Standard Fan Unit for a 48 HP MicroTCA System with Cooling Unit Manager

Schroff introduces another member of its MicroTCA product range - an intelligent fan unit whose speed is regulated by the MicroTCA Shelf Manager. This fan unit is classified as a cooling unit (CU) in the MicroTCA “language”. It consists of a micro controller, the so-called EMMC which establishes the communication between the fans and the sensors of the CU with the Shelf Manager. The communication protocol used is the IPMI – Intelligent Platform Management Interface - specified by the MicroTCA standard. With this the fan unit is compatible with all MicroTCA conform Shelf Managers.

The AdvancedMC modules installed in a system (for instance CPUs) are equipped with their own logic and with temperature sensors. If a temperature rises above the defined limit, this information is transferred to the Shelf Manager as a so-called ”event“. The Shelf Manager then gives the instruction to the Cooling Unit to regulate the fan speed accordingly. Vice versa the Cooling Unit reports the status of the fans, such as possible failures and malfunctions to the Shelf Manager. Thus a very high level of operation reliability can be guaranteed for the MicroTCA systems. Furthermore the fans' life expectancy is extended by such intelligent fan control, as the speed can be adapted to the individually required performance of the MicroTCA system.

The control of this fan unit developed by Schroff is housed on a compact backplane, assembled horizontally between both fans in the fan unit. The status LEDs on the front panel as well as the backplane connector at the rear are directly integrated on this backplane, thus avoiding additonal cabling. The fan unit is supplied in two versions. The basic version and a version with a so-called Telco Alarm interface. This interface signals the alarm status “minor, “major” and “critical” via LEDs. Parallel to that the alarm conditions are available via potential free relais contacts on a connector.