5G Power Supply and Heat Dissipation Challenge

5G has begun to deploy commercially. In the early days of 5G deployment, power consumption was a hard problem that all parties were trying to solve. For example, at the rail transit exhibition last month, the subway industry people introduced that 5G base stations are currently being deployed in the subway line. The power consumption of the 5G pilot equipment single system is 2.5 times to 4 times compared with 4G. Of course, this affects the power equipment and supporting facilities. So they need to add independent power distribution cabinets to ensure a balanced power load.

A few days ago, a carrier’s analysis of 5G power supply showed that on the one hand, 5G BBUs multiply power compared to 4G equipment. On the other hand, BBU centralized cabinets, that is, CRAN cabinets can hold 5 to 10 BBUs. The maximum power exceeds 10kV, and power supply and heat dissipation are great challenges.

Even considering the improvement of technologies such as RF module power amplifiers, the inventory site will evolve to 5G, and the site power will double.

The reconstruction of the communication equipment room infrastructure not only has 5G CRAN, but also transmits OTN. The power of the router equipment doubles. The hybrid deployment of ICT equipment also causes local hotspots and high energy consumption. These are the power supply and cooling challenges of the equipment room. The existing -48V DC power supply system has a small power supply radius and a small capacity. So they cannot meet the deployment of high power density equipment.

Therefore, with the reconstruction of infrastructure in the 5G era, the power supply architecture needs to be changed, and it can be transferred to the mains + standby power supply with 220V mains.

The 5G base station has three power supply options. One is that the CU/DU and the AAU share the base station power system. The second is that the CU/DU uses the base station power system. The AAU uses the 5G intelligent power supply. And the third is the CU/DU and AAU shared outdoor cabinet power system. This requires operators to build new outdoor cabinets with power and air conditioning.