TXMC638 User Manual Issue 1.0.2
Page 58 of 86
Thermal Management
7.13
Forced air cooling is recommended during operation. Without forced
air cooling, damage to the device can occur.
To avoid permanent damage of the User FPGA, the temperature of
the Kintex-7 should be monitored.
All components on the TXMC638 are rated for the industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C. The
module has several hot spots (input operational amplifier, ADC devices, power supplies) but the main hot-
spot is the User FPGA (Kintex-7). The heat sink is directly mounted to the Kintex-7 die. For maximum heat
transfer the heat sink is embodied so large that it covers a lot of the module.
Figure 7-15: TXMC638 with Heatsink
The actual achievable ambient operating temperature range is highly dependent on the FPGA design, the
load of the modules I/O circuitry and the applied cooling method.
A simple system air cooling is not sufficient heavy utilization of FPGA. Since the heat sink of the TXMC638
always mounted between PCB of the Carrier and PCB of the TXMC, targeted ventilation is highly
recommended.
Use the Xilinx XPower Estimator (XPE) or XPower Analyzer to determine whether additional cooling
requirements such as forced air cooling apply. It is also strongly recommend to use the internal temperature
monitoring of the Kintex-7, or via the XADC to monitor the temperature. Corresponding descriptions can be
found in the documentation XILINX.
