JP6511883B2 - Communication apparatus and fan control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication apparatus and a fan control method.

  A base station in a mobile communication system is equipped with a “processing card” that performs processing related to communication. For example, multiple types of processing cards having different functions, such as a “BB (Base Band) card” that performs baseband processing and a “HWY (Highway) card” that communicates with a core network, are mounted in the base station.

  As the degree of integration of circuits mounted on processing cards advances, the calorific value of the processing cards increases. In addition, as the capacity of base stations increases, the number of processing cards mounted on the base stations is increasing. For example, recently, about 200 processing cards may be mounted on one base station. Therefore, the temperature in the base station tends to be increasingly high. When the temperature in the base station becomes high, there is a risk that the processing card will not operate normally due to thermal runaway of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like. Therefore, in order to lower the temperature in the base station, a "fan" for forcibly air cooling the processing card is mounted on the base station.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a base station of the related art. The base station 1 has, for example, a rack 11 into which a plurality of processing cards 12 can be inserted and removed from the front, and a plurality of fans 13 for cooling the processing cards 12 are disposed on the top surface of the rack 11. For example, about 50 processing cards can be accommodated in one rack 11, and the base station 1 has, for example, about four racks 11.

JP, 2002-076665, A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-027109

  In order to lower the temperature in the base station which is getting more and more hot in recent years, as the size of fans increases, the number of fans tends to increase. Under such a tendency, if a plurality of fans are constantly operated at high rotation speed, the power consumption of the base station increases, and the noise generated when the fans operate is also increased. Further, in the processing card, the power consumption increases as the temperature rises, and it is difficult to decrease once the temperature rises. Therefore, once the temperature of the processing card rises, the state where the power consumption of the processing card is large continues for a long time, and the power consumption of the base station is further increased.

  The same problem as described above occurs in a communication apparatus equipped with a fan for cooling the processing card other than the base station.

  The disclosed technology has been made in view of the above, and aims to reduce the power consumption of the communication device.

  In the disclosed aspect, the communication device has a plurality of processing cards, a plurality of fans, and a control unit. The plurality of processing cards are arranged at mutually different positions and perform processing related to communication. The plurality of fans are disposed at different positions corresponding to the plurality of processing cards, and cool the plurality of processing cards. The control unit monitors the processing load of each of the plurality of processing cards, and individually controls the number of rotations of each of the plurality of fans based on the processing load.

  According to the aspect of the disclosure, power consumption of the communication device can be suppressed.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a base station of the related art. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a base station according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a configuration example of a base station of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of the use order pattern of the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of the usage order pattern of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of the use order pattern of the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the CNT unit of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fan management table according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the rotation number table according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for describing processing of the base station of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the processing card. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the processing card.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the communication apparatus and the fan control method disclosed in the present application will be described based on the drawings. Hereinafter, a base station will be described as an example of a communication apparatus. Note that the communication device and the fan control method disclosed in the present application are not limited by this embodiment. In addition, the same reference numerals are given to the configuration having the same function and the step of performing the same processing in each embodiment, and the overlapping description will be omitted.

Example 1
<Configuration of Base Station>
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a base station according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 2, the base station 2 includes an antenna 201, an RRH (Remote Radio Head) unit 202, OPT (Optical) units 203 and 210, a baseband control unit 21, and a fan unit 211. The baseband control unit 21 includes a CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) unit 204, a BB (Base Band) unit 205, a CNT (Control) unit 206, a FILE unit 207, an HWY (Highway) unit 208, and an SW (SW). And a Switch) section 209.

  The RRH unit 202 transmits or receives a wireless signal via the antenna 201. The RRH unit 202 converts a base bend electrical signal obtained by performing wireless reception processing such as down conversion and analog-to-digital conversion on the received wireless signal into an optical signal, and converts the converted optical signal to the OPT unit 203. Output. Also, the RRH unit 202 converts the optical signal input from the OPT unit 203 into a baseband electrical signal, and performs wireless transmission processing such as digital analog conversion and up conversion on the converted baseband signal. The radio signal is transmitted via the antenna 201.

  The OPT unit 203 converts the optical signal input from the RRH unit 202 into an electrical signal and outputs the electrical signal to the CPRI unit 204. Further, the OPT unit 203 converts the electrical signal input from the CPRI unit 204 into an optical signal and outputs the optical signal to the RRH unit 202.

  The CPRI unit 204 connects the OPT unit 203 and the baseband control unit 21 using CPRI, and performs processing according to the CPRI protocol on baseband signals input or output. That is, the CPRI protocol is terminated by the CPRI unit 204. The CPRI unit 204 outputs the baseband signal input from the OPT unit 203 to the BB unit 205 via the SW unit 209 while the baseband signal input from the BB unit 205 via the SW unit 209 is an OPT unit Output to 203.

  BB unit 205 performs BB processing such as encoding processing and modulation processing on data input from HWY unit 208 via SW unit 209 to generate a baseband signal, and generates the generated baseband signal as a SW unit Output to the CPRI unit 204 via 209. In addition, BB unit 205 performs HWY processing via SW unit 209 on data obtained by performing BB processing such as demodulation processing and decoding processing on a baseband signal input from CPRI unit 204 via SW unit 209. Output to 208.

  The HWY unit 208 connects the OPT unit 210 and the baseband control unit 21 using an IP interface, and performs processing according to IPsec on data input or output. That is, IPsec is terminated by the HWY unit 208. The HWY unit 208 outputs data input from the OPT unit 203 to the BB unit 205 via the SW unit 209, and outputs data input from the BB unit 205 via the SW unit 209 to the OPT unit 210. .

  The OPT unit 210 converts data of an optical signal received from the core network 3 into data of an electrical signal and outputs the data to the HWY unit 208. In addition, the OPT unit 210 converts data of the electrical signal input from the HWY unit 208 into data of the optical signal and transmits the data to the core network 3.

  The FILE unit 207 manages files used for operations of the base station 2 and the like.

  The CNT unit 206 performs control of call connection, control of the fan unit 211, and the like.

  The fan unit 211 has a plurality of fans, and the rotational speed of the fans is controlled by the CNT unit 206.

  Here, the baseband control unit 21 uses a plurality of processing cards corresponding to the respective units of the CPRI unit 204, the BB unit 205, the CNT unit 206, the FILE unit 207, the HWY unit 208, and the SW unit 209 as hardware. It is formed. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a configuration example of a base station of the first embodiment. The base station 2 has, for example, a rack 31 into which a plurality of processing cards can be inserted and removed in two stages from the front, and a plurality of fans A to G for air cooling the plurality of processing cards are arranged on the upper surface of the rack 31 Ru. Fans A to G correspond to the fan unit 211.

  For example, as a processing card corresponding to the CPRI unit 204, six CPRI cards of CPRI-1 to CPRI-6 are mounted. As processing cards corresponding to the BB unit 205, seven BB cards of BB-1 to BB-7 are mounted. As processing cards corresponding to the HWY unit 208, four HWY cards of HWY-1 to HWY-4 are mounted. As a processing card corresponding to the CNT unit 206, six CNT cards of CNT-1 to CNT-6 are mounted. As a processing card corresponding to the SW unit 209, two SW cards of SW-1 and SW-2 are mounted. As processing cards corresponding to the FILE unit 207, two FILE cards of FILE-1 and FILE-2 are loaded. As described above, the base station 2 is equipped with a plurality of types of processing cards having different functions. Also, the number of cards mounted for each type can be selected as appropriate by the user according to, for example, the maximum amount of processing load predicted for each function.

  Each of the fans A to G is used to cool a processing card located immediately below each fan. That is, fan A is a cooling fan for CPRI-1, CPRI-4, CPRI-2, and CPRI-5. The fan B is a cooling fan for CPRI-3, CPRI-6, BB-1, and BB-5. The fan C is a cooling fan for BB-2, BB-6, BB-3, and BB-7. The fan D is a cooling fan for BB-4, HWY-1, HWY-3. Fan E is a cooling fan for HWY-2, HWY-4, CNT-1, and CNT-4. The fan F is a cooling fan for CNT-2, CNT-5, CNT-3, and CNT-6. The fan G is a cooling fan for SW-1, SW-2, FILE-1, and FILE-2. As described above, the fans A to G are arranged at mutually different positions, and each of the fans A to G and the processing card in which each of the fans A to G is in charge of cooling are associated with each other.

  Here, the size of the load applied to a plurality of processing cards corresponding to each of the CPRI unit 204, the BB unit 205, the CNT unit 206, and the HWY unit 208 (that is, the processing amount of each processing card) The card use order is associated with each card type. 4 to 6 are diagrams showing an example of the use order pattern of the first embodiment. In FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, since one rectangle indicates one processing card, a total of six processing cards are shown as an example at the upper limit of two stages.

  For example, the CPRI unit 204 is associated with “use order pattern 1” shown in FIG. 4 and processing is performed sequentially from the CPRI card on the left side of the CPRI card group according to the increase in processing load (that is, increase in processing amount). Assigned. That is, in the CPRI card group, one CPRI card at position (X1, Y1) is used if the throughput is 3 units or less of P1 to P3 and if the throughput is 3 units or more and 6 units or less of P4 to P6 Two CPRI cards at positions (X1, Y1) and (X1, Y2) are used. In the CPRI card group, three CPRI cards at positions (X1, Y1), (X1, Y2) and (X2, Y1) are used when the processing amount is more than 6 units and less than 9 units of P7 to P9. Ru. Therefore, for example, when six CPRI cards of CPRI-1 to CPRI-6 are mounted in the base station 2 as shown in FIG. 3, CPRI-1 and CPRI- according to an increase in load applied to the CPRI unit 204. Processing is assigned to each CPRI card in the order of 4, CPRI-2, CPRI-5, CPRI-3, and CPRI-6.

  Further, for example, “the order of use pattern 2” illustrated in FIG. 5 is associated with the BB unit 205, and processing is sequentially assigned from the BB card in the upper stage of the BB card group according to the increase in processing load. That is, in the BB card group, one BB card at a position of (X1, Y1) is used if the processing amount is 3 units or less of P1 to P3 and if the processing amount is 3 units or more and 6 units or less of P4 to P6 Two BB cards at positions (X1, Y1) and (X2, Y1) are used. Also, in the BB card group, three CPRI cards in the (X1, Y1), (X2, Y1) and (X3, Y1) positions are used when the processing amount is more than 6 units and less than 9 units of P7 to P9. If the throughput is more than 9 units and less than 12 units of P10 to P12, four BB cards in the (X1, Y1), (X2, Y1), (X3, Y1) and (X1, Y2) positions are used Ru. Therefore, for example, when seven BB cards of BB-1 to BB-7 are mounted in the base station 2 as shown in FIG. 3, BB-1, BB- according to an increase in load applied to the BB unit 205. Processing is assigned to each BB card in the order of 2, BB-3, BB-4, BB-5, BB-6, and BB-7.

  Further, for example, “the order of use pattern 3” shown in FIG. 6 is associated with the CNT unit 206, and processing is equally allocated to each CNT card of the CNT card group according to the increase of the processing load. That is, in the CNT card group, one CNT card at a position of (X1, Y1) is used when the throughput is 1 unit or less of P1, and when the throughput is more than 1 unit of P2 and 2 units or less (X1, Y1 2) and (X2, Y1) are used. Also, in the CNT card group, three CNT cards at positions (X1, Y1), (X2, Y1) and (X3, Y1) are used when the throughput is more than 2 units and less than 3 units of P3, and processed If the amount is more than 3 units and 4 units or less of P4, four CNT cards at positions (X1, Y1), (X2, Y1), (X3, Y1) and (X1, Y2) are used. Therefore, for example, when six CNT cards of CNT-1 to CNT-6 are mounted on the base station 2 as shown in FIG. Processing is assigned to each CNT card in the order of 2, CNT-3, CNT-4, CNT-5, CNT-6, CNT-1, CNT-2, CNT-3, CNT-4,.

  Further, for example, the “use order pattern 3” is also associated with the HWY unit 208. Therefore, for example, when four HWY cards of HWY-1 to HWY-4 are mounted in the base station 2 as shown in FIG. 3, HWY-1 and HWY- according to an increase in load applied to the HWY unit 208. Processing is assigned to each HWY card in the order of 2, HWY-3, HWY-4, HWY-1, HWY-2, HWY-3, HWY-4,.

  The association between the use order patterns 1 to 3 and the card type is stored in the CNT unit 206, and assignment of processing to each processing card according to the use order patterns 1 to 3 is performed by the CNT unit 206.

<Configuration of CNT part>
FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the CNT unit of the first embodiment. In FIG. 7, the CNT unit 206 has a load monitoring unit 301, a fan management table 302, a fan control unit 303, and a rotation speed table 304.

  The load monitoring unit 301 acquires information indicating processing loads of the CPRI unit 204, the BB unit 205, the HWY unit 208, and the CNT unit 206, and monitors the processing loads of the units. For example, the information indicating the processing load of the BB unit 205 includes the number of user terminals currently accommodated in the base station 2 (that is, the number of accommodated UEs (User Equipment)), and the information indicating the processing load of the HWY unit 208 is IPsec There is a number of passes. An IPsec path is formed between the base station 2 and the core network 3 and between the base station 2 and other base stations. The load monitoring unit 301 updates the fan management table 302 according to the acquired information.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fan management table according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, in the fan management table 302, the arrangement position of the fan, the mounting position of each card, and information for calculating the processing load of each card are associated with each other. In FIG. 8, in order to simplify the description, among the fans A to G shown in FIG. 3, four fans A, C, D, and E are illustrated.

  In FIG. 8, four processing cards (FIG. 3) of CPRI-1, CPRI-4, CPRI-2 and CPRI-5 are mounted in four insertion spaces in two rows and two columns immediately below fan A. It is shown. Also, FIG. 8 shows that processing is assigned to the CPRI card according to usage order pattern 1 (FIG. 4). Further, in FIG. 8, the amount of processing load of the CPRI card is the number of accommodated UEs, the number of sectors currently formed by the base station 2 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “the number of formed sectors”), Is shown to change according to the number of carriers currently in use (sometimes referred to as “the number of used carriers” below).

  Also, in FIG. 8, four processing cards (FIG. 3) of BB-2, BB-6, BB-3, and BB-7 are mounted in four insertion spaces of two rows and two rows immediately below the fan C. Is shown. Further, FIG. 8 shows that the processing is assigned to the BB card according to usage order pattern 2 (FIG. 5). Further, FIG. 8 shows that the amount of processing load on the BB card changes in accordance with the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, and the number of used carriers.

  Further, in FIG. 8, three processing cards of BB-4, HWY-1 and HWY-3 are provided in three insertion spaces except the lower left row of the four insertion spaces in two rows and two rows immediately below the fan D. It is shown that (Figure 3) is implemented. Also, FIG. 8 shows that processing is assigned to the HWY card according to usage order pattern 3 (FIG. 6). Further, in FIG. 8, the amount of processing load of the HWY card is the number of IPsec paths, the number of call control paths, and the path between base stations for directly exchanging data between base stations (hereinafter referred to as “base station transfer path It has been shown to change according to the number of "sometimes called". The call control path is formed between the user terminal, the base station 2 and the core network 2. An inter-base station transfer path is formed between the base station 2 and another base station.

  Also, in FIG. 8, four processing cards (FIG. 3) of HWY-2, HWY-4, CNT-1, and CNT-4 are mounted in four insertion spaces of two rows and two columns immediately below the fan E. Is shown. Also, it is shown that processing is assigned to the HWY card and the CNT card according to the usage order pattern 3 (FIG. 6). In addition, it is shown that the amount of processing load of the CNT card changes according to the number of call control paths, the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, and the number of carriers used.

  Referring back to FIG. 7, the load monitoring unit 301 monitors the processing loads of the CPRI unit 204, the BB unit 205, the HWY unit 208, and the CNT unit 206, that is, the processing loads of the CPRI card, BB card, HWY card, and CNT card. Do. In the processing card, as the processing load increases, the power consumption of the processing card increases and the calorific value of the processing card increases, so the temperature of the processing card rises.

  The BB unit 205 recognizes the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, the number of used carriers, and the number of call control paths. The HWY unit 208 also grasps the number of IPsec paths and the number of base station transfer paths.

  Therefore, the load monitoring unit 301 acquires, from the BB unit 205, the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, the number of carriers used, and the number of call control paths, which the BB unit 205 is aware of, each time the number changes. . The load monitoring unit 301 records the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, the number of used carriers, and the number of call control paths acquired from the BB unit 205 in the corresponding items of the fan management table 302. Thus, for example, in FIG. 8, the item of 印 in line (b) is updated each time the number of call control paths changes, and the item of 印 in line (e) is the number of UEs accommodated, the number of formed sectors, or , It is updated every time the number of carriers used changes.

  Also, the load monitoring unit 301 acquires, from the HWY unit 208, the number of IPsec paths and the number of inter-base-station transfer paths known by the HWY unit 208 each time the number of these changes. The load monitoring unit 301 records the number of IPsec paths and the number of transfer paths between base stations acquired from the HWY unit 208 in the corresponding items of the fan management table 302. Therefore, for example, in FIG. 8, the item of 印 in line (a) is updated each time the number of IPsec paths changes, and the item of 印 in line (g) is the degree of change in the number of transfer paths between base stations Updated to

  The fan control unit 303 refers to the fan management table 302 to acquire the processing load recorded in the fan management table 302 at a predetermined cycle (for example, 10 seconds cycle). For example, the fan control unit 303 acquires, as the processing load of the CPRI card and the processing load of the BB card, a value recorded in an item of 印 in line (e) of FIG. Further, for example, the fan control unit 303 acquires, as the processing load of the HWY card, values recorded in the items of ○ in (a), (b), and (g) lines in FIG. Further, for example, the fan control unit 303 acquires, as the processing load of the CNT card, a value recorded in an item of ○ in the (b) line and the (e) line of FIG. 8. Then, the fan control unit 303 calculates the power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each of the fans A to G based on the processing load and the use order pattern, and the fans A to G are calculated based on the calculated power consumption. Control the rotational speed of each fan individually.

  For example, the rotational speed of the fan A corresponding to four CPRI cards of CPRI-1, CRRI-4, CPRI-2, and CPRI-5 is controlled as follows. That is, for example, it is assumed that the number of formed sectors recorded in line (e) of FIG. 8 is “10”, and that the CPRI card can simultaneously process up to three sectors at the same time. Therefore, four CPRI cards are used to simultaneously process 10 sectors. However, since the use order of the CPRI card conforms to “use order pattern 1” (FIG. 4), the processing for three sectors out of the processing for ten sectors each is CPRI-1, CRRI-4, and CPRI-2. And the remaining one sector of processing is assigned to CPRI-5. Here, for example, it is assumed that the maximum power consumption per CPRI card is 250 W. Therefore, the power consumption of each of CPRI-1, CRRI-4 and CPRI-2 is 250 W, and the power consumption of CPRI-5 is 83 W (= 250 W ÷ 3 × 1). Therefore, the current total power consumption of the four processing cards of CPRI-1, CRRI-4, CPRI-2, and CPRI-5 corresponding to fan A is calculated as 833 W (= 250 W × 3 + 83 W).

  Further, for example, the rotational speed of the fan D corresponding to one BB card of BB-4 and two HWY cards of HWY-1 and HWY-3 is controlled as follows. That is, for example, it is assumed that the number of accommodated UEs recorded in line (e) of FIG. 8 is “1000”, and that a BB card can simultaneously process 1000 user terminals at the same time. Therefore, four BB cards are used to simultaneously process 1000 user terminals. However, since the use order of the BB card follows “use order pattern 2” (FIG. 5), the processing of 300 user terminals out of 1000 user terminals is BB-1, BB-2, BB-3, respectively. , And the processing of the remaining 100 user terminals is assigned to BB-4. Here, for example, it is assumed that the maximum power consumption per BB card is 250 W. Therefore, the power consumption of BB-4 is 83 W (= 250 W ÷ 3 × 1). Also, for example, the total number of paths of the IPsec path number recorded in the (a) line of FIG. 8 and the call control path number recorded in the (b) line of FIG. 8 is HWY-1 to HWY-4 (see FIG. Suppose that it is 66% of the maximum pass number which can be simultaneously processed by four HWY cards of 3). Since the use order of the HWY cards follows “use order pattern 3” (FIG. 6), 66% of the processing is equally allocated to HWY-1 and HWY-3, respectively. Here, for example, it is assumed that the maximum power consumption per HWY card is 300 W. Therefore, the power consumption of each of HWY-1 and HYW-3 is 198 W (= 300 W × 0.66). Therefore, the current total power consumption of the three processing cards BB-4, HWY-1, and HWY-3 corresponding to the fan D is calculated as 479 W (= 83 W + 198 W × 2).

  The fan control unit 303 repeats, for each of the fans A to G, the calculation of the total power consumption as described above in a predetermined cycle (for example, a 10-second cycle).

  Then, the fan control unit 303 controls the rotational speed of each fan with reference to the rotational speed table 304 based on the total power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each fan. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the rotation number table according to the first embodiment.

  For example, since the total power consumption of the four processing cards of CPRI-1, CRRI-4, CPRI-2 and CPRI-5 corresponding to fan A is 833 W as described above, the fan control unit 303 In the rotation speed table 304 (FIG. 9), it is determined that the total power consumption of this time is 600 W or more. Therefore, when the total power consumption of the four processing cards of CPRI-1, CRRI-4, CPRI-2, and CPRI-5 corresponding to fan A is less than 300 W, the fan control unit 303 sets 300 rpm to 1400 rpm. The rotation speed of the fan A is controlled to 1200 rpm in the case of less than 600 W and to 1000 rpm in the case of 600 W or more.

  Further, for example, since the total power consumption of the three processing cards of BB-4, HWY-1 and HWY-3 corresponding to the fan D is 479 W as described above, the fan control unit 303 In 304 (FIG. 9), it is determined that the total power consumption of this time is 300 W or more and less than 600 W. Therefore, when the total power consumption of the three processing cards of BB-4, HWY-1 and HWY-3 corresponding to fan D is less than 300 W, fan control unit 303 sets 840 rpm to 300 W or more and less than 600 W. In the case of 700 rpm, in the case of 600 W or more, the rotation speed of the fan D is controlled to 840 rpm.

  Here, in the rotation speed table 304 illustrated in FIG. 9, the total power consumption is divided into three ranges of a range of less than 300 W, a range of 300 W or more and less than 600 W, and a range of 600 W or more. Then, three different rotational speeds respectively corresponding to three ranges of the previous total power consumption are set for one range of the total power consumption of this time.

  That is, if the total power consumption of this time is less than 300 W and the total power consumption of the last time is also less than 300 W, the rotational speed of the fan may be the same as the previous time 400 rpm (hereinafter referred to as "first reference rotational speed" Maintained). In addition, if the total power consumption of this time is 300 W or more and less than 600 W, and the previous total power consumption is 300 W or more and less than 600 W, the fan rotational speed is the same as the previous 700 rpm (hereinafter referred to as "second reference rotational speed" May be called). In addition, when the total power consumption of this time is 600 W or more and the total power consumption of the last time is 600 W or more, the rotational speed of the fan may be the same as the previous 1000 rpm (hereinafter referred to as "third reference rotational speed" Maintained). That is, when the total power consumption is in the same range between the previous time and the current time, the rotational speed of the fan is the same as the previous time, that is, the reference rotational speed is maintained and stabilized.

  Also, if the total power consumption of this time is less than 300 W and the previous total power consumption is 300 W or more and less than 600 W, the fan speed is not sharply reduced from 700 rpm to 400 rpm, but from 700 rpm, the first It is reduced to 480 rpm, which is a 20% increase of the reference rotation speed (i.e. 400 rpm). Also, if the total power consumption of this time is 300 W or more and less than 600 W, and the previous total power consumption is 600 W or more, the number of revolutions of the fan is not sharply reduced from 1000 rpm to 700 rpm, but from 1000 rpm to the second It is reduced to 840 rpm, which is a 20% increase of the reference rotation speed (i.e., 700 rpm). Furthermore, if the total power consumption of this time is less than 300 W and the previous total power consumption is 600 W or more, the fan speed is not sharply reduced from 1000 rpm to 400 rpm, but from 1000 rpm to the first reference rotation It is reduced to 560 rpm, an increase of 40% in number (i.e. 400 rpm). As described above, the reason why the number of revolutions of the fan is not rapidly decreased to the reference number of revolutions when the current consumption decreases compared to the previous one is that the temperature of the processing card does not easily decrease once it rises. This is because it is desirable to maintain the cooling effect higher even after the total power consumption decreases. That is, when the total power consumption decreases, the number of rotations of the fan is reduced to less than the previous number of rotations, while maintaining the number of rotations larger than the reference number of rotations in consideration of the influence of residual heat. The reduction of the rotational speed is delayed. Since the increase in power consumption due to the temperature rise is larger than the increase in power consumption due to the increase in fan rotational speed, the delay in the decrease in fan rotational speed results in suppression of the power consumption of the base station 2.

  Thus, when the current total power consumption decreases from the previous total power consumption, the number of rotations of the fan is decreased. However, as the previous total power consumption is larger, the amount of decrease in the rotational speed of the fan is smaller.

  On the other hand, if the total power consumption of this time is 300 W or more and less than 600 W and the previous total power consumption is less than 300 W, the fan rotational speed is not increased from 400 rpm to 700 rpm, and the second reference rotational speed ( That is, it is rapidly increased to 840 rpm which is increased by 20% at 700 rpm. In addition, if the total power consumption of this time is 600 W or more and the previous total power consumption is 300 W or more and less than 600 W, the fan rotational speed is not increased from 700 rpm to 1000 rpm, but the third reference rotational speed (that is, , Is rapidly increased to 1200 rpm, an increase of 20% at 1000 rpm). Furthermore, if the total power consumption of this time is 600 W or more and the previous total power consumption is less than 300 W, the fan rotational speed is not increased from 300 rpm to 1000 rpm, but the third reference rotational speed (that is, 1000 rpm) ) Is rapidly increased to 1400 rpm, an increase of 40%. As described above, when the power consumption of this time increases more than the power consumption of the last time, the fan speed rapidly increases above the reference speed because the temperature of the processing card does not easily decrease once it increases. Therefore, the temperature rise is suppressed by rapidly increasing the cooling effect prior to the temperature rise. That is, when the total power consumption is increased, the number of revolutions of the fan is increased to a number of revolutions greater than the previous number of revolutions, and is further increased to a number of revolutions greater than the reference number of revolutions in order to further enhance the cooling effect. We are accelerating the increase in rotational speed. Since the increase in power consumption due to the temperature rise is larger than the increase in power consumption due to the increase in fan rotational speed, an early increase in fan rotational speed results in suppression of the power consumption of the base station 2.

  Thus, when the total power consumption of this time increases from the previous total power consumption, the rotational speed of the fan is increased. However, the smaller the previous total power consumption, the larger the amount of increase in the number of revolutions of the fan.

<Base station processing>
FIG. 10 is a flowchart for describing processing of the base station of the first embodiment. The flowchart shown in FIG. 10 is started when the base station 2 is powered on, and is ended when the base station 2 is powered off.

  The base station 2 is monitoring the processing load of communication processing in its own station (for example, the number of accommodated UEs, the number of formed sectors, the number of carriers used, the number of call control paths, the number of IPsec paths, or the number of base station transfer paths) Then, it is determined whether the processing load has changed (step S31).

  When the processing load of the communication processing in the own station changes (step S31: Yes), the base station 2 updates the processing load recorded in the fan management table 302 (FIG. 8) with the processing load after the change. (Step S32). When the processing load of the communication processing in the base station 2 has not changed (step S31: No), the processing of step S32 is not performed, and the processing proceeds to step S33.

  Next, the base station 2 determines whether a predetermined period (for example, a 10 second period) has arrived (step S33). When the predetermined cycle has not arrived (step S33: No), the process returns to step S31 without performing the processes of steps S34 to S36.

  When the predetermined cycle comes (step S33: Yes), the base station 2 calculates the total power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each fan for each fan using the fan management table 302 (FIG. 8) (step S34). ).

  Next, the base station 2 calculates the fan rotation speed for each fan using the rotation speed table 304 (FIG. 9) based on the total power consumption calculated this time and the total power consumption calculated previously (step S35). .

  Then, the base station 2 controls the fan rotational speed of each fan to the fan rotational speed calculated in step S35 (step S36). After the process of step S36, the process returns to step S31.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the base station 2 includes the plurality of processing cards, the plurality of fans A to G, and the CNT unit 206. The plurality of processing cards are arranged at mutually different positions and perform processing related to communication. The plurality of fans A to G are arranged at different positions corresponding to the plurality of processing cards, and cool the plurality of processing cards. The CNT unit 206 monitors the processing load of each of the plurality of processing cards, and individually controls the rotational speed of each of the plurality of fans based on the monitored processing load.

  By doing this, excessive power to the processing card with small processing load can be suppressed, and the number of rotations of the fan for cooling the processing card with small processing load can be reduced. Can. In addition, in order to enhance the cooling effect of the processing card having a large processing load, it is possible to maintain the rotational speed of the fan for cooling the processing card having a large processing load high. That is, it is possible to reduce the rotational speed of the fan that cools the processing card with the small processing load while maintaining the rotational speed of the fan that cools the processing card with the large processing load high. Therefore, the power consumption of the base station 2 can be suppressed while appropriately cooling each of the plurality of processing cards with mutually different cooling strengths.

  Further, since the temperature of the processing card is not directly measured when controlling the rotational speed of the fan, the temperature sensor is not necessary. Thus, the processing card can be properly cooled while suppressing an increase in the size of the base station 2.

  Moreover, the use order according to the processing load is set to the plurality of processing cards. The CNT unit 206 calculates the power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each of the plurality of fans A to G based on the processing load and the use order, and controls the rotational speed of each fan based on the calculated power consumption. Do.

  In this way, the power consumption of each processing card can be calculated based on the usage order of the processing cards in a plurality of processing cards, so that the power consumption of each processing card corresponding to each fan can be accurately calculated. Can. Therefore, the cooling of each of the plurality of processing cards can be performed more appropriately without excess or deficiency.

  The CNT unit 206 also controls the rotational speed of each fan based on the power consumption calculated this time and the power consumption calculated previously.

  By doing this, it is possible to control the rotational speed of the fan in consideration of the characteristic that the temperature of the processing card is unlikely to decrease once it rises.

  In addition, when the power consumption calculated this time is lower than the power consumption calculated last time, the CNT unit 206 decreases the number of rotations of the fan, and the larger the power consumption calculated last time, the amount of reduction of the number of rotations of the fan Make it smaller.

  As a result, the cooling effect can be maintained at a high level even after the power consumption of the processing card is reduced, in consideration of the characteristic that the temperature of the processing card is unlikely to decrease once the temperature rises. Power consumption of the base station 2 can be further suppressed.

  In addition, when the power consumption calculated this time increases from the power consumption calculated last time, the CNT unit 206 increases the rotational speed of the fan, and the smaller the power consumption calculated last time is, the more the rotational speed of the fan increases. Enlarge.

  As a result, the temperature rise can be suppressed by rapidly enhancing the cooling effect prior to the temperature rise in consideration of the characteristic that the temperature of the processing card is unlikely to decrease once the temperature rises. Power consumption of the base station 2 can be further suppressed.

[Other embodiments]
[1] The BB card forming the BB unit 205, the CNT card forming the CNT unit 206, and the FILE card forming the FILE unit 207 can be realized, for example, by the following hardware configuration. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the processing card. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the BB card, the CNT card, and the FILE card include, for example, a CPU 10a, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) 10b, and a memory 10c as hardware components. For example, in the CNT card, the load monitoring unit 301 and the fan control unit 303 are realized by the CPU 10a, and the CNT card is connected to another processing card via the FPGA 10b. Further, in the CNT card, the fan management table 302 and the rotation speed table 304 are stored in the memory 10 c.

  The CPRI card forming the CPRI unit 204 and the HWY card forming the HWY unit 208 can be realized, for example, by the following hardware configuration. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the processing card. As shown in FIG. 12, the CPRI card and the HWY card have, for example, a CPU 10a, an FPGA 10b, a memory 10c, and a network interface module 10d as hardware components. For example, the CPRI unit 204 is connected to the OPT unit 203 via the network interface module 10 d, and the HWY unit 208 is connected to the OPT unit 210 via the network interface module 10 d.

  [2] The communication apparatus to which the disclosed technology can be applied is not limited to the base station. The disclosed technology can be applied to any communication device that has a plurality of processing cards and a plurality of fans for cooling the plurality of processing cards, and the load on the processing cards changes.

2 Base station 204 CPRI unit 205 BB unit 206 CNT unit 207 FILE unit 208 HWY unit 209 SW unit CPRI-1 to CPRI-6 CPRI card BB-1 to BB-7 BB card HWY-1 to HWY-4 HWY card CNT- 1 to CNT-6 CNT card SW1 to SW-2 SW card FILE-1 to FILE-2 FILE card

Claims (3)

A plurality of processing cards arranged at different positions for performing processing related to communication;
A plurality of fans disposed at different positions corresponding to the plurality of processing cards and cooling the plurality of processing cards;
A control unit that monitors the processing load of each of the plurality of processing cards and individually controls the number of rotations of each of the plurality of fans based on the processing load ;
In the plurality of processing cards, an order of use is set according to the processing load,
The control unit calculates power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each of the plurality of fans based on the processing load and the use order, and controls the number of rotations based on the calculated power consumption. When the first power consumption calculated this time is lower than the second power consumption calculated last time, the rotational speed is decreased, and the reduction amount of the rotational speed is increased as the second power consumption is larger. Make smaller,
Communication device. When the first power consumption increases more than the second power consumption, the control unit increases the rotation speed, and the smaller the second power consumption, the larger the increase amount of the rotation speed. Do,
The communication device according to claim 1 . A fan control method for a plurality of fans arranged at different positions corresponding to a plurality of processing cards arranged at different positions, which perform processing related to communication, for cooling the plurality of processing cards,
Monitoring the processing load of each of the plurality of processing cards;
The rotational speed of each of the plurality of fan control individually based on the processing load,
In the plurality of processing cards, an order of use is set according to the processing load,
The power consumption of the processing card corresponding to each of the plurality of fans is calculated based on the processing load and the use order, and the number of rotations is controlled based on the calculated power consumption, and this time When the first power consumption is lower than the previously calculated second power consumption, the rotational speed is decreased, and the larger the second power consumption, the smaller the reduction amount of the rotational speed.
Fan control method.

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