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| Andigilog's Two Thermal Management Solutions for PCs and Servers Andigilog has announced the aSC7621 and the aSC7611 thermal management system controllers with integrated fan control. Both devices are based on the Andigilog ThermalEdge technology, which enables accurate temperature sensing, precision system control and acoustic and cooling management for computer subsystems. Andigilog's highly accurate sensing allows both devices to enable much quieter systems, optimize systems performance and improve reliability. Andigilog's introduction of the aSC7611 and aSC7621 allows customers to choose a variety of solutions for thermal sensing and fan management. At the heart of the new thermal management system controllers is Andigilog's unique sensing technology that enables accurate temperature measurements. With resolution of 1/4 of a degree of temperature, Andigilog products have the ability to output smaller pulse-width modulation increments, which means the changes in fan speed are no longer limited to coarse steps. In addition, Andigilog has created support for the emerging Platform Environmental Control Interface, or PECI, created by Intel and expected to be implemented in future desktop PCs and servers. PECI is a new digital interface that enables communication of the temperature reading of a system's host processor, enabling efficient platform thermal control. This digital thermometer capability of PECI will co-exist with remote diode interfaces now used in most systems. Both the aSC7621 and the aSC7611 are compliant with SMBus 2.0 and include support for three fans, four fan tachometer inputs, voltage monitoring, high- and low-speed PWM (pulse width modulation) and assignment of temperature zones. They both support system management features including shutdown mode to reduce power consumption, the ability to lock critical controls after initialization, and 3.3 volt operation with 5 or 12 volt fans. Both devices also support Intel's automatic fan speed control algorithm that enables independent fan control apart from the system BIOS. The aSC7611 supports automatic fan speed control for 3 temperature zones: one internal and two remote diode temperature readings. The aSC7621 supports four thermal management zones: one internal and two remote diode readings along with the CPU through PECI. In addition, the aSC7621 can map any temperature to any zone, enabling system designers to have a greater amount of flexibility for thermal management configuration. Other features common to both parts include: - Operating voltage of 3.3 volts - 10-bit analog-to-digital converter - Two-wire digital interface compatible with SMBus 2.0 - Monitors VCCP, 2.5, 3.3, 5 and 12-volt motherboard and processor supplies - Noise filtering of temperature readings - 0.25 degrees Celsius digital temperature sensor resolution - Three PWM fan speed-control outputs for fans with two, three or four wires - Low and high PWM frequency ranges - Four fan tachometer inputs - 24-pin QSOP package. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Computing News :: home page |