(1). New PS3 Teardown Power Supply Module Comes With Twist
The teardown of the PS3 has just begun. We moved on to break down the power supply module taken out of the chassis.
The power supply module has an elongated shape in accordance with the change in the internal structure. The shape of the power supply module in the former PS3 models is almost a square when viewed from above.
We started to disassemble the module but found it difficult to open its chassis. Though there were no parts bonded with adhesive, the upper and lower chassis were tightly attached to each other.
So, we inserted the tip of a flat-blade screwdriver into a small gap between the chassis and pried open the module. Then, we found a power supply board printed with the mark of Delta Electronics Inc of Taiwan.
"Whoa, this is interesting," said a power supply engineer who was looking at the power supply board. "I mean, the shape of this radiation fin."
The upper part of the module is slanted, and the upper part of the fin is slanted in the same manner. This shape corresponds to the outer design of the new PS3.
According to its specifications, the power consumption of the new PS3 is about 250W. "It is not impossible to deal with 250W with a power supply module of this size if we try," the power supply engineer said.
We began to tear down the Blu-ray Disc device and the main board.
Source: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090910/175112/
(2). New PS3 Teardown High-performance, Low-cost Cooling System
Nikkei Electronics Teardown Squad removed the cooling system, Blu-ray Disc device and power supply module placed on the main board. Before examining the main board, however, we will sum up comments from the engineers on the cooling system of the new PS3 (model number: CECH-2000A).
A thermal design engineer said that the cooling system is highly functional and low in cost. Also, other engineers described it as "smaller" and "simpler."
It seemed that Sony redesigned the cooling system of the PS3 to eliminate the process of adjusting each cooling module and reduce the number of assembling processes. In contrast to the first-generation PS3, which was developed with a focus on high performance, the latest PS3 has many parts that show the efforts of designing the cooling system almost from scratch without losing the cooling capability for a high-performance game console, the engineers said.
When the chassis is opened, the cooling system composed of a fan, heatsink and duct commands attention. The duct is directly connected to the power supply module probably because Sony wanted to save space and enhance the cooling efficiency by cooling the power supply module with the duct.
In addition, the cooling system is attached to the main board together with a metal chassis that covers the board.
"As a whole, it has a simple structure and can be easily assembled, I think," a thermal design engineer said.
The cooling system uses a centrifugal fan, which is said to have a relatively high static pressure, like the cooling system of the former PS3 models. The fan is printed with the names, "Delta Electronics, Inc" and "KFB1012HE DC12V 1.3A."
Delta Electronics of Taiwan sells 100mm fans as the "KFB1012" series but has not announced the "KFB1012HE" series. So, the centrifugal fan is probably a custom-made product. Compared with the KFB1012 series, its blades seem to have a more linear shape.
The basic structure of the new heatsink is the same as that of the former models. It has horizontally-arranged radiation fins, which seem to be penetrated by some metal bars.
The heatsink cools mainly the image processor "RSX" and the Cell processor. Heat pipes are also used for the Cell, but the number of them clearly decreased from that in the first-generation PS3.
Source: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090909/175049