The Importance of Ethernet Temperature and Humidity Monitoring in the Computer Room

The importance of monitoring temperature and humidity in the engine room

First, the impact of high temperature on the operation of the equipment

(1) Relationship between temperature and mean time between failures - 10 °C rule

Due to the increasing density of electronic components used in modern electronic devices, components are thermally coupled through conduction, radiation, and retention. Therefore, thermal stress has become one of the most important factors affecting the aging of electronic components. For some circuits, reliability is almost entirely dependent on the thermal environment. In order to achieve its reliability objective, the temperature of the components must be reduced to the lowest level that can actually be achieved. According to statistics, for every 10°C increase in ambient temperature, the life expectancy of a component is reduced by approximately 30%-50%, and the effect is also generally over 10%. This is known as the “10°C” rule.

(2) Influence of high temperature on components

A, semiconductor devices. Electronic components generate a large amount of heat during operation. If there are no effective measures for timely heat removal, semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits and transistors will crystallize. This crystallization directly affects computer performance, operating characteristics, and reliability. Key factor.

According to the experiment, the room temperature within the specified range is increased by 10%, and its reliability is reduced by about 25%.

When the environment around the device exceeds approximately 60°C, it will cause the computer to malfunction. When the temperature during the semiconductor is too high, the penetration current and the current multiple increase.

B, capacitors. The effect of temperature on the capacitor is mainly to: increase the evaporation of the water in the electrolyte of the electrolytic capacitor, reduce its capacity, shorten its service life, change the dielectric loss of the capacitor, and affect the change of parameters such as the power factor. It is known from experiments that when the temperature exceeds the specified temperature, the use time is decreased by 50% for every 10°C increase in temperature.

C, recording media. Experiments show that when the temperature of magnetic tapes, disks, and optical discs continues to rise above 37.8°C, damage begins to occur; when the temperature continues to exceed 65.6°C, it is completely damaged. For a magnetic medium, as the temperature increases, the magnetic permeability increases; when the temperature reaches a certain value, the magnetic medium loses magnetic properties, and the magnetic permeability sharply decreases. The temperature at which the magnetic material loses its magnetic properties is called the Curie temperature.

D, insulation material. Due to the influence of high temperature, the printed circuit board made of glass fiber plastic sheet will be deformed or even softened, and the structural strength will be weakened. The copper foil on the printed board will also reduce or even peel off the bonding strength due to the influence of high temperature. It will also speed up the corrosion of printed plugs and socket metal spring cards, increasing the contact resistance of the contacts.

E. Relationship between ambient temperature and life of the battery. The battery is the device (device) that is most sensitive to the ambient temperature. The temperature is based on the operating temperature of 25° C., and the service life is reduced by 50% for every 10° C. increase.

Second, the impact of low temperature on the operation of IT equipment

Low temperatures also cause IT equipment to run, insulation materials, batteries and other issues. When the temperature of the equipment room is too low, some IT equipments will not operate normally.

(1) The equipment room temperature is too low and the equipment cannot operate

When the ambient temperature of the equipment room is lower than 5°C, the communication equipment will not be able to operate normally; when the room temperature is lower than -40°C, the lead-acid battery cannot provide energy.

(2) Insulation material

At low temperatures, the insulating material will harden and become brittle, weakening the structural strength. For bearings and mechanical transmission parts, due to the condensation of their own lubricating oil, viscosity increases and viscous phenomenon occurs. When the temperature is too low, flux with high tin content will be decomposed, thereby reducing the strength of the electrical connection, and even failures such as desoldering and short circuit.

(3) Relationship between battery ambient temperature and discharge capacity

Also, when the operating temperature is below 25°C, the battery discharge capacity decreases as the temperature decreases.

Third, the impact of humidity on the operation of IT equipment

In general, the working environment of IT equipment requires a humidity of 40%-55%. More than 65% humidity is too high humidity; more than 80% is wet; less than 40% The term humidity is too low (air-drying).

(1) Impact of high humidity on the operation of IT equipment

When the relative humidity of the air is more than 65%, a film of water with a thickness of 0.001-0.01 μm is attached to the surface of the object; when the humidity is 100%, the thickness of the water film is 10 μm. Such a water film can easily cause a "conductive path" or arcing, which can seriously degrade circuit reliability.

When the relative humidity remains the same, the higher the temperature, the greater the impact on the equipment. This is because the pressure of water vapor increases with the temperature, and the water molecules easily enter the interior of the material.

When the relative humidity is increased from 25% to 85%, the thickness of the paper will increase by 80%, which is why the printer cannot work properly in wet weather.

(2) Impact of low humidity on the operation of IT equipment

Electrostatic discharge is a "hard virus" that was once prevalent in the electronics industry. It occurs at specific times when internal and external conditions are met, and has become an invisible killer of the electronics industry.

According to reports, only the U.S. electronics industry has lost hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars every year due to electrostatic discharge. According to data published by Intel Corporation, Electrical Overstreet (EOS)/ESD is the biggest hidden danger among the many factors that cause computer failures. Nearly half of all computer failures are caused by EOS/EDS, and ESD is related to computers. Destructive effects are hidden, latent, random, and complex.

IT equipment consists of a large number of chips and components. These components are sensitive to static electricity. Different electrostatic sensitive devices have different threshold voltages due to electrostatic damage. When the air humidity is too low, the worker's activity is very easy to generate electrostatic voltage.

Experiments show that when the relative humidity of the computer room is 30%, the static voltage is 5000v; when the relative humidity of the computer room is 20%, the static voltage is 10000v; when the relative humidity of the computer room is 5%, the static voltage may be as high as more than 20000v. This is enough to show the importance of humidity to the IT equipment in operation.