Questions tagged [heatsink]
A heatsink dissipates heat into the surrounding air and thus provides cooling.
460 questions
7 votes
3 answers
910 views
Why are p-type MOSFETs used for high-side switching while n-type are used for low side? TO-220 package seems backwards
Disclaimer: Sorry for my ignorance - I'm a computer scientist but not an electrical engineer. It seems at first glance that this designation should be the other way around. N-type MOSFETs have the ...
2 votes
2 answers
380 views
Solar Charger: How to Reduce Heat Generated Inside a Sealed Enclosure?
I have a small DIY project and there is a solar charger PCB inside a sealed case. The solar charger circuit is a shunt regulator based on TL431. The problem is that the transistor gets hot very ...
- 85
4 votes
3 answers
665 views
High Power Resistor heat dissipation
Trying to wrap my head around some heat transfer of resistors. I have 100 W 300 Ω aluminium cased resistors, see the datasheet for HS100. From what I can tell at 100 W one of these will heat up to 100 ...
- 93
2 votes
0 answers
96 views
In a PCB/component/heat sink/enclosure assembly, should you worry about mechanical stress?
If a PCB is mounted to a device's enclosure using standoffs, and a semiconductor component is soldered onto the PCB, and a heat sink is attached to the component, and finally the heat sink is somehow ...
- 239
1 vote
1 answer
250 views
Estimating MOSFET junction temperature from case temperature?
Is there any way to estimate (or make an informed guess) about a MOSFET's current junction temperature, based on the temperatures that I've grabbed at the MOSFET's plastic package (top of MOSFET shell)...
- 553
1 vote
0 answers
135 views
Effective MOSFET heatsink to dissipate 1.8 watts in small case with air-holes but no fan?
I'm moving up to 15 amperes through the following P-MOSFET: http://www.apm-mos.com/uploadfiles/2023/10/AP90P03D%20-90A%20-30V%20%20TO-252-3L.pdf At 5 volts, this means a 1.8 watt loss on the MOSFET ...
- 553
0 votes
1 answer
115 views
How to size heatsink for this thermoelectric heating application
As a part of experiment I also want the one side of this TEC(Peltier module) to be held at 50°C(where the room temperature is 25°C) and need to size a heatsink this time for the cold side. The hot ...
- 12.5k
0 votes
2 answers
292 views
How to size heatsink for this thermoelectric cooling application
I want the cold side of this TEC(Peltier module) to be held at 0°C and need to size a heatsink. For my setup, I only plan to tape a small wire element to the cold side, along with a thermistor for ...
- 12.5k
1 vote
1 answer
165 views
Best location for a heat sink - On top of SMD package IC or bottom of PCB
I have a circuit board with several MOSFETs in TO252 and TO263 packages as well as other IC with exposed pads on the bottom. I need to cool these parts and have 2 options: Glue a heat sink directly ...
- 11
2 votes
0 answers
73 views
Thumb rules for heat dissipation to ambient air (convection)
If I have a component (linear voltage regulator or a power mosfet for example) mounted on a flat plate of aluminium (it being used as a heat sink), how do I go about estimating steady state ...
- 8,623
0 votes
2 answers
117 views
Clearance BGA package to Heatsink's Mounting Holes
In my design I have a BGA-package FGPA (Xilinx Artix-7) on which a custom heatsink must be mounted. The heatsink has to be screwed to the PCB. I am worried about damage to the solder joints of the ...
- 52
0 votes
0 answers
56 views
How to calculate PCB area size for Triac
I am using a BTA40-600B in a RD91 package to control an resistive load. My max current thru the triac will be 12 A - 120 V AC. According to the data sheet, P(W) for 12 A is 12 W. Junction to case is ....
- 379
10 votes
3 answers
1k views
Why is thermal conductivity of thermal interface materials so low?
I need to reduce the heating of a battery that is inside a device with metal casing. I was thinking of using the metal casing as a heat sink. To do so, I need to use a thermal interface material (TIM) ...
- 495
1 vote
3 answers
504 views
Placing MOSFET heatsink on PCB?
I'm printing a PCB for the first time, and I would like to know the best way to heatsink the MOSFETs; I'm using 4 RFD16N06LESM9A surface mount MOSFETS connected in parallel: Would it be best to mount ...
- 111
0 votes
3 answers
173 views
Peltier Heat Sink Suggestion in a wearable device
We are working on a wearable headband device which gives cold therapy to specific locations on head using Thermoelectric Peltier element. We currently have a very reliable control circuitry for the ...
