I. Introduction: Temperature is the “number one killer” of industrial-grade products

In scenarios such as industrial control and outdoor IoT, equipment often faces harsh environments such as high temperature, high humidity and dust. Thermal design is the key to ensuring the long-term stable operation of the SoM and avoiding crashes, data loss or device damage caused by overheating.
II. Thermal goals of the ECK20-6Y28C

To ensure that the core board operates stably within the industrial temperature range (-40 ℃ to +85 ℃), the following junction temperature control goals must be met:

i.MX6ULL processor: junction temperature ≤ 105 ℃ (maximum allowed value).
DDR3L memory: junction temperature ≤ 95 ℃, recommended ≤ 85 ℃.
eMMC storage chip: junction temperature ≤ 105 ℃, recommended ≤ 95 ℃.

III. Heat dissipation solutions in detail

Shield cover handling: The core board comes with a shield cover by default, but it affects heat dissipation. The manual recommends that if used in a +85 ℃ environment, the shield cover should be removed and a heat sink should be attached through a thermal pad.
Heat sink selection: It is recommended to use a 40×40×11 mm black aluminum grooved heat sink. The thermal pad thickness is 1 mm and the thermal conductivity is 7.5 W/m·K.
System-level airflow design: It is recommended to design the airflow velocity of the whole machine to ≥ 1.5 m/s and the airflow volume to ≥ 5 CFM. The heat sink installation direction should be parallel to the airflow direction to maximize the heat dissipation efficiency.

IV. Power design and thermal management

Power margin: The normal power consumption of the core board is about 1 W, but it is recommended to design the carrier board supply current at 0.5 A to cope with increased power consumption at high temperature and fully loaded I/O.
DC-DC power selection: Avoid using a DC-DC with too large a power margin, otherwise it will work in discontinuous PWM mode and the output ripple will increase significantly, affecting the stability of digital signals.
LDO power selection: If an LDO is used, its own power consumption and temperature rise should be considered to prevent it from stopping work or burning out due to over-temperature under high temperature or poor heat dissipation.

V. Reliability considerations in hardware design

Reset interval: The product uses a cold reset design, which causes some power rails to be turned off. The manual clearly states that the interval between reset or power on/off operations should be greater than 2-3 seconds, otherwise the I/O interface or chip power-on state may be abnormal.
Power-on sequence: In the carrier board power design, attention must be paid to the power rails, operating levels and power-on sequence of the I/O signals. For example, the 3.3 V I/O signals of the core board cannot be connected to a chip powered by 5 V, because the 5 V power is powered on before 3.3 V, which may cause voltage backflow and damage the device.
ESD protection: All external interfaces (such as USB, Ethernet and RS485) must consider ESD protection design, and select ESD devices that match the rate of the protected signal.

VI. Summary

Good thermal design is the cornerstone of the long-term stable operation of an industrial-grade SoM. The ECK20-6Y28C core board provides detailed heat dissipation guidance, including shield cover handling, heat sink selection and airflow design. At the same time, strict power design, power-on sequence control and ESD protection together form a highly reliable industrial-grade system. Following the manual recommendations is the key to ensuring stable operation of the product in harsh environments.