Power Supply Unit (PSU) Right-Sizing that Supports Power Transients, with Mechanism for Dynamic Curtailment of Power Transients During a PSU Failure

摘要

A power controller of an information handling system (IHS) controls power allocation for the IHS with components that intermittently exhibit power transients. The power controller is configured to: identify an enhanced power state during which a maximum power required by the information handling system is greater than the amount of power provided by a primary PSU of a redundant configuration of PSUs; and allocate a portion of the unused operating margin of backup reserve power from the redundant PSUs to support intermittent power transients that occur during enhanced power state operation. The power controller is further configured to, in response to a detection of a condition that reduces an amount of unused operating margin of backup reserve power to less than an amount of additional power required to support the intermittent power transients, autonomously disable/limit the enhanced power state to prevent/limit an occurrence or magnitude of the intermittent power transients.

主权项

1. A computer-implementable method of controlling power allocation in an information handling system having multiple power supply units (PSUs), the method comprising:
configuring a power controller to control power allocation to components within the system by:
identifying a sustained power state in which the system is powered by a redundant PSU configuration comprising a primary PSU and a secondary PSU, which are both rated to independently support a thermal design power (TDP) of the information handling system during normal operation, wherein a maximum power utilized by the system during normal system power state is not greater than an amount of power provided by the primary PSU, and wherein the redundant PSU configuration provides an unused operating margin of backup reserve power;identifying an enhanced power state during which a maximum power required by the information handling system is greater than the amount of power provided by the primary PSU;allocating a portion of the unused operating margin of backup reserve power to support intermittent power transients that can occur during system operation in the enhanced power state; andin response to a detection of a condition that reduces an amount of unused operating margin of backup reserve power to less than an amount of additional power required to support the a maximum value of the intermittent power transients, autonomously limiting access to the enhanced power state to prevent an occurrence of at least a portion of the intermittent power transients.