Suggestion: heat transfer but starting from datasheet..

[MJU]

I found several episodes of Dave explaining heat sinks and the math around them.

But I never found an episode thats starts from the datasheet back to the heat sink.
Example: the Sharp SSR S216S02. How do I interpret the data on the datasheet so I can end with a heat sink.

So this is more about how to read the different charts and data on a datasheet.

Dave if you are out there....

[Brumby]

Has Dave done anything like this that covers the whole range?

If not - here's a suggested title: "From Silicon to Surrounds - a thermal journey"

It could cover heat generation; component density; frequency of operation through to the obvious thermal resistances and cooling methods.  (If he wanted to get really radical, he could reveal the secrets behind the magic smoke!)

[MJU]

Has Dave done anything like this that covers the whole range?

If not - here's a suggested title: "From Silicon to Surrounds - a thermal journey"

It could cover heat generation; component density; frequency of operation through to the obvious thermal resistances and cooling methods.  (If he wanted to get really radical, he could reveal the secrets behind the magic smoke!)

That seems a good suggestion (and title).
But general guidelines for how to find the necessary data on a datasheet from which we can calculate the heat sink from, would be great.

Someone suggested that electronics works on smoke.. When the smoke gets out, the device is broke.. 

[Brumby]

Someone suggested that electronics works on smoke.. When the smoke gets out, the device is broke.. 

It's not a suggestion - it's a well documented fact and one that most (if not all) of us here can personally attest to.

[rrinker]

 Absolutely. There's this misconception that the development of semiconductor junctions spurred a revolution in electronics, but that's just not true. All the semiconductors do it increase the efficiency of Magic Smoke, which is the real working element in all types of components. By some 800%, actually. This enabled a much smaller device to do the same job as the older, bigger ones. As the purity of the semiconductor crystals improved, and the materials changed to even better ones, the efficiency continued to go up, so less and less volume of Magic Smoke was required to get the job done. Think about it, when some old component fails, there is copious amounts of Magic Smoke released, sometimes even flame. But blow a modern IC, and you get maybe a little divot blown out of the package where the Magic Smoke was concentrated and sometimes you don't even see the smoke as it escapes, there's such a tiny quantity.

[MJU]

Absolutely. There's this misconception that the development of semiconductor junctions spurred a revolution in electronics, but that's just not true. All the semiconductors do it increase the efficiency of Magic Smoke, which is the real working element in all types of components. By some 800%, actually. This enabled a much smaller device to do the same job as the older, bigger ones. As the purity of the semiconductor crystals improved, and the materials changed to even better ones, the efficiency continued to go up, so less and less volume of Magic Smoke was required to get the job done. Think about it, when some old component fails, there is copious amounts of Magic Smoke released, sometimes even flame. But blow a modern IC, and you get maybe a little divot blown out of the package where the Magic Smoke was concentrated and sometimes you don't even see the smoke as it escapes, there's such a tiny quantity.

This is sure true!
I just thought that my eyes were getting worse...

But before the smoke appears we could engineer this not to happen. 

Maybe Dave can explain (fundamental Friday?), how we can find all the data in a datasheet to calculate the heat sink?  O0