Hi,
It is about 14" by 6". I am not sure if the 8mm thickness will be able to
transfer heat as quickly as a high surface area (many finned) heatsink
would.
cheers,
Jamie Morken
It's much easier to follow the conversation if you don't top-post.
You can look up the thermal conductivity of Aluminum. It's pretty high. I
imagine an 8mm plate will pull heat away pretty effectively.
You can bound your problem by figuring out what the temperature rise over
ambient is for your dissipation with a flat plate of that size at uniform
temperature.
That is, if you are dissipating 10 Watts, you can find the formula for
flat plate dissipation, plug in 10 Watts, and see how much over ambient it
is.
In reality, the plate won't be at a uniform temperature. It will be hotter
near your part. But if the temperature rise isn't even close to your Tcase
danger zone, then you don't really have to worry about it.
Keep in mind that the flat plate formula only applies when the surface is
as described in the formula. You will need to specify horizontal or
vertical, and the plate has to be largely free and clear for air to
convect over it naturally. Of course, if you have a fan, then you are
almost certainly going to be OK. A fan blowing over a big aluminum plate
can take away a lot of heat.
Mac