What is the purpose of the Width parameter of the Heat Sink component?
The Width parameter defines how many heat sink instances are created when the heat sink is placed on top of a vectorized component.
In the example below, a FET is driven by a vectorized current source [10 A, 20 A]. This is equivalent to supplying two MOSFETs, one with 10 A and one with 20 A drain current. See the vectorization section in the PLECS user manual for more details.
Width = 1
All vectorized components share a single heat sink that collects their combined dissipated energy. The Heat Sink component represents one isothermal surface, and the thermometer reports a single temperature value.
Width = 2
Two independent heat sinks are created, one for each vectorized device. The Heat Sink component represents two separate isothermal surfaces, resulting in two temperature readings. The temperature associated with the 20 A device rises faster than that of the 10 A device.
Heat Sink Width.plecs (13.2 KB)
