Hello,
Some of you may recall that I was discussion making a load bank. It was suggested that I use 100W resistors, which is fine, but I thought I might be able to get a better and/or cheaper design by using MOSFETs (or maybe IGBTs).
I have since been searching what MOSFETs are available at a reasonable price point (even a small professional load bank (150W) will cost 100s of dollars), and I have discovered several possible contenders.
IRF3207 can dissipate 300W and it costs $1.59 per piece on arrow (R0JC 0.50C/W, R0CS 0.50C/W).
IXFK180N15P can dissipate 830W and it costs $9.88 per piece on arrow (RTHJC 0.18C/W, RTHCS 0.15C/W).
Both of these options, isolated from their cooling needs, are much cheaper than using 100W resistors. But even if this point were academic, the question still comes up...
How on earth do you cool a +300W MOSFET?!
Even powerful CPU coolers only do about 250W, and they have a 40mm x 40mm surface area for contact with the IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader), whereas these MOSFETs do not.
Thanks!
Links:
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/irfb3207pbf/infineon-technologies-ag
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/ixfk180n15p/littelfuse
Some of you may recall that I was discussion making a load bank. It was suggested that I use 100W resistors, which is fine, but I thought I might be able to get a better and/or cheaper design by using MOSFETs (or maybe IGBTs).
I have since been searching what MOSFETs are available at a reasonable price point (even a small professional load bank (150W) will cost 100s of dollars), and I have discovered several possible contenders.
IRF3207 can dissipate 300W and it costs $1.59 per piece on arrow (R0JC 0.50C/W, R0CS 0.50C/W).
IXFK180N15P can dissipate 830W and it costs $9.88 per piece on arrow (RTHJC 0.18C/W, RTHCS 0.15C/W).
Both of these options, isolated from their cooling needs, are much cheaper than using 100W resistors. But even if this point were academic, the question still comes up...
How on earth do you cool a +300W MOSFET?!
Even powerful CPU coolers only do about 250W, and they have a 40mm x 40mm surface area for contact with the IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader), whereas these MOSFETs do not.
Thanks!
Links:
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/irfb3207pbf/infineon-technologies-ag
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/ixfk180n15p/littelfuse
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