Quad NXP i.MX6 ARM CPU Core Power Dissipation

[kunalbarot]

I need Power Dissipation information of this Quad Processor  we are running this at full capacity. WE are selecting a other Heat sink , for that we need power dissipation So if anyone can tell  the power dissipation in Quad Core so we can select other heat sink.

[lokesh]

Hi Kunal,

The two documents that Igor pointed will help. But each board is different - what you need to do is measure the power consumption of your own board in worst case scenario. 

There are two main power rails going into the processor one is core voltage ( typically at 1.34V) and other is DDR voltage ( typically at 1.5V). Add like a 0.02 Ohm resistor in series and then run your software. Measure current and note down power consumption.

While you are doing it, measure the CPU temperature ( you can write a shell script to record temperature at like every 3 seconds).

Once you have done this exercise, you will have an idea where you stand. Then add heatsink and repeat the exercise.

[kunalbarot]

Hi Vikas 

Thanks for the Reponse, I have already done this , I measure the Power consumption comes approx 8-10W. (when most of peripheral working).  But What I am looking for is Power dissipation , I believe its different than the power consumption , it is the power which lost in Heat. So i need that figure so I can calculate and select proper Heat Sink.

[lokesh]

All power that is consumed by your board eventually gets converted into heat, of course, minus any light energy that will typically be dissipating through, say, backlight in an LCD. Or I am missing something here.

The 8-10 W is a close to what I measured as well. Did you also measure the die temperature under peak load ? How much it was ?

You can use the following command, for example to see CPU die temperature

cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

From here the problem goes into thermal simulation domain - to get precise answer of  the Heat Sink Size etc. We can get quick answer by using some off the shelf heatsink ( there are many available at digikey to fit in for i.MX6) and see if it makes the i.MX6 die temperature acceptable.

[igorpadykov]

Hi Kunal

please look on AN4509 i.MX6Dual/6Quad Power Consumption Measurement

https://cache.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/app_note/AN4509.pdf 

and AN4579 i.MX 6 Series Thermal Management Guidelines

https://cache.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/app_note/AN4579.pdf 

Best regards
igor
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