Next, consider the pulsed power waveform shown in Fig. 10-25a. Junction
temperature increases during the power pulse and decreases when the power is
zero. After an initial start up interval, the junction temperature reaches equilibrium
where thermal energy absorbed in one period matches the thermal energy
transferred. Maximum junction temperature TJ,max is found using Eq. (10-21) and
Z
,JC from Fig. 10-24. The horizontal axis is t1, the time duration of the pulse in
each period. The value of Z
,JC is read from the curve corresponding to the duty
ratio t1/t2. The temperature of the case is assumed constant and can be determined
from Eq. (10-18) using the average power for P.
If the power pulse is at a high frequency, such as the switching frequency
of a typical power converter, the fluctuation in the temperature waveform of
Fig. 10-25b becomes small, and temperatures can be analyzed by using R
,JC in
Eq. (10-19) with P equal to the average power.