SNVSAC2A March 2015 – June 2020 LM317A
PRODUCTION DATA.
The LM317A regulators have internal thermal shutdown to protect the device from over-heating. Under all operating conditions, the junction temperature of the LM317A should not exceed the rated maximum junction temperature (TJ) of 125°C. A heatsink may be required depending on the maximum device power dissipation and the maximum ambient temperature of the application. To determine if a heatsink is needed, the power dissipated by the regulator, PD, must be calculated by Equation 2:
Figure 36 shows the voltage and currents which are present in the circuit.
The next parameter which must be calculated is the maximum allowable temperature rise, TR(MAX) in Equation 3:
where
Using the calculated values for TR(MAX) and PD, the maximum allowable value for the junction-to-ambient thermal resistance (θJA) can be calculated by Equation 4:
If the calculated maximum allowable thermal resistance is higher than the actual package rating, then no additional work is needed. If the calculated maximum allowable thermal resistance is lower than the actual package rating, either the power dissipation (PD) needs to be reduced, the maximum ambient temperature TA(MAX) needs to be reduced, the thermal resistance (θJA) must be lowered by adding a heatsink, or some combination of these measures should be implemented.
If a heatsink is needed, the value can be calculated from Equation 5:
where
When a value for θHA is found using the equation shown, a heatsink must be selected that has a value that is less than or equal to this number.
The θHA rating is specified numerically by the heatsink manufacturer in the catalog, or shown in a curve that plots temperature rise vs power dissipation for the heatsink.