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Fastwel tested the CompactPCI Serial modules with conduction cooling based on the loop heat pipes

18.06.2020

Fastwel, global manufacturer of computing tools designed for harsh operating conditions, together with the Thercon-LHP company, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance heat-transfer devices, developed processor modules of the CompactPCI Serial standard with heat dissipation based on the loop heat pipes (LHP), suitable for conduction or water cooling. The new Fastwel modules were tested successfully.

Heat pipes developed by Thercon-LHP are used in the Fastwel VIM556RC graphics controller module (based on Nvidia Quadro P3000 and P5000) and in the Fastwel CPC518RC CPU module (based on Intel Xeon D-15xx) of the CompactPCI Serial standard with a conduction heat dissipation.

These modules are designed for building high-performance computing systems and harsh operating conditions. For example, as part of high-performance heterogeneous computing platforms for processing signals coming from radars/sonars/lidars, creating direction finding devices, electronic warfare, and other digital signal processing applications.

The tests were carried out on a special test bench. In order to assess the quality of the heat dissipation, the modules were placed in a water-cooled housing.

Tests of Fastwel VIM556

The Fastwel VIM556 graphics controller module is used for processing digital information and displaying graphic information on monitors. The commercially available module includes an MXM 3.0 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M GPU. The VIM556RC model with a conduction heat sink was used in the tests.

The test results demonstrated that the use of LHPs make it possible to use Quadro P3000 (power consumption: 75W) and Quadro P5000 (power consumption: 100W) graphics cards manufactured by Nvidia in the vim556rc module with a conductive heat sink. Additionally, the use of loop heat pipes enabled to reduce the weight of the module and made it nearly half the size.

Tests of Fastwel CPC518

The Fastwel CPC518 CPU module is designed for organizing high-performance systems operating in harsh environments that require high reliability and flexibility in supporting various expansion interfaces.

The CPC518 module is based on the Intel Xeon D-15xx CPU. The power consumption of the module is 84W.

For testing, a mockup test sample of the heat dissipation system based on a loop heat pipe (hereinafter referred to as the heatsink) was created for the CPC518RC model with a conduction heat dissipation.

Based on the test results, the mockup heatsink sample confirmed the possibility and efficiency of creating CPC518RC modules with this heat dissipation system. In order to test the possibility of batch production of CPC518RC modules, a pilot batch of heatsinks was manufactured.

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