Electronics Protection - November/December 2013 - (Page 30)

Industry News Emerson Network Power Announces Thermal Management Witness Testing Facility Emerson Network Power has announced the availability of a witness test lab for customers purchasing larger-capacity cooling systems. The CSA International-certified testing facility allows performance and reliability testing for equipment at specific temperatures from -35°F to 120°F. In addition to supporting the development of next generation large cooling systems, the facility enables onsite witness testing for customers who wish to guarantee their cooling systems will deliver target performance and reliability across a broad operating temperature range. "The increasing number of hyperscale data centers and colocation facilities is driving the need to develop larger cooling equipment that is optimized for the data center," said John Schneider, vice president and general manager, thermal management, Emerson Network Power. "Our new psychrometric lab enables us to develop next generation large cooling systems such as our new Liebert DSE DX platform. Importantly, the facility is designed to replicate the customer's complete data center environment to ensure the most accurate and reliable performance testing at a broad range of temperatures. Developing the lab underscores our commitment to excellence in all areas of thermal management." Psychrometric testing is conducted at Emerson Network Power's plant in Columbus, Ohio, where there are psychrometric rooms for 30 kW and 100 kW cooling units. The state-of-the-art psychrometric testing lab expands the capability to 200 kW direct expansion cooling units and 400 kW chilled water units. In addition to expanding witness test capability, the facility also enables Emerson Network Power to test its new, large cooling systems and offer more efficient technologies to customers faster. In typical facilities, an estimated 20 percent of psychrometric room test time is consumed by the set-up, since the equipment must be assembled in the psychrometric room. However, Emerson Network Power's facility features a staging area for the unit being tested, so the set-up can take place while another test is in progress. The ability to stage equipment combined with test apparatus designed to rapidly change out unit configurations reduces the set-up by more than half, enabling customers to put their equipment in service faster. Curtiss-Wright Acquires Parvus Corp. Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Parvus Corp., a business unit of Eurotech S.p.A., for $38 million in cash. Parvus is a designer and manufacturer of rugged small form factor computers and communications subsystems for the aerospace, defense, homeland security and industrial markets. The acquired business will operate within Curtiss-Wright's Controls segment. "The Parvus team has established a leadership position in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based small form factor processors and networking subsystem solutions. This extends CurtissWright's capabilities and fills two gaps in our product portfolio to help drive continued growth in our core aerospace, defense and homeland security markets," said Tom Quinly, president of Curtiss-Wright Controls. Founded in 1983, Parvus is a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of open standard-based modules and systems for C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) applications in the defense market and various applications in the aerospace, homeland security and general industrial markets. The company's SWaP-optimized solutions, including rugged processor systems, mobile networking subsystems and industrial grade board-level 30 PC/104 modules, are used in critical defense applications such as unmanned systems and tactical C4ISR payloads. Product applications for the industrial markets include system monitoring, diagnostics, communications, networking and vetronics subsystem control, most notably to commercial transportation customers. Their capabilities include rapid turnkey subsystems integration and development services, and the design of complete embedded computer systems tailored to meet specific customer requirements through the use of off-the-shelf building blocks and technical expertise. Parvus has approximately 50 employees and is expected to generate sales of approximately $23 million in 2013. Recent Findings from EPRI Research Regarding Energy Efficiency in Data Centers To reduce the power consumption of an ever-expanding population of high-density data centers, EPRI investigated the potential for energy reduction at multiple fronts. This included reducing the number of voltage transformations in power distribution systems, retrofitting ordinary power supplies with highly efficient "80 PLUS" power supplies, intelligently managing airflow in server aisles, using state-of-the-art software to enable servers and air conditioners to work in concert to reduce the energy consumed by the servers and the cooling systems, and operating servers in higher temperatures. This demonstration highlights that owners of data centers have multiple options for reducing their energy bills, extending the life of assets, and increasing the reliability of their servers. By employing power supplies that comply with 80 PLUS protocols, data centers can profit from significant energy savings, as high as 20 percent according to EPRI field tests. Moreover, because these energy-efficient power supplies run cooler, an attendant reduction in air-conditioning bills is likely. Airflow in even the most modern data centers can be unruly, cooling objects that do not require cooling and bypassing objects that do. By managing airflow velocity to maintain an adequately low server temperature, data centers can shave up to 77 percent from the energy consumption of unregulated fans and reduce the total energy consumption by as much as 17 percent. Thermal maps may provide enough high-resolution evidence for operators of data centers to raise the temperature of their cold isles by 5°F (for example, from 72°F to 77°F). This temperature increase will enable the chillers to work less, resulting in a significant energy savings (3 to 5 percent in some scenarios). Replacing the standard AC power system used to electrify modern servers with DC systems, data centers can reap the benefit of eliminating multiple AC-to-DC and DC-to-AC power conversions, resulting in a potential energy savings of 15 percent. NASA Selects Thermacore for Study of Spacecraft Thermal Control Thermacore, Inc. was recently selected by NASA Space Technology's Game Changing Development Program to have one of its unique thermal management concepts evaluated for potential use in future spacecraft. NASA's Game Changing Development Program released a solicitation to the nation to help solve a challenging spacecraft thermal management issue, specifically, to help meet the difficult challenge of creating systems that can reject high heat loads in a warm thermal environment, yet operate in a very cold environment, where maintenance is often difficult or impossible. The proposed Thermacore solution is an improved variableconductance heat pipe (VCHP) containing a novel working fluid November/December 2013 www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com http://www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electronics Protection - November/December 2013

New Features Make F-Series TeraFrame Gen 3 One of CPI’s Most Advanced Cabinets
Silicones for High Reliability and Yield in Electronic Applications
Surge and Transient Protection for Telephone, CATV & Satellite Services
Thermal Management of LEDs: Looking Beyond Thermal Conductivity Values
Understanding NEMA Ratings for Electrical Enclosures
Silent Air Cooling: A New Approach to Thermal Management
VadaTech Releases Rugged Conduction-Cooled MicroTCA Ecosystem
Directable Inverted Blowers Deliver High Volume Air Flow
Cima NanoTech Launches Ultra Low Resistance Sante EMI Shielding Film
Littelfuse Introduces Surge-Tolerant Fuses
ProTek Devices’ TVS Array Provides Circuit Protection in Computing Applications
Reell’s PolyTorq Technology Expands Capabilities For Hinge and Torque Insert Applications
Industry News

Electronics Protection - November/December 2013