Method and apparatus for detecting heat sink faults
View Patent ↗Detecting, predicting, and diagnosing faults in a cooling system. According to one embodiment, a heat sink is in thermal contact with a heat-generating electronic component. When a temperature differential between the electronic component and the heat sink exceeds a set point, a fault signal is generated. The set point may be empirically or theoretically determined. The set point may be a static set point, or it may be a dynamic set point determined according to real-time operational parameters of the system. The system may be implemented with predictive failure analysis (PFA) to provide a more reliable, efficient, inexpensive, and robust computer system.
1. A method comprising:
sensing a source temperature of a heat-generating electronic component in an electronic system;
sensing a sink temperature of a heat sink in thermal communication with the heat-generating electronic component;
determining an actual temperature differential between the source temperature and the sink temperature; and
outputting a fault signal in response to the actual temperature differential exceeding a set point indicative of a heat sink fault.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the set point as a function of real-time values of one or more system parameters.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording the source temperature at a first time;
computing a time interval between the first time and a second time wherein the sink temperature is substantially equal to the source temperature at the first time; and
selecting the set point as a function of the time interval.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting one or both of an air flow rate and a fan speed; and
selecting the set point as a function of one or both of the air flow rate and the fan speed.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting an inlet air temperature upstream from the heat sink; and
computing the set point as a function of the inlet air temperature.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat-generating electronic component comprises a CPU.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calibrating one or more temperature sensors for sensing one or both of the source temperature and the sink temperature prior to powering on the electronic system.
8. A device, comprising:
a source temperature sensor in direct thermal communication with a heat-generating electronic component of the electronic system;
a sink temperature sensor in direct thermal communication with a heat sink of an electronic system, wherein the heat sink is in thermal communication with the heat-generating electronic component;
a processor in electronic communication with the sink temperature sensor and the source temperature sensor, the processor configured for computing a set point indicative of a heat sink fault as a function of one or more operational parameters of the electronic system, computing an actual temperature differential as a function of the sink temperature and the source temperature, and for outputting a fault signal in response to the actual temperature differential exceeding the set point.
9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the computer is configured for recording the source temperature at a first time, computing a time interval between the first time and a second time wherein the sink temperature is substantially equal to the source temperature at the first time, and selecting the set point as a function of at least the time interval.
10. The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more operational parameters are selected from air flow rate, fan speed, inlet air temperature, and combinations thereof.
11. The device of claim 8 , wherein the heat-generating electronic component comprises a CPU.
12. A machine-accessible medium containing instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations, comprising:
instructions for sensing a source temperature of a heat-generating electronic component in an electronic system;
instructions for sensing a sink temperature of a heat sink in thermal communication with the heat-generating electronic component;
instructions for determining an actual temperature differential between the source temperature and the sink temperature; and
instructions for outputting a fault signal in response to the actual temperature differential exceeding a set point indicative of a heat sink fault.
13. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 , further comprising:
instructions for selecting the set point as a function of real-time values of at least one of the one or more system parameters;
instructions for recording the source temperature at a first time;
instructions for computing a time interval between the first time and a second time wherein the sink temperature is substantially equal to the source temperature at the first time; and
instructions for selecting the set point as a function of the time interval.
14. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
instructions for detecting one or both of an air flow rate and a fan speed; and
instructions for selecting the set point as a function of one or both of the air flow rate and the fan speed.
15. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
instructions for detecting an inlet air temperature upstream from the heat sink; and
instructions for computing the set point as a function of the inlet air temperature.
16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 , wherein the set point is a function of one or more of an air flow rate, a fan speed, and an inlet air temperature.
17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 , wherein the heat-generating electronic component comprises a CPU.