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Questions tagged [heatsink]

A heatsink dissipates heat into the surrounding air and thus provides cooling.

4 votes
4 answers
5k views

Heat Dissipation Calculation for MOSFET

My challenge at the moment is dissipating 60A of load current through an array of MOSFETs. Here are my specs: No cooling fans Heatsinks allowed, if needed FET and/or heatsink cannot attach to the ...
user2608147's user avatar
22 votes
8 answers
29k views

Dissipating 1W on a TO-220 without heatsink?

Can a TO-220 without a heatsink dissipate 1W in still air? Or, a different way of asking the question is: Assuming an ambient temperature of 25C, how can I go about calculating the maximum power I ...
SomethingBetter's user avatar
34 votes
7 answers
25k views

Optimize heat sink design - connect cooling pad on PCB backside by vias

In one of my current projects I'm using an MC7805 in a D2PAK package to generate my logic supply of 5 V from an available 24 VDC supply. The current required by the circuit is 250 mA. ...
KarlKarlsom's user avatar
  • 1,822
4 votes
2 answers
769 views

A question about heating of a slowly turning off MOSFET

I have an N-Channel MOSFET IRF530 with its datasheet used in the following circuit: When turned on it passes 2.5A current. So I first wanted to make some calculations to check whether I would need a ...
user16307's user avatar
  • 12.2k
2 votes
4 answers
25k views

Peltier Unit Not Working

Recently I ordered a Peltier unit online and received it yesterday. Naturally, I was very excited to play with it. When I first turned it on, One side got hot, an another very cold. I had read that I ...
Sasha's user avatar
  • 79
1 vote
4 answers
1k views

Can you connect two LM317s either in series or parallel to help spread out heat?

I am designing an adjustable voltage regulator. The regulator will have be able to switch between maximum Vout of 9V, 12V, 15V and 18V and will have a variable resistor that can adjust the voltage ...
DRC's user avatar
  • 107
66 votes
10 answers
59k views

Fan and heatsink - suck or blow?

This question covered it for enclosures. However, from the point of view of the fan attached to a heatsink does it matter whether air is blown through the fins, or sucked through the fins. In other ...
Dirk Bruere's user avatar
31 votes
4 answers
21k views

How do I determine the area of copper needed on a PCB to provide adequate heatsinking for a power SMD MOSFET?

I am planning to use the IRFR5305PBF Power MOSFET (http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/irfr5305pbf.pdf) to switch on a load. I have determined that I need an external heatsink with Rthsa &...
dla59's user avatar
  • 347
13 votes
4 answers
5k views

Should I ground the heatsink?

I am using an npn transistor in TO-220 package, and its collector is electrically connected to the metal part on it. I have checked it via a multimeter. I use a heatsink for that transistor, with ...
muyustan's user avatar
  • 2,106
9 votes
2 answers
21k views

LM317 Heat sink, how big?

Thanks to the help of a few of the other guys I have my AC to DC rectifier working, and the rest of the power supply working. Now while testing the power supply, my 18V AC transformer gets rectified ...
Ashley Hughes's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
1k views

Heatsink pad connected to ground pins

Is it safe to use the exposed heatsink pad of a QFN to also connect the ground pins of the IC? (Like this question, but in my case the pad has many vias connecting it to ground plane.) Additionally, ...
Manos's user avatar
  • 355
2 votes
2 answers
445 views

Is it safe to connect metal body capacitors with a metal heatsink?

I have multiple metal case capacitors that I need to cool. The thermal tape I use is conductive (carbon based). Also larger heatsink on the left might touch capacitors on the left side. The question ...
ScienceDiscoverer's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
1k views

How to to Use a Nylon Shoulder Washer?

I'm somewhat curious as to how to use a nylon shoulder washer with a bolt. There is an example of this here (https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/45579/95654), but I can't figure out how it would ...
Sarah Szabo's user avatar
20 votes
12 answers
15k views

Does the paint colour matter on a heat sink?

Heat leaves a heat sink via conduction, convection and radiation. I was taught that black surfaces are best at radiating heat and correspondingly a lot of heat sinks are black. But they also have ...
Paul Uszak's user avatar
  • 7,567
17 votes
5 answers
35k views

Copper or Aluminum Heatsink?

What would be a better heatsink to buy, copper or aluminum? What does copper do that aluminum doesn't? I know it is more expensive and is heavier, so what is the advantage of copper? EDIT: more ...
MH0517's user avatar
  • 377

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