.gif)
.gif)
Industry News
May 16, 2011
IBM 2011 Power Symposium Points to the Future
Exclusive
Hosted May 10-11 at IBM’s Research Triangle Park facilities, after a one-year hiatus, the invitation-only 2011 IBM Power Symposium included a mix of IBM presenters who painted a picture of the future direction of power architectures and product demand for the full range of IBM servers and retail point-of-sale systems.
Bob Murphy, VP Integrated Supply Chain kicked off the meeting with a discussion of "Power Technology for a Smarter Planet." He pointed out that the third-phase in the transformation of IBM’s supply chain strategy is underway and is focused on "Smarter" solutions including instrumented, interconnected and intelligent systems. The key goal is the optimization of performance across complete systems.
Murphy focused on four areas related specifically related to power. Efficient power conversion across all load ranges and systems capable of operating from ac power or high-voltage dc power are one focus. Reliability is a second focus including improved redundancy design and verification.
Effective telemetry and diagnostic capabilities are being integrated from the individual power converters to the overall system power management, control and diagnostics of each individual server. Finally, Murphy discussed advanced packaging technologies including lead-free, 3-dimensional packages, higher integration and improved packaging standardization that are key focuses in the near-term.
Nick Gruendler, Chief Engineer for Blades and Modular Power Management followed Murphy with a discussion of a range of power and cooling issues. In addition to continued efforts to improve the efficiency of power converters, IBM is offering a range of load consolidation and power management capabilities.
Opinion: Unraveling the Ultra-Low Power Design Issues
Active Energy Manager 4.3 is the latest development in enabling server users to minimize power consumption. It consists of a combination of "no charge" monitoring functions and "priced" management functions. The management functions are priced per server (or end-point) being managed. They are delivered as a plug-in to IBM’s Systems Director 6.2 software suite.
Brsian Hruby. Senior Engineering Manager, followed Gruendler with a discussion of trends in mid-range server power architectures. To put the challenges in perspective, Hruby presented a block diagram of the power domains of IBM’s Power 770 server. That system includes 62 separate voltage domains (many with redundant power or phase-redundant power) along with 19 other analog circuits.
Specific areas of performance important in the systems designed by Hruby include accurate ac- and dc-power measurement, active calibration of dc current measurements, sufficient VRM slew rates to support advanced processor power management, and power system communication to ensure that the entire system stays operational when redundancy is lost during "oversubscription" events.
Ted Howard presented IBM’s plans for "Energy Efficiency Leadership" in the company’s System X servers. The central 3U ac-dc power supply delivers 1975W at 230Vac input of 875W at 115Vac input with a maximum density of 15.5W/cubic inch. Low-load efficiency improvements are a key goal of the next-generation power system code-named, "Ghidorah."
Compared with the previous-generation, "Athena," power systems, the 12Vdc output Ghidorah power supply is expected to improve efficiency by 16% at 10% load, by 6% at 20% load and by 4% at 30% load. This is expected to result in fewer fans needed per system. In addition, dc-dc converters in the Ghidorah system are expected to offer 5% higher efficiency for memory and 4% higher efficiency for Vcore.
Following the presentations by the IBM power conversion experts, technology and product overviews were presented by a number of IBM suppliers including: Analog Devices, Delta Products, Efficient power Conversion, Fuji Electric, International Rectifier, Liebert, Molex, Server Technology, TE Connectivity, and Texas Instruments. This year’s Symposium was closed with an hour-long panel discussion featuring the Power Architects from across all the IBM brands.
Share this story
Send via E-mail
Post to Twitter
On the Web:
White Papers
March 11, 2013
Power Modules for Charger Applications
Sponsored by Vincotech
February 27, 2013
The Adaptive Cell Converter Topology Enables Constant Efficiency Over Universal Input AC Line in Front-End, High-Density Power Factor Correction Applications
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
February 27, 2013
From 48 V direct to Intel VR12.0: Saving "Big Data" $500,000 per datacenter, per year
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
More White Papers
- Altera Acquires Enpirion for $140 Million, Forms Power Business Unit
- Ericsson Saves Board Space with Surface-Mount Digital Bus Converter
- SiC Modules, IGBTs and Super-Junction MOSFETs Introduced on Day One of PCIM
- SiC and GaN Again a Major Focus at PCIM Europe
- PowerbyProxi Joins Wireless Power Consortium
- Vincotech and Infineon Introduce New Packaging Options at PCIM Europe
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- Eaton and CA Technologies Join to Deliver Infrastructure Management for Data Centers
- DOE Selects Consortium to Develop Next-Generation Batteries for Automobiles
- Dana Receives Grant from NRCan to Improve Thermal Management for EV Battery Packs
- Power-One Gets $1 Billion – ABB Gets Inverters
- Renesas Adds IGBT Drivers with Micro-Isolator for Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Inverters
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- European Project Reports Achievements in Drive to Shape the Future of Power Microelectronics
- Eltek Signs Agreement with Caterpillar on Telecom Hybrid Systems
- U.S. Launches Competition for "Next-Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing" Institute
- LED Lighting Power & Dimming Controls Introduced by Phihong
- 500W Full-Brick DC-DC Converter Optimized for Fuel Cell Applications
- GE Opens $1.5 Million New Product Introduction Accelerator Lab
- LG Chem Announces Plans for Start of Production of Automotive Li-Ion Batteries
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Fujitsu Components America
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: CUI Incorporated
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: EMerge Alliance
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Anderson Power Products
- Green Building Power Forum 2009: Independence Station
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Coilcraft
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Champs Technologies
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: EXAR Corporation
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: PMBus
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Power Plaza
Design Features
October 22, 2012
Energy Efficiency with Class D Amplifier Modules
Class-D switching amplifiers are helping audio designers create personal multimedia devices and home audio/visual systems that demonstrate how compact and stylish equipment can also deliver high sound quality and high audio output power. The key to this breakthrough, providing freedom from the large and bulky boxes housing traditional audio products, lies in the class-D amplifier’s high energy efficiency, which is typically around 90%. This allows designers to reduce or eliminate heatsinks as well as using smaller-sized PCBs and smaller components such as transformers, connectors and power supplies.
Design Features
October 8, 2012
The Role of Hall Effect Sensors in Power Distribution Infrastructure
Power distribution units (PDUs) form an essential part of modern computing and data communications hardware. They provide multiple outputs for transferring electrical power with maximum efficiency, controlling the power capacity and safeguarding against the possible causes of supply interruption. With an ever increasing need from tech savvy consumers for higher data throughput and greater quantities of data storage capacity, as well as tough international legislation now governing CO&sub2; emissions, the demands being placed on these units are proving challenging for engineering teams to satisfy.
Product Focus
August 13, 2012
The Year in AC-DC Power Supply Technology
The past year witnessed significant new product releases, technological developments, and industry news related to the field of AC-DC Power Supply technology.