Modelled thermal performance and sustained processor power of the fanless Thinvent PPC15 15-inch industrial panel PC

Will the fanless PPC15 run on your shop floor?

  • All-day running with no fan: The PPC15 takes 15 W processors only. In our thermal model (screen upright in still air), it sustains the processor's 15 W base power (the power it is designed to run at continuously) all day without slowing down across simulated shop-floor temperatures up to 50 °C, with headroom to spare (sustaining a modelled 47 W at 25 °C, 41 W at 35 °C, 34 W at 45 °C and 31 W at 50 °C).
  • How warm the screen and back get: At 15 W base power, the modelled front screen and bezel reach about 33 °C on a 25 °C shop floor, 42 °C on a 35 °C shop floor and 52 °C on a 45 °C shop floor. The modelled hottest point on the finned rear heatsink reaches about 46 °C, 56 °C and 65 °C on the same shop floors (average rear surface 36 °C, 45 °C and 55 °C), while the processor runs at a modelled 52 °C, 62 °C and 72 °C (well below its 100 °C limit).
  • Short turbo bursts: The processor can boost up to its 55 to 57 W maximum turbo power for short bursts (peaking around a modelled 66 °C on a 35 °C shop floor before settling back to 63 °C at 15 W). If a heavy load asks for 55 W continuously, the processor reaches 100 °C and lowers its own power (throttling) to the sustained watts above to stay at 100 °C.
  • Panel cut-outs and closed cabinets: When mounted in a panel cut-out or enclosure wall, the finned back sits inside the cabinet while the screen faces the shop floor. The air temperature inside that cabinet is the temperature that matters for the back: leave clear space for air to rise past the rear fins, and ventilate the cabinet so trapped heat does not push the air behind the unit above your target temperature.

Sustained processor power across shop-floor temperatures

Sustained processor power across shop-floor temperatures
Modelled with the screen upright in still air, the PPC15 sustains 53 W on a 15 °C shop floor down to 31 W on a 50 °C shop floor before the processor reaches its 100 °C limit, well above the 15 W base rating (and 12 W minimum assured rating) of the shipped Intel Core i3-1215U and Core Ultra 5 125U and other listed 15 W options (Core i3-1315U, i5-1335U, i7-1255U, Core 5 120U, Intel N5095A and AMD Ryzen 5 7430U/7530U), while the 55 to 57 W maximum turbo rating is for short bursts only.

Rear heatsink and front screen temperatures by processor power and shop-floor temperature

Rear heatsink and front screen temperatures by processor power and shop-floor temperature
Modelled steady temperatures on the hottest point of the rear heatsink and across the front screen and bezel across 25 to 45 °C shop floors (including 7 W estimated from the display and 5 W from the rest of the board); on the top row, where 55 W exceeds what the housing sustains at a 100 °C processor limit, the processor lowers its own power to the modelled 47 to 34 W shown.

Rear heatsink, front screen and processor temperatures against processor power

Rear heatsink, front screen and processor temperatures against processor power
Modelled temperatures in still air for 45, 35 and 25 °C shop floors (lines from top to bottom) rise linearly with processor power up to the dots marking the highest power sustained without throttling (34, 41 and 47 W), where the processor reaches its 100 °C limit and lowers its own power to stay at 100 °C.

Ninety-minute response from idle to a maximum turbo burst and 15 W base load

Ninety-minute response from idle to a maximum turbo burst and 15 W base load
On a modelled 35 °C shop floor, a short 55 W turbo burst followed by continuous 15 W base power takes the processor to a brief peak around 66 °C before it settles near 63 °C, while the rear heatsink hottest point settles near 56 °C and the front screen and bezel settle near 42 °C over 90 minutes.

Effect of display heat on processor, rear heatsink and front screen temperatures

Effect of display heat on processor, rear heatsink and front screen temperatures
Modelled at 15 W processor base power on a 35 °C shop floor, varying the 15-inch display's own heat from 0 to 10 W raises the front screen and bezel by about 1 °C per 3 W (from 40 to 43 °C), the rear heatsink hottest point from 54 to 57 °C and the processor from 60 to 63 °C, trimming sustained power only slightly from 41.7 W to 40.4 W (the main charts use the 7 W estimate marked by the dotted line).