The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) has approved a thermal interface implementation agreement (IA) for pluggable optics modules. The aim is to help optical module suppliers and system designers reduce heat and thermal management issues.
“When optical modules are mated with heatsinks, the goal is to remove over 90% of the heat through the interface area into the airflow stream via the heatsink,” said Torsten Wuth, of Coriant and the OIF Physical Layer User Group Working Group chair. “Nominal ranges of heat flux are defined as Power Density classes. The OIF agreement defines acceptable thermal impedances for the contact area for various pluggable module types and a method of measuring the impedance.”
The agreement summarizes the information to be provided by module suppliers to facilitate thermal integration of the module within the host system. It also defines the requirements and methods for testing a thermal interface between a pluggable optical module and the host-system heatsink.
