LEESBURG, VA - June 16, 2009 --Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, a leading designer and manufacturer of rugged deployed commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX and CompactPCI products for the Aerospace and Defense market (A&D), has announced that its multi-core CHAMP-AV6 VPX digital signal processor (DSP) engine is now available with an advanced new Air-Flow-Through (AFT) cooling technology. AFT cooling technology can accommodate power densities well in excess of 100 Watts per slot, and has been implemented in multi-slot single line-replaceable units (LRUs) with total power dissipation rated >1,000 Watts. Unlike the classic conduction-cooled model in which the chassis provides the heat-exchange function, the innovative AFT cooling technology implemented by Curtiss-Wright Controls locates the card-to-air heat exchangers within the processing module. Test results for AFT-based systems show significantly improved cooling of high-power modules, such as the CHAMP-AV6, resulting in lower component temperatures for a given inlet air-temperature.
The CHAMP-AV6 AFT design features inlet and exhaust ports that connect and seal directly to the chassis. An AFT system provides a similar level of environmental separation between the cooling air and the module electronics as does a conduction-cooled system.
Curtiss-Wright Controls supports this advanced cooling technology on a wide range of its advanced embedded modules. In addition to the AFT variant of the CHAMP-AV6, AFT versions of the VPX6-185 Single Board Computer, the CHAMP-FX2 FPGA Application Accelerator, and the VPX6-684 Gigabit Ethernet Switch are also available. Curtiss Wright can supply system level solutions including qualified enclosures and power supplies based on AFT with these board products and can adapt other conduction-cooled modules to the AFT format.
"Curtiss-Wright Controls delivers the broadest and most advanced range of cooling and packaging options available in the embedded aerospace and defense market," said Lynn Patterson, Vice President and General Manager of Curtiss Wright''s Modular Solutions group. "Air-Flow Through technology can significantly increase system power densities without resorting to costly and complex alternative liquid cooled approaches. AFT lets systems designers keep pace with the steadily rising power densities presented by the new generation of 32nm processors, FPGAs and Giga-sample/second A/D modules."