nVent SCHROFF New Release Next Generation MTCA.4

• Revolutionary new MTCA.4 Crate to achieve 128 Gbits bandwidth per slot with PCIe Gen 5
• Enhanced Cooling: Improved rear card cage cooling
• Future Proof: New cooling Unit Manager design based on controller with long lifetime expectation
• Downward compatibility: Mix and match legacy and new chassis and cooling units

nVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) (“nVent”), a global leader in electrical connection and protection solutions, has today announced the launch of its first MTCA.4 Crate in accordance this new released Revision 3.0 of the MTCA.0 standard. It supports PCIe Gen 4/5 and 100 GbE. 

In September 2023 PICMG released the new revision 3.0 of the MTCA.0 specification. This new version adds the support for PCI Express Gen 4 and 5 as well as for 100GBASE-KR4. To accomplish these higher data rates SMD and compression mount connectors have been evaluated by the working group and the simulation results have been taken as a base to define the whole data transmission channel for MicroTCA. The transmission channel has been divided into the logical parts to define the limits for boards and backplane to make sure, all MTCA.0 Rev 3.0 conform MCH’s, AMC’s and Crates work together in a PCI Express Gen4/5 or 100 GbE environment. 

As these high-end switches consume more power compared to the formerly supported ones, the power budget for the MCH, where the switch resides, have been upgraded from 80 W to 110 W. And to make sure that the MCH doesn’t overheat the Cooling Units power budget was also upgraded to 110 W. A software mechanism ensures the downward compatibility of old and new MCH’s, Power Modules and Cooling Units. 

nVent SCHROFF – The most powerful fans in the RTM area within the limits of the newly defined 110W power efficiency.

The Cooling Unit firmware is following the procedure of the revision 3.0 of the MicroTCA specification. When powering up it stays in the 80 W power rating. If the Power Module supports the 110 W per cooling unit channel it will be possible to run all fans at full speed. For Power Modules only supporting 80W or if the IPMI communication gets lost it will stay in the 80W power envelope.

The Renesas H8S controller used successfully on the nVent SCHROFF MTCA.4 Crates has now been set to EOL. This is the reason why nVent SCHROFF now introduces with the new cooling units and additional features described above, a new Cooling unit Manager design based on the STM32 controller from STMicroelectronics.

Providing the highest data bandwidth

To achieve the higher data bandwidth, the maximum trace length defined in MTCA.0 Rev. 3.0 needs to be matched. Therefore, the MCH slots moved from the outside to the middle of the card cage.

Materials upgraded

The pcb material was changed to a material with lower losses and new SMD connectors are used instead of the press fit ones. For optimized routing the physical order of the AMC modules has been changed. In the past the nVent SCHROFF MTCA.4 Crates used the physical order starting from 1 from left to right, now it’s changed into: 7-8-9-10-11-12-MCH1-MCH2-6-5-4-3-2-1.

À propos de nVent

nVent est un fournisseur international de solutions innovantes qui raccordent et protègent les équipements électriques. Nos solutions électriques innovantes garantissent l’intégrité des systèmes et contribuent à un monde plus sûr. Nous concevons, fabriquons, commercialisons, installons et assurons la maintenance de produits et de solutions particulièrement performants permettant de connecter et de protéger quelques-uns des équipements, bâtiments et processus les plus critiques au monde. Nous proposons une gamme complète d’armoires et connexions électriques, solutions de fixation, et de gestion thermique à l’ensemble des grandes marques du secteur, reconnues dans l’industrie pour leur qualité, fiabilité et innovation. Notre principal site se situe à Londres, tandis que notre direction est basée à Minneapolis aux États-Unis. Our robust portfolio of leading electrical product brands dates back more than 100 years and includes nVent CADDY, ERICO, HOFFMAN, SCHROFF and TRACER. Pour en savoir plus, visitez www.nvent.com.

nVent, CADDY, ERICO, HOFFMAN, SCHROFF and TRACER are trademarks owned or licensed by nVent Services GmbH or its affiliates.