Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

International Business Machines Corporation

Douglas I Evans

Brian Christopher Totten

Jamaica LaQuay Barnette

Dipak N Tailor

Luke David Remis

Joseph Edward Bolan

Raymond Mathew Clemo

James A Heaney

Robert R Wolford

Jamaica La Quay Barnette

Jose I Rojas

Delali Dogbey

Systems and apparatus for configurable current steering in a printed circuit board (PCB) include a plurality of power sources each including a power output, and a plurality of power loads each including a power input. A power distribution element includes a switching array configurable to selectively couple a respective power output of each of the plurality of power sources to a respective power input of each of the plurality of power loads. A controller is configured to determine that a first power load of the plurality of power loads is included in a first system configuration, and provide a control signal to the power distribution element to configure the switching array to couple a respective power output of a first power source of the plurality of power sources to a respective power input of the first power load.

Configurable current steering in a printed circuit board

Systems and methods for cooling computing device expansion modules based on airflow rates are disclosed. According to an aspect, a method includes determining airflow rates in areas available for operable connection of expansion modules within a computing device during operation of the computing device. The method also includes determining expected power consumption of the expansion modules. Further, the method includes presenting placement of the expansion modules in the areas based on the determined airflow rates and the expected power consumption of the expansion modules.

Systems and methods for cooling computing device expansion modules based on airflow rates

An apparatus includes a voltage regulator including a high-side field-effect transistor, a low-side field-effect transistor, an inductor, and a conductive net connecting the high-side field-effect transistor, the low-side field-effect transistor and the inductor. The apparatus further includes an attenuation circuit coupled to the conductive net, wherein the attenuation circuit includes an electronic switch that enables and disables an amount of attenuation provided by the attenuation circuit. Examples of the attenuation circuit include a snubber circuit and a boost resistor circuit.

Voltage regulator having a switchable attenuation circuit

An apparatus for voltage regulation device adjustment includes an external factor module that determines external factors, where the external factors include conditions external to an electronic device that affect operating performance and operating costs. The electronic device includes a voltage regulator device ('VRD') providing power to one or more components of the electronic device. The apparatus includes a firmware selection module that selects new firmware for the VRD of the electronic device in response to the determined external factors, and a firmware update module that replaces previously installed firmware on the VRD with the new firmware. The new firmware includes control settings for the VRD.

Adjustment of voltage regulator firmware settings based upon external factors

A computer-implemented method for adjusting voltage settings, according to one embodiment, includes: determining a number of components electrically coupled to an output of a voltage regulator; determining voltage tolerance information corresponding to each of the number of components; determining a voltage tolerance limit of the voltage regulator; using the determined voltage tolerance information in combination with the voltage tolerance limit of the voltage regulator to determine whether an output voltage of the voltage regulator can be reduced; calculating an amount by which to reduce an output voltage of the voltage regulator in response to determining that the output voltage of the voltage regulator can be reduced; and sending one or more instructions to the voltage regulator to reduce the output voltage of the voltage regulator by the calculated amount.

Adjusting voltage settings based on electrical components

Managing power consumption in a computing system that includes a plurality of integrated technology elements ('ITEs') that receive power from a plurality of common form factor power supplies, including: determining the maximum amount of power that can be delivered by each of the common form factor power supplies; determining whether the maximum amount of power that can be delivered by a first common form factor power supply is different than the maximum amount of power that can be delivered by a second common form factor power supply; and responsive to determining that the maximum amount of power that can be delivered by the first common form factor power supply is different than the maximum amount of power that can be delivered by the second common form factor power supply, throttling one or more of the ITEs.

Managing power consumption in a computing system

A method includes a plurality of voltage regulators distributing power to a plurality of components within a compute node, wherein each of the voltage regulators has a controller, volatile memory and non-volatile memory. The controller of each voltage regulator temporarily caches operating data for the voltage regulator in the volatile memory of the voltage regulator, wherein the controller temporarily caches the operating data collected from the voltage regulator over a sliding time period. When a first voltage regulator from among the plurality of voltage regulators experiences a fault event, the controller of each voltage regulator detects the fault event and automatically copies the cached operating data for the voltage regulator from the volatile memory of the voltage regulator to the non-volatile memory of the voltage regulator in response to detecting the fault event.

Coordinated storage of operating data among multiple voltage regulators in response to a fault condition

A DC-DC converter includes a directly coupled inductor with coil elements and power-switching phases. Each phase includes a high-side and low-side switch, where the high-side switch couples a voltage source to a coil element and the low-side switch couples the coil element to a ground voltage. Each switch is configured to be alternately activated and no two switches are activated at the same time. A current sensor for the DC-DC converter includes a single current amplifier having inputs and an output. The output provides a current sensing signal. The current sensor also includes a single RC network coupled to one of the power-switching phases and a first input of the current amplifier. The current sensor also includes a resistive ladder. The ladder includes, for each of the other power-switching phases, a resistor coupled in parallel to the RC network resistor and to a second input of the current amplifier.

Sensing current of a DC-DC converter

A method for controlling a voltage regulator includes monitoring an output current and an inductance of an output inductor in a voltage regulator, wherein the voltage regulator includes high-side and low-side field effect transistors both coupled to an input to the first output inductor. The high-side and low-side field-effect transistors are alternately turned on at a switching frequency, wherein only one of the field-effect transistors is turned on at a time. The method measures a change in the inductance of the output inductor resulting from the output inductor reaching current saturation and measures a rate of change in the output current of the output inductor. The switching frequency is controlled as a function of the measured change in the inductance and the measured rate of change in the output current in order to prevent an amount of current through the high-side field-effect transistor from exceeding a maximum operating current setpoint.

Voltage regulator using a variable switching frequency

A computer planar includes an enable signal line for providing an enable signal to an external power supply, wherein the external power supply will not turn on unless the enable signal is active high. During normal operation, an auxiliary power source maintains an active high enable signal on the enable signal line, which includes a fuse. However, a fault protection circuit coupled to the enable signal line can pull down the enable signal line in response to a fault, such that the fuse is permanently opened. Once the fuse is open, the external power supply cannot be enabled and further damage to the computer planar is prevented.

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Douglas I Evans