nazgul@apollo.HP.COM (Kee Hinckley) (08/30/89)
--- Posted for batsford_s@apollo.com (Steven Batsford)
Re: Orientation of Apollo on floor.
From: Steve Batsford, Apollo R&D
I performed the environmental testing on the Apollo DN3000,
DN4000, DN4500, and DN3500 workstations.
All of these workstations are designed to be mounted
horizontally on a desk or table top, or vertically on a floor
stand. When mounted on a floor stand, the tape or floppy is
at the top and the left side vents are three inches the floor.
If a system is mounted vertically with the left side vents
blocked it will overheat. The left side vents are where most of
the air that cools the AT-Bus enters the unit and if these
vents are blocked the AT-Bus area only gets a bare fraction of
the normal airflow.
If a system is mounted vertically with the left side vents up
it will also overheat. This is because in this orientation the
fan is lower than the AT-Bus area. The heat being generated
by the option cards is trying to rise and the fan is trying to
pull that warm air down to get it out of the workstation. This
causes a very sharp decrease in airflow over the option cards
installed in the AT-Bus and the decreased airflow causes
overheating.
Even with only two or three option cards installed in the option
slots a system can overheat if installed incorrectly. You may not
have a hard failure, or any definable problem, but overheating
can cause chips on the option cards to behave strangely causing
hard to diagnose and unnecessary problems.
On page 24 of the manual "Unpacking and Installing Your Domain
Personal Workstations and Servers", (Apollo part no. 007857-A00),
there is a diagram that shows the minimum clearances allowed
from each side of the workstation.
If you MUST install a workstation in the vertical position
make sure that the left side vents are toward the floor, there is
at least three inches between the floor and the vents, and most
important of all make sure that NONE OF THE VENTS ARE BLOCKED.
Steve Batsford
Research and Development
Apollo Computer inc.
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I'm not sure which upsets me more; that people are so unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate everyone else's.