Chips Lower Noise In Thermal Management Systems

Employing a proprietary automatic fan speed control architecture, the ADT7460 and ADT7463 chips promise lower acoustic noise in thermal management systems found in PCs. The two new members of the dBCOOL family of thermal system controllers can dynamically optimize fan speed for systems in which PCI or AGP add-in cards may be installed or for systems operating in external conditions that restrict inlet cooling airflow. Both devices provide a complete thermal control solution and feature Pentium 4 processor thermal control circuit (TCC) monitoring capabilities. The ADT7463 provides both system and processor voltage monitoring. Other features of the two ICs include a proprietary thermal operating point limit that controls system cooling regardless of system configuration or worst-case operating conditions and multi-zone thermal and multichannel voltage monitoring. Price of the devices in 16-pin and 24-pin QSOPs starts at $2.35 each/10K. ANALOG DEVICES INC., Wilmington, MA. (800) 262-5643.