Contec: BX-M2510 BOX Computer – A High-Power Embedded Fanless PC with New Heat Dissipation Tech
January 31, 2023
Contec Co., Ltd. has recently developed the BX-M2510 BOX Computer, a high-power embedded fanless PC that utilizes newly developed heat dissipation technology for a 40% wider operating temperature range. Ordering for this new product will begin in January 2023.
This new embedded PC supports 9th generation Intel Core desktop processors. The top-of-the-line model (BX-M2510-J8) is equipped with an 8-core, 16-thread Xeon E-2278GEL processor.
The BX-M2510’s newly developed heat dissipation technology extends the operating temperature range from 0 to 50°C to −10 to 60°C—a 20% increase—at the same width and depth as conventional products (BX-M2500). Installing the optional fan unit further increases the operating temperature range to −10 to 70°C for a 40% increase. Note that the optional fan unit is used for forced cooling of the chassis heat sink area and will not result in dust being sucked into the chassis itself.
The increased usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and image processing has led to higher demand for high-load processing on the edge devices, resulting in the need for higher-specification PCs for embedded use. Such high-specification PCs, however, can generate a lot of heat, and incorporating these devices into equipment can result in higher costs for special heat-related countermeasures to prevent malfunctions caused by the increased heat. Contec’s new product makes it possible to incorporate the PC functions required for advanced edge processing into equipment without the need for such special measures.
BX-M2510 BOX Computer Features
- Supports a wide range of temperatures with operations guaranteed from −10 to 60°C: Stable operations are possible over a temperature range of −10 to 60°C (with an airflow of 0.7 m/s). When using the optional fan (sold separately), stable operation is possible between −10 and 70°C.
- Uses 9th generation Xeon, Core i5, Core i3, and Celeron processors: The BX-M2510 is equipped with power-saving and high-performance CPUs, providing advanced computing and graphical performance even with minimal power requirements. Reliable supply is ensured by the adoption of embedded CPUs.
- Fanless design that reduces maintenance and inspection operations: By adopting a spindleless design with no CPU fan, the product prevents dust and foreign materials from entering the system and reduces the use of components that deteriorate with age as much as possible, greatly reducing maintenance and inspection burdens.
- Power Failure Protection system for reliable operation with no OS shutdown required: The Power Failure Protection system protects data and prohibits writing to storage in the event of a power failure. When used together with the Windows IoT Enterprise lockdown (disk write suppression) feature, power can be safely turned off even without performing a shutdown process. This also helps prevent corruption of the file system and data due to sudden power loss.
- Rich variety of interfaces for freely expandable peripherals: This product is equipped with expansion interfaces such as DVI-I (× 1), DisplayPort (× 1), 1000BASE-T (× 2), USB 3.2 Gen 2 (× 4), USB 2.0 (× 2), serial (RS-232C × 4), and 6 DIO (× 1). This product is also equipped with two slot-in type 2.5-inch SATA disk slots, which makes it possible to separate the OS and data for increased convenience. One of the cards can be used for system start-up, while the other can be used for maintenance or removed to transfer system log files or the collected data elsewhere.