[time-nuts] Regulator choices

Jim Lux jimlux at earthlink.net
Sun Jun 30 16:44:50 EDT 2013


On 6/30/13 12:35 PM, Bob Stewart wrote:
> "I believe the original problem was that the raw unregulated voltage may
> be marginally too high for a conventional three-terminal to take safely"
>
> Hi Ed,
>
> Not really.  The voltage is in line with the product specs for a 7812 (35V max), as is the current I had projected (a bit over 1A).  However, the voltage difference (20-12) times the current (assumed to be 1A) is not within the dissipation ability of a small free-air heat sink.  When I hooked things up for a test, the 7812 immediately went into overheat and started reducing the output voltage to compensate.  It would be OK (according to the datasheet) if I bolted it to the chassis, but at my original post, I had not worked out the actual current load through the device.  And it turned out that the datasheet I was using for the OCXO had overstated the current draw by some 30%.  After working out what my actual needs were, I compared that to what HP was heat-wasting in the 37203A PSU, and realized that my needs were smaller.  The collective quickly convinced me that a switching/bucking device would be too noisy, so I've decided to use a 78S12CT,
>   which is a TO-3 cased 12V regulator, to pull down the 20V I have available to me.
>
> So, essentially, I didn't know what I was doing, as I have never done this before.  After understanding how to do this, I decided to get a TO-3 cased device, which will fit the heat sink available to me in the 37203A case I'm putting it in.  For me, this has all been a good discussion.
>
> The one thing that is missing is how to quantify the heat sink needs for a linear regulator.  Any thoughts?  IOW, is there some way to project how many square inches of heat sink needed for X watts to dissipate?
>

This is a tricky area. It depends (a lot) on the airflow over the 
surface. Check out the applications notes from heat sink manufacturers 
like Aavid Thermalloy (http://www.aavid.com) or Wakefield 
(http://www.wakefield-vette.com). You can probably find something that 
replicates your "plain flat surface" to work with.







More information about the time-nuts mailing list