Out of curiosity, I decided this weekend to spend some time to measure the heat distribution on the Minized FPGA board and compare it to another fpga board. For this measurement I used the FLIR ThermoVision A20M 60Hz 160 x 120 Infrared Thermal Imaging Camera IR Imager. It was a fun experiment to do. Datasheet of the ThermoVision A20M
Introduction to ThermoVision A20M
The ThermoVision A20M is an accurate, intelligent infrared imaging and temperature measurement camera for industrial process monitoring, product verification, and security applications. It is used in the industry for precise temperature measurement and can output the video in real time using the FireWire or Ethernet connection.
The Specs of the FLIR ThermoVision A20M IR Imager Camera
The Test Setup
Here I measure the thermal profile of the MiniZED and the ARTY Z7 FPGA boards after the boards are programmed and turned ON. The test setup was done according to the manual of the FLIR ThermoVision A20M IR Imager.
An example test setup
Front side of the fpga boards
Back side of the boards
The GUI
The Results of the Thermal Imaging Test
The thermal measurement results are as below.
Fig: The color scale for all the below measurements
The Thermal Imaging of the Arty Z7 FPGA board
Front Side of Arty Z7 FPGA board
The Back side Arty Z7 FPGA board
The live measurement
The Thermal Imaging of the MiniZED FPGA board
Front Side of MiniZED FPGA board
Front Side of MiniZED FPGA board
A quick comparison between the MiniZED and the ARTY Z7 fpga boards in terms of where the maximum of the heat is localized.
Comparing the Front side of the fpga boards
Comparing the back side of the fpga boards
Conclusion
As seen from the pictures above; the bottom and the topside the Minized fpga board have a more uniform power consumption around the fpga area. It can be due to presence of more active power
components on the Minized board as compared to the Arty Z7. In the Arty Z7 board; most of the heat is concentrated on the fpga chip itself.
Such measurements can be helpful when designing the overall casing for these fpga boards. As one can clearly see which ares of the board need better thermal heatsink and to think about the proper heat dissipation of the housing/casing.
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