The new 5G wire­less stan­dard promises a rosy future – and not only as a key tech­nology for faster machine-to-machine commu­ni­ca­tion in the IoT envi­ron­ment: Tens of thou­sands of people will be able to surf the net on mobile devices at trade shows or in soccer stadiums without any prob­lems – all at the same time and at ten times the speed offered by its prede­cessor, 4G. For this to work, large build­ings such as shop­ping malls and stadiums need what are known as ‘RRUs’, which pick up the signal from the large 5G antennas and transmit it into the building. This is because 5G has one disad­van­tage: it uses a shorter-wave­length frequency for its high data trans­mis­sion rates. This has a shorter range and is often absorbed by the walls of build­ings, resulting in annoying dead spots inside.

The RRUs from South Korean telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions company SK Telesys is bringing 5G to all corners of a building.

If SK Telesys has its way, however, these dead spots will be a thing of the past. With its RRUs, the telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions company from South Korea’s capital Seoul is bringing 5G to even the remotest corners of build­ings – without any loss of speed and for use by many people at the same time. The RRUs can be installed both inside the building and outside, for example on the roof. This is partic­u­larly advan­ta­geous in warmer regions around the world, as the RRUs also generate a lot of heat with all the 5G data traffic, which can be dissi­pated better outside.

“We have increased the speed of our axial compact fans from 8,500 to 9,900 rpm espe­cially for this appli­ca­tion.”Bern­hard Thürmer, Area Sales Manager at ebm-papst

Full coverage thanks to cool solu­tion

To ensure that SK Telesys’ RRUs do not over­heat and do not cause power fail­ures in the build­ings, the company relies on a custom-fit, high-perfor­mance cooling solu­tion from ebm-papst. A total of three axial compact fans are used for this. Bern­hard Thürmer, Area Sales Manager at ebm-papst, explains: “SK Telesys’ remote radio units require a lot of cooling capacity. This is why we have increased the speed of our axial compact fans from 8,500 to 9,900 rpm espe­cially for this appli­ca­tion.” In addi­tion, the fans have very low elec­tro­mag­netic radi­a­tion so as not to inter­fere with the 5G signal. “Our devel­op­ment engi­neers designed a new circuit board with shielding compo­nents in X months”, adds Thürmer.

With a full encap­su­la­tion of fan PCB, stator and winding the axial fans also run reli­ably outdoors and in all weathers.

Flex­ible network in any envi­ron­ment

SK Telesys has also equipped its RRUs with weath­er­proof compo­nents for outdoor use. Accord­ingly, the axial compact fans are also protected from dust, splash water and salt spray thanks to a fully cast circuit board and stator, and are fully func­tional at temper­a­tures from -40 to +60 degrees Celsius. So even in trop­ical areas or right by the sea, the RRUs provide a reli­able 5G connec­tion inside build­ings – for the best network, anywhere in the world.