GB2277767A

GB2277767A - Telecommunications base stations

Info

Publication number: GB2277767A
Application number: GB9309314A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Martin W Greenwood
Original assignee: Nokia Telecommunications Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Oyj
Priority date: 1993-05-06
Filing date: 1993-05-06
Publication date: 1994-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 2013-05-06
Also published as: GB2277767B; GB9309314D0

Abstract

A telecommunications base station comprises a box-like body 1 having a door 2 pivotally mounted on the body by hinges 3. The door 1 has louvred panels 5, 6, two fans 7 and a heat exchanger 8 (optionally a heater or refrigeration unit) so that the door 2 incorporates the apparatus for controlling environmental conditions within the base station. This enables base stations to be made with standard bodies, any individual base station being equipped to cope with particular ambient conditions (eg extreme heat or extreme cold) by fitting an appropriate door to the body. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: Telecommunications Base Stations This invention relates to telecommunications base stations and to doors for such stations.

In recent years, cellular radio has undergone a very great market expansion. Base stations (the fixed radio nodes of the cellular system) are being installed in almost every part of the globe, in climates ranging from tropical to arctic.

The problem facing manufacturers is how to make a single type of base station which is suitable for both tropical conditions and arctic conditions, without the expense of military-style construction. In the tropics, or desert conditions, temperatures can easily reach 50 Celsius, with high additional levels of solar heating, and in the arctic temperatures below minus Celsius occur quite regularly.

Unfortunately, the hardware necessary to control the temperature of a radio base station is quite bulky and expensive; it would be wasteful to build a single type of base station with the capability of withstanding the full temperature range.

A second and related problem; is associated with the reduction in size and cost of the base station. Early base stations were typically 2m tall, with a volume of 2 cubic metres and weighing a tonne or more. They were built to customer specification and were quite expensive.

The cost of incorporating a particular environmental control system, to meet the customer's needs, was relatively small. However, now, it is possible to build base stations with a volume typically 0.5 cubic metres and as small as 50 litres in some cases and the cost has also been reduced considerably. The reductions in size and cost of the base station have been achieved through improvements in electronics technology and component integration. The components used for environmental control however, such as fans, heat exchangers and refrigeration plant, all belong to a mature technology whose size and cost have changed little. The environmental control equipment has therefore become more expensive and more bulky relative to the base station.

The present invention enables a manufacturer to build a single type of base station which is suitable for all climates, whilst at the same time avoiding the need to build in all possible environmental control hardware.

Furthermore, the invention makes efficient use of space within the base station, reduces the external space required for base station installation, and makes maintenance easier.

According to one aspect the present invention provides a door for a telecommunications base station, the door having apertures therethrough and carrying an electrically driven fan for passing air through the apertures, means for hanging the door on a body of the base station and means for connecting the fan to an electricity supply, whereby the door when fitted to the body incorporates the apparatus for controlling the environmental conditions within the base station.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a base station comprising a box-like body supporting a door pivotally mounted on the body by hinges, the door having apertures therein and carrying an electrically driven fan for passing air through the apertures, and disconnectable means for connecting the fan to an electricity supply, whereby the door incorporates the apparatus for controlling the environmental conditions within the base station.

Hence, instead of fitting the environmental control apparatus into the base station, it is built into the door. For a given basic product, the base stations for all climates may be made alike. Since the environmental control is built into the door, it is possible to configure the base station for a particular climate simply by fitting the appropriate type of door. This is a simple matter because the door need only be lifted onto its hinges and the electrical connection be made with a simple plug and socket.

Environmental control doors may be made in different versions. The simplest is for indoor installations, which has only fans to circulate outside air through the cabinet defining the base station. The door preferably includes seals to prevent electromagnetic radiation escaping and security locks to prevent unauthorised access.

With a heat exchanger, the door is suitable for outdoor environments because it is sealed against ingress of moisture but still cools the cabinet by circulating both outside air and inside air through a common heat exchanger.

A further preferred version has an integral refrigeration plant as well as the heat exchanger. Such a unit is suitable for tropical environments. Similarly, the addition of a heater unit makes the door suitable for environmental control in arctic conditions.

In principle, any form of environmental control or monitoring can be built into the door. Indeed, it would be perfectly possible to build in the control systems, as well, so that the door becomes a self-contained environmental control system.

It is possible to build other systems into the door, which may only be indirectly related to environmental control or completely unrelated. For example, one might choose to integrate into the door components which dissipate a lot of heat so that those components would be directly cooled.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a base station forming the preferred embodiment, and Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 but illustrating air flow.

The base station shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a boxlike body 1 having a front opening closable by a door 2 pivoted to the body 1 about a vertical axis by means of three spaced hinges 3. A security lock 4 secures the door 2 in the closed position illustrated.

The temperature of the air within the base station is controlled by apparatus incorporated in or on the door 2, the body 1 being devoid of any environmental control apparatus. In particular, the door 2 has two louvred panels 5, 6 and two fans 7 both fitted to the inside surface of the door, one of the fans being fitted directly behind the louvred panel 6. A honeycomb heat exchanger 8 is also attached to the internal surface of the door 2.

The door/body interface is equipped with an environmental seal and an electromagnetic radiation seal. Wiring to the fans is connected across the door/body joint by a disconnectable plug and socket, so that the door can be prefabricated as a separate unit and removed from the body for replacement or repair.

In use, the fans 7 draw external air into the interior of the base station through the louvred panel 5. The external air passes across the heat exchanger, and internal air from wihtin the base station is also drawn across the heat exchanger, the air leaving the base station through the panel 6. Figure 2 shows the air flow path diagrammatically, illustrating how the air drawn from outside and the air from within the base station are brought into heat exchanging relationship across the heat exchanger. Hence, the internal temperature within the base station is controlled by the apparatus included in or on the door.

The invention reduces the number of variants of a given base station cabinet. There is no need to design, build and stock different variants of the cabinet for different environmental requirements.

By fitting the door at the time of installation, it is possible for a customer to install indoor and outdoor variants (for instance) without expanding his inventory of base stations, which demand a lot of storage space and are awkward to transport. Instead, by carrying both kinds of door in his installation vans, he can minimise the cost of the installed equipment by fitting whichever type of door is appropriate for the local installation.

Conventional base station designs have the cooling inlets and outlets at the back of the unit. This is to make room for the door at the front. That means that on installation, there has to be both front and rear access to the equipment, in case the fans get blocked with debris and to make room for the air circulation. With the fans integral with the door, the equipment can go right up against a wall, so reducing the amount of floor space that is required.

In the event of a failure in a fan or refrigeration pump, it is possible to remove the door completely and replace it with a new one. This reduces the time and cost of maintenance because in a conventional design, the cabinet would have to be partly disassembled to remove these components.

In a conventional design of base station, it is necessary to make space available for the environmental control components, whether they are going to be fitted to a particular unit or not. In the present invention, the door is simply made thicker, so that a base station not fitted with such apparatus can take advantage of a reduction in physical volume.

Claims

1. A door for a telecommunications base station, the door having apertures therethrough and carrying an electrically driven fan for passing air through the apertures, means for hanging the door on a body of the base station and means for connecting the fan to an electricity supply, whereby the door when fitted to the body incorporates the apparatus for controlling the environmental conditions within the base station.

2. A door according to claim 1, wherein the door incorporates a heat exchanger, the fan being apertured to draw external air and internal air into heat exchanging relationship in the heat exchanger.

3. A door according to claim 1 or 2, when the fan is one of two such fans.

4. A door according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apertures are constituted by a plurality of louvres.

5. A door according to any of the preceding claims and including a heater or a refrigerating unit, for heating or cooling the interior of the base station, respectively.

6. A base station comprising a box-like body supporting a door pivotally mounted on the body by hinges, the door having apertures therein and carrying an electrically driven fan for passing air through the apertures, and disconnectable means for connecting the fan to an electricity supply, whereby the door incorporates the apparatus for controlling the environmental conditions within the base station.

7. A base station according to claim 6, wherein the door supports a heat exchanger, the fan being operative to draw external air and internal air into heat exchanging relationship in the heat exchanger.

8. A base station according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the means for connecting the fan to an electricity supply comprise a plug and socket, so that the door can be readily removed from the container and replaced by a replacement door.

9. A base station according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein electromagnetic radiation is prevented from entering or leaving the base station by a seal extending around the door opening.