AGX Orin Industrial: Retain TTP or remove it for a conduction-cooled inverted enclosure? Also does the Industrial module include a heat pipe?

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson Systems Jetson AGX Orin
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Hi Team,

We are planning to integrate the Jetson AGX Orin Industrial module (900-13701-0080-000) into a custom conduction-cooled enclosure and would appreciate NVIDIA’s guidance on our thermal interface approach.

Our setup:

We are running the module in a fully passive, conduction-cooled configuration - no fan, no air movement (the end environment has no convection available). Heat rejection is entirely through solid conduction to an external cold surface.

The mechanical arrangement is as follows:

  • The SoM is mounted inverted inside the enclosure, so that the module’s heat-generating side faces downward toward the bottom of the enclosure.
  • The bottom of the enclosure makes contact with an external deck/cold plate, which is our primary heat sink. Essentially all dissipated heat must travel from the module, into the enclosure structure, and out through the enclosure-to-deck interface.
  • The enclosure and deck are both aluminium 6061.
  • We are targeting operation up to the module’s 75 W power level.

Our questions:

1. TTP: retain or remove? We are weighing two options:

  • Option A: Retain the factory TTP (as the TDG recommends): keep the module sealed, mate our enclosure to the top surface of the TTP with a customer-applied TIM (HS_TIM) over the 75 × 73 mm contact area, and conduct heat through the enclosure to the deck.
  • Option B: Remove the TTP: machine a pedestal into our enclosure that contacts the heat-generating components directly (with a TIM), eliminating the TTP’s internal resistance. We understand the TDG states the TTP is not designed to be removed and that doing so is at our own risk.

For a conduction-cooled design like ours, what is NVIDIA’s recommendation? retain the TTP, or is direct component contact advisable?

2. What does the TTP assembly actually consist of? Could you clarify the internal construction of the Thermal Transfer Plate? Specifically, does it include individual contact pads/covers that sit over each heat-generating component, any heat pipes, and an outer casing or is it a single solid conduction structure? A breakdown of what the TTP assembly comprises would help us model it accurately.

3. Heat pipe on the Industrial module? The CAD assembly we’ve seen use a heat pipe to move heat from the SoC to the outer casing. Does the Industrial production module (900-13701-0080-000) ship with any heat pipe as part of its TTP/thermal assembly ?

4. If there is a heat pipe will it work inverted and in a convection-free environment? Heat pipes rely on capillary/wick return of the working fluid and are often gravity-orientation sensitive. In our design the module is mounted inverted, and there is no convection. If the Industrial module contains a heat pipe, will it still function as intended (a) mounted upside-down and (b) with no airflow or does that defeat the heat-pipe path and force us to rely purely on solid conduction?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

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As you noted from the Thermal Design Guide, the TTP is not designed to be removed. NVIDIA cannot give any recommendations aside from what is already in the Thermal Design Guide. Removing the TTP is at your discretion, but note that NVIDIA cannot support more-detailed information than is already provided in the Thermal Design Guide. For example, thermal information about the SoC or the DRAMs on the module would not be available.

The industrial version of the module uses the same TTP assembly as the commercial versions covered by the Jetson AGX Orin Series Module 3D CAD STEP model (P3701). The heat pipe, pedestals, and other features are visible in the model.

NVIDIA does not have any mounting orientation requirements.

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Thank you for your response.
Since you confirmed the TTP assembly contains a heat pipe, our question is whether that heat pipe functions as intended under zero gravity and vacuum.
Essentially are the published θjp values in the TDG, orientation and gravity independent ?

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NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Modules are for commercial and industrial environments.

NVIDIA does not officially support Jetson products for space or zero gravity applications.