I am building a pair of monoblocks approximately 11 (280mm) x 17 (430mm) x 3 (76mm) inches in size. I will be powder coating the outside of the chassis a dark hammertone green. I am hoping to heat sink the Coleman filament regulators to the chassis in one of two ways.
1) Mount them flat to the underside of the top plate with the outer surface powder coated. Or
2). Mount them on an aluminum bulkhead that will separate the power supply from the amplifier section. This will be 3 x 11 inches long. I would drill ventilation holes along both sides of that bulkhead to allow ventilation along with a mesh bottom plate. If I did that, is there an advantage to a thick plate vs a thin one?
I am concerned about the insulation of the powder coat if I use the top plate as compared to the less than ideal ventilation if utilizing the interior bulkhead.
Thoughts?
1) Mount them flat to the underside of the top plate with the outer surface powder coated. Or
2). Mount them on an aluminum bulkhead that will separate the power supply from the amplifier section. This will be 3 x 11 inches long. I would drill ventilation holes along both sides of that bulkhead to allow ventilation along with a mesh bottom plate. If I did that, is there an advantage to a thick plate vs a thin one?
I am concerned about the insulation of the powder coat if I use the top plate as compared to the less than ideal ventilation if utilizing the interior bulkhead.
Thoughts?
Using the interior bulkhead, with ventilation holes in the top cover, should run cooler.
A thinner plate would be better than a thick one.
Free Flat Plate Heat Sink Calculator
A thinner plate would be better than a thick one.
Free Flat Plate Heat Sink Calculator
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Would I be better served with say a 1/4 (6mm) thick vs 1/8 (3mm) inch thick bulkhead as far as cooling goes?
Thinner should be better, but use good thermal pads. And separate the two boards as much as possible
on the bulkhead to more evenly thermally load it. The devices are best attached at (or slightly below) the
middle, vertically.
on the bulkhead to more evenly thermally load it. The devices are best attached at (or slightly below) the
middle, vertically.
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We need more data:
1) what is the chassis made of?
Aluminum? Steel?
Not the same by a Country mile.
Metal thickness?
2) what is a Coleman regulator?
Schematic?
Dissipation?
Where is it applied?
Between regulator and sheet metal or outside and regulator clamps straight to metal?
Obviously using mica and grease.
Will it be painted both inside and outside?
Will powder paint be flat or grainy/sputtered?
All these factors affect dissipation big time.
Or to be more precise, affect die temperature given a certain dissipation.
1) what is the chassis made of?
Aluminum? Steel?
Not the same by a Country mile.
Metal thickness?
2) what is a Coleman regulator?
Schematic?
Dissipation?
Always.
I think you mean thermal insulation.
Where is it applied?
Between regulator and sheet metal or outside and regulator clamps straight to metal?
Obviously using mica and grease.
Will it be painted both inside and outside?
Will powder paint be flat or grainy/sputtered?
All these factors affect dissipation big time.
Or to be more precise, affect die temperature given a certain dissipation.
Thanks Rayma. Thinner is much easier. There will only be one board with two devices on each bulkhead. Distance between the devices is set to about 2 inches by the board designer. You can see the distance as they are mounted on the aluminum plate towards the right in the picture.
Attachments
Chassis will be aluminum 3mm in thickness.
Coleman filament regulators. Many people here use them. Rod Coleman posts here regularly.
The powder coating is a grainy thick coating that I'll apply ONLY to the outside.
The regulators will be mounted directly on bare metal with appropriate electrical insulation.
In essence, they would be mounted on the bare underside of a chassis like shown below
Attachments
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Ok, that alone solves 99% of the problems, including painting.
You should have stated that from the beginning to give us some peace of mind 🙂
I had nightmares about paper thin cheap steel 😉
Good luck on your build.