With the ever-increasing demand for computing and storage capacity, data center energy efficiency has become an important public policy concern. The EPA estimates that data centers accounted for 1.5% of all U.S. electricity consumption in 2006, and this demand is expected to nearly double by 2011.
Much of the energy consumed by enterprise equipment is dissipated as heat. This poses significant thermal-management challenges, even more so with the high power densities afforded by blade servers.
The MAX31782, a system management microcontroller from Maxim, combines six temperature measurement channels with six channels of closed-loop fan control. By monitoring multiple temperature points throughout the system, the MAX31782 enables enterprise system designers to implement precise zoned-cooling schemes. This approach minimizes system power consumption and cooling costs by individually adjusting the speed of each fan to deliver the amount of cooling required by each zone.
Based on a 16-bit MAXQ RISC microcontroller core, the MAX31782 provides 32-KWord reprogrammable flash and 1-KWord RAM for data storage The part incorporates a 6-channel, 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a temperature-sensing analog front-end (AFE) that allows direct connection to thermal diodes.
The MAX31782 is packaged in a 6mm x 6mm, 40-pin TQFN. Prices start at $2.95 (10,000-up, FOB USA).