Patent ID: 7562537

Claim:
An apparatus for determining cooling system effectiveness in an electronic device comprising: an enclosure for housing an electronic device; a cooling system connected to said enclosure; a temperature sensor mounted in said enclosure and configured to measure a series of temperatures in said enclosure; and a control circuit connected to said temperature sensor and connected to said cooling system and configured to control an amount of cooling provided by said cooling system; wherein said control circuit is configured to determine a rate of change in the series of temperatures measured by the temperature sensor; wherein said control circuit is configured to increase the amount of cooling provided by said cooling system in response to said temperature sensor detecting a temperature in excess of a threshold temperature; and wherein said control circuit is configured to compare a rate of change of the temperature measured before the increase in the amount of cooling provided by the cooling system and a rate of change in the temperature measured after the increase in the amount of cooling, said control circuit being configured to indicate a problem with the cooling system if the rate of change in the temperatures measured after the increase in the amount of cooling continues to increase at a substantially similar rate of change in the temperatures measured before the increase in the amount of cooling provided by the cooling system.