A cooling system for a plurality of heat-generating components in a chassis of an information handling system includes an array of fans, each fan operable to generate an airflow in a range of airflows, and a control system configured to monitor temperatures for the components and adjust a direction of one or more airflows based on the component temperatures. If a component temperature gets too high for a first fan associated with the component to cool the component, a portion of a second airflow generated by a second fan may be directed to provide additional airflow to the component such that the component is cooled without increasing the fan speed of the first fan. Adjacent fan speeds may also be adjusted to reduce losses due to differences between adjacent airflows.

Techniques are disclosed for early detection of fan failure in a computing device, such as a server. A management device located in the computing device or remote from the computing device can receive information about the fan duty and use the fan duty information to determine a safe fan speed below which future or imminent fan failure can be inferred. The management device can receive the current speed of the fan and compare it with the safe fan speed to determine if the fan is likely to fail, in which case the management device can direct the computing device to perform mitigation action and/or a maintenance warning can be sent. The maintenance warning can result in replacement of the failing or soon-to-fail fan.

A component housing insertable in a chassis for a computing device blocking air flow when in a pulled out position is disclosed. The component housing has a front end and an opposite rear end. A pair of side walls are provided between the front end and the rear end. The side walls are slidably connected to the chassis to allow the component housing to be moved between an inserted position and the pulled-out position. A cover on the rear end has an open position allowing air flow through the rear end when the component housing is in the inserted position. The cover has a closed position blocking air flow through the aperture when the component housing is in the pulled out position.

A disclosed system includes (1) at least one hardware component mounted to a drawer of a chassis, (2) a fan module capable of generating airflow to cool the hardware component, and (3) an extensible airduct coupled between the hardware component and the fan module such that, when the drawer of the chassis is opened, the extensible airduct stretches out to lengthen a distance between the hardware component and the fan module and, when the drawer of the chassis is closed, the extensible airduct contracts to shorten the distance between the hardware component and the fan module. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

A fan module including a casing and multiple fans is provided. The casing includes a frame having multiple accommodation slots, a hinge element, and a cover. The cover is pivotally connected to an outlet side of the frame through the hinge element to rotate around the frame for exposing or covering at least one of the accommodation slots. The fans are disposed in the accommodation slots. When at least one of the fans is taken out of the casing and the rest of the fans are still operating, the cover covers at least one of the accommodation slots to avoid airflow leakage.

A system and method are directed to a fan board sled assembly comprising a fan circuit board including a first end and an opposing second end, a fan cage module including a front section for receiving and removably securing the first end of the fan circuit board to the fan cage module, and a guide bracket including a base section for receiving and removably securing the second end of the fan circuit board to the guide bracket. The fan cage module further includes a back section for receiving one or more fan bodies. The combined fan circuit board, fan cage module and guide bracket are a single integrated unit insertable and extractable from a chassis opening of a computer chassis.

A system includes a network element having a housing that is configured for front-to-rear airflow; and a cooling apparatus located adjacent to the network element and having a housing that forms a cavity that is closed by the housing of the network element, wherein the cooling apparatus includes one or more fan units that are accessible via front access and wherein the one or more fan units are configured to draw the front-to-rear airflow from the network element into the cavity. This enables a front-to-back airflow design with rear fan access to be converted into a front-to-back airflow design with front fan access.

A solid-state drive device includes a first module including a first region containing a volatile main memory device and a controller device and a second region containing a first nonvolatile memory device, a second module disposed on the first module and having a third region containing a second nonvolatile memory device, the second module being connected to the first module, and a heat dissipating member disposed on the second module as vertically juxtaposed with the first and second modules. The heat dissipating member has a protruding portion protruding toward the first module and in direct thermal contact with the first region, and a plate-shaped portion having a main surface in direct thermal contact with the third region.

An apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a bolster plate having a first fixturing element and a strap. The strap is positioned along a frame arm of the bolster plate. The strap has a second fixturing element to be fixed to a cooling mass. The strap is to diminish movement of the cooling mass along the frame arm's dimension and a dimension that is orthogonal to the frame arm's dimension. A semiconductor chip package is to be placed in a window opening formed by the bolster plate's frame arms. The cooling mass is to be thermally coupled to the semiconductor chip package.

A system may include a cooling subsystem comprising at least one air mover configured to generate a cooling airflow in the system and a thermal manager communicatively coupled to the cooling subsystem for control of the cooling subsystem and configured to determine an acoustic limit associated with the cooling subsystem, correlate the acoustic limit to an acoustic-based air mover speed limit for the at least one air mover, and control the cooling subsystem to maintain an air mover speed of the at least one air mover below the acoustic-based air mover speed limit.