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061324/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL, L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 058216/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 21, 2019
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 049452/0223 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040134/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040136/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 14, 2016
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040040/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 14, 2016
From: BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040065/0618 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 13, 2016
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040065/0216 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (ABL) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: DELL INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 031898/0001 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (TERM LOAN) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: DELL INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 031899/0261 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS FIRST LIEN COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 031897/0348 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 19, 2009
From: BRUMLEY, ALAN; REDDY, JAYDEV; MUNJAL, ASHISH; MUTHAIYAN, ARUN
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.
Reel/Frame 022280/0909 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20100211804A1 · Aug 19, 2010