Natural Convection through Air Filter Media for Cooling of Remote Radio Heads

Adam Martin, Lucius Akalanne

Wireless R&D, Alcatel Lucent, Swindon, United Kingdom.

DOI: 10.4236/jectc.2014.42006                

Abstract

Passive cooling techniques are cost effective and reliable methods of cooling remote radio heads (RRH). This paper investigates the plausibility of a passive cooling technique involving exchanging warm air, from the internal cavity of RRHs, with fresh ambient air, to reduce the operating temperature using natural convection across air filters. The results indicate that, an internal air filter tube structure, with width of the enclosure, running vertically up the middle of an RRH, along with 4 pleat filter sides (2.0 ± 0.5 cm separation) provides the most effective outdoor suitable setup out of those examined. This provides a reduction in temperature of 3.9°K ± 0.4°K in the PA and 4.0°K ± 0.4°K in the radio, and a reduction in mass of 0.45 ± 0.05 kg, and is capable of withstanding water ingress and corrosive conditions including wind driven rain and salt fog.

Keywords

Natural Convection, Air Filter, Porous Media

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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