Among a chassis' biggest fans

Product

May 24, 2011

We've got high-performance CPUs mixed up with barn-burning GPUs next to screaming 1 GbE controllers.

We’ve got high-performance CPUs mixed up with barn-burning GPUs next to screaming 1 GbE controllers. All this energy ultimately boils up to one thing: heat. And in an air-cooled chassis (and even some conduction-cooled chassis with cold-wall convection), it’s the lowly fan that feels the heat. Suppose Mr. Fan up and crapped out? Yeah: bye-bye $100,000 electronics package. So Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems thinks an intelligent fan controller is just smart money. Their Hybricon rugged intelligent fan controllers comply with PMBus-based chassis management systems and pass MIL-STD-461F, MIL-STD-810G, and MIL-STD-704F.

The variable speed control system can be configured for PWM or voltage regulator outputs with programmable speed, warning, and fault thresholds. Four fans (via tachometer input) and four temperatures can be monitored, and sophisticated BIT information is broadcast over the PMBus interface. Warning and fault indicators for both fan and temperature are broadcast and the controller itself can drive the fans, alleviating the need for a separate PSU (in 12, 24, and 28 VDC). The controller can also interoperate with other Hybricon controllers in a 16-fan configuration. Lastly, this little guy can really take the heat and operates over -40 °C to +85 °C, just like you’d expect from a Curtiss-Wright Controls product.