ah, page 53 from the PDF in post #16 tells it all

rated watts and nominal peak power are different.
in general, on state coil amps x zener voltage gives nom pp, but then there is a duty cycle factor which bumps up nom pp required to take the hot.

the energy in a L-R ha L/R time constant, doesnt it take about 5 tc's for all the energy to die off? so for just a standard turn off hard scenario the amps # is coil amps, and the time that it should flow is 5tc

i just need to see for myself if 5tc at (Vzener * coil amps) adds up to the inductor energy

 

so let me ask, what is the pulse period? 5tc is way longer than the time it takes to dump inductor joules when mag field increases the voltage.

10ohm
10mH
10v
1amp
30v zener
E = 5mJ
5tc = 5ms

the zener will sink 30watt = 30J/s
but we only need to dump 5mJ
it takes just 0.16ms to dump 5mJ @ 30W rate

so when i look at spec sheet am i looking for 30W(Ppk) @ 0.16ms as a minimum??

does the tc change because of the new induced voltage?