beaglebone ai operating temperature range

mjchel · December 8, 2021, 2:48pm

Hi,
what is the operating temperature range for the beaglebone AI?
Also are there any recommended conditions for running it over long periods of time and what cooling options are available?

thanks

RobertCNelson · December 8, 2021, 3:49pm

https://www.newark.com/element14/6100310/beaglebone-ai-fan-cape/dp/50AH3704

Regards,

mjchel · December 8, 2021, 6:38pm

Thank you,
my company wants to evaluate the BB AI as replacement for the BBB in a industrial setup where a fanless option would be prefered. Are there other heatsinks available and is it even possible to remove the stock one?
Our main concern with the BB AI is longevity due to its high temperatures this is why we would like to find out what temperatures are acceptable for long term operation and how the heat affects the average lifetime of the device.
We noticed that thermal throttling starts at a temperature of 55°C so we wondered if this is a desired operating temperature

regards

RobertCNelson · December 8, 2021, 8:57pm

i haven’t seen anyone do one yet, but that would be something i’d like to see… PS, i wouldn’t worry about the BBB going eol any time soon.

So these are configurable, the default am57xx levels are:

github.com

beagleboard/BeagleBoard-DeviceTrees/blob/v4.19.x-ti-overlays/src/arm/am57xx-commercial-grade.dtsi

// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
&cpu_alert0 {
	temperature = <80000>; /* milliCelsius */
};

&cpu_crit {
	temperature = <90000>; /* milliCelsius */
};

&gpu_crit {
	temperature = <90000>; /* milliCelsius */
};

&core_crit {
	temperature = <90000>; /* milliCelsius */
};

&dspeve_crit {
	temperature = <90000>; /* milliCelsius */
};

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However for the BBAI we were playing it safe:

github.com

beagleboard/BeagleBoard-DeviceTrees/blob/v4.19.x-ti-overlays/src/arm/am5729-beagleboneai.dts#L1010-L1032


      
          &mailbox12 {
          	status = "okay";
          };
          
          &mailbox13 {
          	status = "okay";
          };
          
          &cpu_alert0 {
          	temperature = <55000>; /* milliCelsius */
          };
          
          &cpu_crit {
          	temperature = <85000>; /* milliCelsius */
          };
          
          &gpu_crit {
          	temperature = <85000>; /* milliCelsius */
          };

This file has been truncated. show original

on the initial bring up, i did have a bbai fail with no heatsink…

Only TI really knows what these parts can handle, we’ve just used what was on the datasheet…

Regards,

mjchel · December 8, 2021, 11:28pm

thanks again, eol is not the concern with the BBB its just that its operating close to its computational limits and we would like to have some ‘room’ for additional tasks.
But at 400MHz this wont be much of an upgrade so we will need some cooling.

RobertCNelson · December 9, 2021, 1:00am

The 400Mhz is just a local fail-safe hack…

I wonder what it would take to get something like this, but cnc’ed for the BBAI…

Regards,