Introduction

Aitech's E108 Convection/Radiation cooled VME computer enclosure is built to be rugged and reliable as well as lightweight and compact. EMI/RFI protected and environmentally sealed, the E108 is capable of withstanding extreme environmental conditions of temperature, humidity, shock, vibration, EMI and chemical exposure. This makes it ideal for use in harsh locomotive environments.

STURDY MECHANICAL DESIGN

The E108 is constructed of durable CNC machined 6061-T6 aluminium. Fasteners are stainless steel and often-used threads have self-locking stainless steel helicoils to withstand severe vibration and shock. All connectors are located on the front panel of the enclosure for easy access. Side and back walls are externally finned for natural convection and radiation cooling without sacrificing ruggedness. Designed with a built-in lifting handle, the E108 is also equipped with hooks and mounting holes to
facilitate installation in standard 1/2-ATR short mounting trays. Optional mounting side flanges are available for hard mounting to a shelf.

BOARD CAPACITY

The E108 accommodates 5 standard VME boards with 0.8-inch pitch, including: 

• IEEE 1101.2 conduction-cooled VME cards
• Commercial VME boards without front panels

VME BACKPLANE

The backplane is VME64x compliant with 160-pin, 5-row J1/J2 connectors and 95-pin PO connectors in all slots. Any of the pins in rows A and C, and user-defined pins in rows Z and D of the J2 connectors, as well as the 95 I/O pins from each of the P0 connectors (up to a maximum of 280), can be routed to front panel I/O connectors. The backplane is designed to mate with the Front Panel I/O Transition Board (see below) using high-density connectors.

FRONT PANEL

The front panel features a flexible configuration of connectors that conform to military standards, one for input power and all others for I/O. It may also be equipped with any of the following options: LED indicator to track system operation, On/Off switch, and external grounding screw.