What To Do When The Operating Temperature Of The Optical Module Is Too High?

The operating temperature specifications of optical modules are divided into commercial grade (0-70℃), extended grade (-20-85℃), and industrial grade (-40-85℃), but the most commonly used temperature ranges are commercial grade and industrial grade. What are the effects of excessively high operating temperature of optical modules? If the operating temperature of the optical module is too high, the optical power of the optical module will increase, errors will occur in the received signal, and the optical module may even be burned out, causing the optical module to fail to work properly.

Reasons for excessively high operating temperature of optical modules?

The main reasons for excessively high operating temperature of optical modules include:

Excessive ambient temperature: If the ambient temperature of the optical module exceeds its design specification range, such as when the ventilation inside the machine room is poor, the optical module will be affected by the surrounding high temperature and cause the temperature to rise.

Dense layout of equipment: When multiple optical modules are densely installed in a device or rack, the heat accumulation between them will cause local temperature rise, especially in high-density data centers.

Power consumption of optical modules themselves: The heat generated by the optical module when working is proportional to its power consumption. High-speed optical modules usually generate more heat, especially when processing high-bandwidth data streams.

Long-term high-load operation: In network equipment, optical modules may need to process high-load data traffic for a long time, which will cause its internal temperature to gradually increase, especially in environments such as data centers or network operation centers.

Poor heat dissipation or blockage: If the heat dissipation equipment or heat dissipation channels around the optical module are blocked or damaged, such as the fan is not working or the heat sink is dirty, it will affect its heat dissipation effect and cause the temperature to rise.

Design or manufacturing defects: In some cases, there are defects in the design or manufacturing of the optical module itself, resulting in abnormal heat generation under normal working conditions, which needs to be solved by replacing or updating the module.

The combined effect of these factors may cause the optical module to be too hot during operation, which in turn affects its performance and stability. Therefore, reasonable equipment layout, good environmental control, and regular maintenance are important measures to ensure the normal operation of the optical module and extend its life.

How to deal with the optical module when the operating temperature is too high?

When the operating temperature of the optical module is out of range, the indicator light on its corresponding port will turn red, and we should replace the optical module at this time. The polling cycle of the optical module is 5 minutes. Therefore, after replacing the optical module, we need to wait for 5 minutes before observing whether the port indicator light returns to normal. If the red light of the port is off, it means that the optical module has returned to normal.

To avoid the optical module from overheating during use,it is recommended to:

Select the corresponding module according to the use environment. If it is used in a data center or an enterprise computer room, a commercial-grade optical module can be used, because air conditioners are installed inside the data center and computer room to maintain the stability of the indoor temperature. If it is used in an environment with large temperature changes such as outdoors, remote mountainous areas, and tunnels, an industrial-grade optical module is required. The industrial-grade optical module will import temperature compensation software, which is used to ensure that the optical module has a stable working current supply. When the temperature changes, the temperature compensation software will take effect.

Check the heat dissipation system of the equipment. Usually, the heat dissipation duct structure is good, and the machine with active fan air supply will have a module temperature close to the ambient temperature. In addition, you can check whether the module installation density is too high. Consider inserting high-power optical modules at intervals on the switch port to reduce the local overheating. 

It is recommended to use an optical module with DDM function, or select a temperature control system to monitor and compensate the working temperature of the optical module in real time to ensure the stability of the optical module's luminous power and extinction ratio. Generally, commercial-grade optical modules are not used in industrial-grade working environments, and generally the temperature will not be too high. If the temperature is too high, a DDM alarm will appear. If you cannot view DDM, you can use a contact temperature probe to measure the module shell temperature (generally, the module operating temperature range refers to the shell temperature).