Fwd: Re: cooling an amp (min. Audi content)

[Sandy Duffy <sandyduffy@home.com>]

You wrote
>I agree that for this application, blowing air across the heatsink would
>probably be the best bet--you want to move air away from the heatsink
>but with it upside down fans blowing side to side will do a more
>efficient job of getting heat away from the deeper bits of the heatsink.

The answer to this question is dependent on the level of temperature
extremes.  If we are dealing in extremely hot conditions (Texas during the
summer for instance....glad you live there...NOT my cup of tea), a push
pull arrangement is the absolute best. A fan at one end of the heat sink
pushing air across the amp AND a fan at the other end of the heat sink
pulling it away.  You can even install a thermistor mounted on the heat
sink to control the speed of the fans relative to the temperature.  So on a
cooler day you don't have to have a lot of fan noise emanating from the
trunk when you really don't need them.

HTH

Sandy