PICMG AdvancedMC (Advanced Mezzanine Card) standard gives COTS system designers tremendous flexibility to create custom systems. Designers can choose from a rich ecosystem of standard AdvancedMC boards or use the standard to design their own even.
As these modular systems grow in power due to faster computing and network switching rates needs, the thermal management challenges involving these advanced mezzanine cards are becoming more difficult. The enclosed and small form factors of these systems, coupled with the high power consumption of many designs, call for increased attention to their cooling methods. This includes the right choice of air cooled heat sink, fans, fan trays and board placement within a system.
While the PMC (PCI Mezzanine Card) is rated for only 7.5W of power, and the PrPMC (Processor PCI Mezzanine Card) is rated to 12W, a single-slot wide AMC card is specified to a 30W thermal envelope. The connector itself is standardized to 60W per modular unit, in anticipation of lower resistance thermal techniques in the future. The possibility for high power within a small form factor is apparent for AMC modular systems.
ATS’s white paper on meeting the challenges of cooling AdvancedMC’s will equip you to best meet these thermal management challenges for system design success. You can get your copy at this link at qats.com, “AdvancedMCs: Thermal Problems and Cooling Limitations“