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Will this module survive this enclosure?

Pick a module, its power, the enclosure class, the cooling class and the hottest ambient the site sees. The checker holds them against the vendor's own limits — thermal transfer plate or SoC temperature, operating range, maximum module power — and returns FEASIBLE, MARGINAL, NOT FEASIBLE or REQUIRES VALIDATION, with the thermal resistance the limit demands, the cooling classes that would pass, and the power the chosen cooling can hold. It predicts no junction temperature; it tells you whether the design is worth building and qualifying.

01 · Define the thermal design

Module & power
Module
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Power mode
Select a module first
Module power
Enclosure & cooling
Enclosure
Cooling
Site
Max ambient
25 °C indoor
35 °C warm room
45 °C cabinet
55 °C outdoor shade
70 °C engine bay
Custom ambient
Advanced
Altitude
Sea level
1000 m
2000 m
3000 m
Solar rise
None
+10 °C
+20 °C
Select a module to continue

03 · How this works

Four checks, one arithmetic step

Ambient rating holds the site ambient (plus the enclosure class's internal rise) against the module's and the carrier's published operating ranges. Power ceiling holds the module power against the vendor's maximum. Cooling capacity is the only arithmetic: the vendor limit — thermal transfer plate temperature for AGX Orin and Thor, SoC operating temperature for Orin NX / Nano, Raspberry Pi 5 and RK3588 — minus a design margin, less the enclosure air, divided by the power, is the thermal resistance the cooling must deliver; each cooling class has an engineering band for what it delivers, derated by the enclosure's airflow and the site altitude. Fan in sealed flags a fan heatsink inside a sealed box.

Categorical on purpose

The result is FEASIBLE, MARGINAL, NOT FEASIBLE or REQUIRES VALIDATION — never a predicted junction temperature. The limits are class A (vendor documents, quoted); the cooling and enclosure bands are class E engineering figures anchored on the thermal design guides' worked examples, which is why a passing design still goes to the bench with tegrastats at the maximum site ambient.

Full rules, bands, source list and what invalidates a result: methodology. Raw dataset: datasets/thermal-limits.json. Carriers and systems with rated temperature ranges: production carriers. Power presets: Jetson power modes.

04 · FAQ

Does this predict the junction temperature?
No. It is a categorical review: the vendor's limit (thermal transfer plate or SoC temperature) minus a design margin, at your power and enclosure air temperature, sets the thermal resistance the cooling must deliver; the cooling class you chose has an engineering band for what it can deliver. Feasible, marginal or not feasible — then you qualify the enclosure on the bench.
What does MARGINAL mean?
The cooling class passes, but with less than the marginal band (5 °C) between the estimated surface temperature and the target, or at more than 80 % of the resistance the limit allows. It will probably work in a good implementation; a poor thermal interface or a hotter day tips it over.
Where do the limits come from?
NVIDIA's Jetson thermal design guides and module datasheets (TTP maximum, SoC operating and shutdown temperatures, maximum module power, worked-example thermal resistance), the Rockchip RK3588 datasheet, Raspberry Pi and Hailo pages and the Coral Dev Board datasheet — every limit names its document with a quote and a link. Cooling and enclosure classes are engineering bands (class E) anchored on the thermal design guides' worked examples.
Why is a fan heatsink in a sealed box a failure?
A fan only moves the air inside the box; the heat still has to reach the outside through the walls. Sealed and outdoor enclosures need a passive, chassis-coupled heatsink (the enclosure is the heatsink) or a vented design with a chassis fan.