Consider a surface-mount type transistor on a circuit board whose temperature is maintained at 35°C. Air at 20°C flows over the upper surface of dimensions 4 mm by 8 mm with a convection coefficient of 50 W/m² ∙ K, Three wire leads, each of cross section 1 mm by 0.25 mm and length 4 mm, conduct heat from the case to the circuit board. The gap between the case and the board is 0.2 mm.

(a) Assuming the case is isothermal and neglecting radiation, estimate the case temperature when 150mW is dissipated by the transistor and (i) stagnant air or (ii) a conductive paste fills the gap. The thermal conductivities of the wire leads, air, and conductive paste are 25, 0.0263, and 0.12 W/m ∙ K, respectively.

(b) Using the conductive paste to fill the gap, we wish to determine the extent to which increased heat dissipation may be accommodated, subject to the constraint that the case temperature not exceeds 40°e. Options include increasing the air speed to achieve a larger convection coefficient h and/or changing the lead wire material to one of larger thermal conductivity. Independently considering leads fabricated from materials with thermal conductivities of 200 and 400 W/m ∙ K, compute and plot the maximum allowable heat dissipation for variations in h over the range 50 ≤ h ≤ 250 W/m² ∙ K.

Air Transistor case Wire lead Circuit board Gap