Heat Resistant Computer - Industrial PC

What is a heat resistant computer?  

A heat resistant computer is a computer that can operate complex tasks while withstanding a wide range of temperatures. Moreover, a heat resistant computer needs to have the ability to operate under various challenging conditions and extreme environments that include exposure to dust and water particles, heavy shock, constant vibration, volatile power, and more. One of the characteristics of a great heat resistant computer is its ability to operate in low and high-heat climates ranging from –40℃ to 70℃. Further in this blog, we will discuss how computers overheat and how heat resistant computers can handle such wide temperature ranges.  

 

How does a computer generate heat?  

To learn more about heat resistant computers, we first should be aware of TDP, T-Junction, and Thermal Throttling. These three things are the fundamentals of how hot a computer can get judging from its central processing unit (CPU). TDP stands for thermal design power, representing the highest amount of heat generated by the CPU when running programs without passing its thermal limits. The TDP value is measured in Watts, and it is often used as an indicator to design a computer's cooling solution. On the other hand, Max T-Junction is the highest temperature right before the CPU performance declines. And for Thermal Throttling, it's when the CPU overheats and causes deterioration in computing performance. Understanding these three things will help you to understand how computers generate heat.  

Computers get hot because of the heat waste generated from the electrical flow that powers the chips and processors on the motherboard. Moreover, among all of the heat generating components in a computer, the CPU is the processor that generates heat the most. The higher the CPU's TDP, the more power it will draw and cause the CPU to be hotter. Typically, in the semiconductor industry, CPUs' TDP can range from 10W to 130W, or even higher. However, in order to get the most rugged heat resistant computers, it needs to support a fanless design for an industrial-grade system. To avoid overheating, fanless design computers need a CPU that ranges from around 10W to 65W of TDP.  

Learn More About How To Build A Fanless Computer

 

How much heat does a computer generate? 

The amount of heat a computer generates depends on the processing power of its CPU and what type of task it's running. For example, a regular desktop computer can reach up to 130 watts when running highly demanding programs. Whereases a workstation can reach even higher up 200 wats of TPD when running complex tasks. However, industrial heat resistant computers generate only around 65W of TDP to maintain reliable performance.  

 

What causes a PC to overheat? 

Two main causes that make a PC overheat: wrong thermal design and blocked cooling fans. First, when the computer thermal design and cooling solution cannot meet the CPU's TDP value, the computer will quickly overheat even when running a moderate task. Second, a PC can suddenly overheat due to the cooling fans being blocked by dust, dirt, hair, or grime, which hinders the cooling system. This is why industrial-grade heat resistant computers utilize a fanless design instead of active cooling. A fanless design also offers various benefits such as compact design, shock and vibration resistance, dust and water resistance, energy-efficiency, and much more.  

 

Learn more about the benefits of Fanless Technology  

 

What can cause a CPU to overheat?  

When your computer is overheating it is mainly because its CPU is overheating. An overheating CPU can be caused by several things, including clogged dust, cooling failures, wrong installation, and over throttling. That said, when your CPU heat is hovering around 60℃ to 80℃, it's generally safe. However, when it starts to reach 90℃, you can get your CPU damaged over time. Therefore, heat resistant computers ensure that their thermal design can avoid overheating the CPU when deployed in scorching hot environments.  

Learn More About CPU Power Consumption And Its Cooling Solution

 

How Does a heat resistant computer work?  

An industrial-grade heat resistant computer utilizes a fanless design for its cooling solution. A fanless design implements ultra-conductive heatsinks on the hottest part of the computer like the CPU and the PCH (platform controller hub). These ultra-conductive heatsinks are made out of aluminum and copper heat pipes for the most efficient heat dissipation. Then these heatsinks conduct the heat onto the external chassis that is built from extruded aluminum with heavy-duty metal. Moreover, C&T's heat resistant computers' chassis has built-in copper heat pipes for better heat dissipation. Thus, industrial-grade resistant computers can be deployed in the most challenging environments without the need to worry about their reliability, durability, and longevity.  

Reliability Test of Industrial Grade Heat Resistant Computers  

To ensure the reliability of the heat resistant computers, C&T has built an in-house testing lab for comprehensive testing and validation processes. An In-house testing lab helps control the validation process, which guarantees the computers meet the industrial-grade standards.  

C&T's labs are built with specialized testing equipment to simulate real-life situations and test the computers to their limit. Covering all of the extreme environmental elements that might occur amid industrial deployments, C&T is testing its computers with temperature & humidity chambers, thermal shock chambers, multi-axis shock and vibration tables; IR thermal sensors; EMI signal integrity; and pre-certification procedures for regulatory compliance agencies.  

Learn More About Heat Resistant Computers Test & Validation Process

 

The applications that benefit from heat resistant computers  

Heat resistant computers are built industrial grade, making them great for a myriad of outdoor and industrial applications that involve extremely hot and cold environments. Remote outdoor deployments need heat resistant computer because the hot environments can easily reach 40℃ to 70℃. Some of the applications that benefit from heat resistant computers are:  

• Industrial Automation 
• Remote Oil and Gas Monitoring Assets 
• Smart City 
• Outdoor Kiosks 
• Vehicle Telematics 
• Smart Agriculture 

  

FAQs:  

How can I cool down my computer? 

Some of the things that can mainly contribute to cooling down your computer are improving the cooling system or reducing the computing tasks. Sometimes, your computer's cooling system is not powerful enough to cool down your CPU. Therefore, a quick way to cool down your computer is by cleaning your cooling fans and venting holes that get clogged with dust and dirt. However, applying fanless computers might save you the hassle of constantly doing this. Another way to cool down your computer is to close some heavy applications that are currently draining your CPU's computing power.  

Is 80 degrees Celsius hot for a CPU? 

70 to 80 degrees Celsius is still considered safe for computers that are running quite heavy programs. However, when it starts to reach 90 degrees Celsius, you want to take measures to cool your CPU so it doesn't get damaged permanently.  

How do I stop my computer from overheating? 

Some simple ways to stop your computer from overheating are to increase the cooling power, avoid hot environments, avoid loading multiple heavy programs at the same time or use CPUs with lower TDP. These simple steps can quickly alleviate your computer from constantly overheating.  

How hot does a CPU get without a heatsink? 

A CPU without a heatsink can get very hot really fast. When you take out a heatsink from the running CPU and drop a droplet of water on top, you can see the water bubble will start to boil soon after. This shows that a running CPU without a heatsink can easily reach up to 100℃ when no cooling is applied.  

What temperature can a computer withstand? 

Regular desktop computers can only operate normally in a climate around 40 ℃ . Anything more than that can cause the internal components to overheat and eventually cause damage. On the other hand, heat resistant computers are purposely built to withstand harsh industrial environments, including extreme temperature ranges. As a result, heat resistant computers can operate in a climate ranging from –40 ℃ up to 70 ℃ .  

Learn More About Wide Temperature Embedded System

 

Where to get heat resistant computers?  

C&T offers various types of industrial-grade heat resistant computers that can be tailored specifically for your industrial applications. At C&T, our engineers have designed and manufactured robust heat resistant computers for our worldwide customers. In addition, C&T's heat resistant computers Computers are purpose-built, tested, and validated for the most extreme industrial deployments. As a result, you will get the most reliable industrial-grade computers from one of the leading industrial systems manufacturers. Contact Us to learn more about heat resistant computers and how to get one.