Category Archives: Cabinet

Thermal Management of High-Powered Servers

While power demands have increased, engineers are tasked with placing more components into smaller spaces. This has led to increased importance for optimizing the thermal management of servers and other high-powered devices to ensure proper performance and achieve the expected lifespan.

Servers
This article brings together content that ATS has posted over the years about cooling high-powered servers from the device- to the environment-level. (Wikimedia Commons)

With server cooling taking on increased priority, there are several ways of approaching the problem of thermal management, including device-level solutions, system-level solutions, and even environment-level solutions.

Over the years, Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) has posted many articles related to this topic. Click the links below to read more about how the industry is managing the heat for servers:

  • Industry Developments: Cabinet Cooling Solutions – Although their applications vary, a common issue within these enclosures is excess heat, and the danger it poses to their electronics. This heat can be generated by internal sources and intensified by heat from outside environments.
  • Effective cooling of high-powered CPUs on dense server boards – Optimizing PCB for thermal management has been shown to ensure reliability, speed time to market and reduce overall costs. With proper design, all semiconductor devices on a PCB will be maintained at or below their maximum rated temperature. 

For more information about Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) thermal management consulting and design services, visit https://www.qats.com/consulting or contact ATS at 781.769.2800 or ats-hq@qats.com.

ATS Expands Its US-based Manufacturing Facilities

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. has expanded its Massachusetts manufacturing facilities. This was necessary due to an increase in industrial orders and associated production requirements. The needs for metal and plastic parts and finished products have been growing as markets retool and expand, and buyers continually insist on higher quality, faster deliveries and larger volumes.

ATS expanded manufacturing services can provide contract manufacturing services on a fast, highest quality level. The Norwood facility will meet the needs of most global customers, from rapid prototyping and high volume manufacturing.

The enhanced facilities in Norwood, which is also the global headquarter for ATS, are fully equipped, environmentally responsible, and employ highly skilled staffers who work to extremely high professional standards. Multi-point inspections insure the highest quality manufactured products, from one-of-kind to multi-thousand part production orders.

ATS designs and builds for a wide range of industry requirements. Engineers and technicians manufacture for chassis-level integration, e.g. cooling hardware and other functionalities on network communication cabinets. The associates often design and fabricate stands, rack and display cabinets for retail and office environments.

Fabrication capabilities in metal and plastics include:
Metal and Plastic Extruding
Metal Stamping
CNC Machining
Metal Finishing
Sheet Metal Stamping and Plastic Forming
Plastic Welding

Besides its manufacturing facilities in Norwood, ATS operates factories in Futian, China, a thriving region of high tech manufacturing. The Futian facility is designed for making very high volumes of quality parts, as well as inventory and storage, and worldwide distribution services.

To learn more about ATS manufacturing capabilities, please visit: http://www.qats.com/Services/Manufacturing-Services/65.aspx

This Fixed Cost Plan for Cooling Hot PCBs Saves Money, Simplifies Ordering

For one fixed cost, a QoolPCB plan includes the full set of ATS heat sinks,  attachment devices and all other parts required for the effective thermal management of a PCBs components. There are no additional costs for the thermal engineering, performance testing, procurement or shipping. The heat sinks and hardware are kitted and provided for the full volume of boards requiring cooling.

Pricing for a QoolPCB solutions is based on the number of heat sinks that a specific PCB requires for efficient thermal management. For example, if thermal analysis and testing show that a PCB needs 10 heat sinks to operate safely, the fixed price for the heat sinks and hardware for a production volume of that PCB would be just $50 per board. For larger boards, or those with many hot components, the unit cost per heat sink is reduced.

Whether the solutions are for off-the-shelf heat sinks, custom designed, or a combination of both, the QoolPCB program from ATS provides it at fixed cost. QoolPCB eliminates separate costs for design, tooling, samples, verification and supply chain management. The program offers multiple benefits for companies looking to reduce their product development costs, speed time-to-market and ensure thermal reliability.

To participate, PCB developers simply provide 3D CAD models of their board layout, along with the technical specifications, including power dissipation of all board components. ATS performs a full thermal analysis of the PCB and develops a comprehensive cooling solution for each component on the board. Where possible, ATS engineers will specify existing heat sinks from a portfolio of more than 3000 off-the-shelf and application-specific designs and with in-stock attachment systems.

If any custom heat sinks are required to bring certain components within their manufacturer-designated running temperatures, ATS assumes all tooling charges and sample production costs, including any customized heat sink attachment hardware. In addition, ATS will perform all physical testing at its Thermal Characterization Laboratory, which features advanced open loop and closed loop wind tunnels, temperature and velocity measurement sensors and other analysis instrumentation, to verify the cooling design. All designs and performance reports are provided to customers, who can perform their own thermal analyses and verification studies using the ATS characterization lab and samples of the actual heat sink solutions at no extra cost.

More information about the QoolPCB thermal management program from ATS is available at: http://www.qats.com/Services/QoolPCB—PCB-Cooling-At-Fixed-Cost/57.aspx

 

ATS Announces Free Webinar: Analytical, Computational and Experimental Thermal Analysis of a xTCA Chassis

ATS Announces Free Webinar: Analytical, Computational and Experimental Thermal Analysis of a xTCA Chassis on Thursday, May 27, 2010 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

ATCA and MicroTCA are chassis standards geared to getting systems from telecomm, computing, military, medical and other companies to market faster and with lower cost. While the form factor, modularity and price point are attractive, thermal challenges can be magnified with the small form factors and interoperability challenges of a standard architecture. Attendees will be equipped with advanced, fast and accurate thermal design techniques that will help them efficiently use modeling and testing tools to determine device junction temperatures and speed time-to-market.

To register please visit our registration site here:
Analytical, Computational and Experimental Thermal Analysis of a xTCA Chassis

Selecting and Implementing Liquid Cooling within Electronic Systems – ATS On-Demand Webinar

As many of our readers know, ATS features Live Broadcast Webinars throughout the year on various topics around thermal management and design. What many of you may not know is that we archive these for on-demand viewing. Topics include heat sinks, thermal interface materials, and liquid cooling.

The use of liquid cooling systems is becoming more practical and effective for managing skyrocketing increases in power dissipation. But how do you decide when you need to cool with liquid? How do you find the right liquid cooling system for your application? Our on-demand webinar provides the best practices for implementing a liquid cooling system at the device level. You may reach it by clicking to it at this link: Selecting and Implementing Liquid Cooling within Electronic Systems