Progress of new cooling possibilities….

Well, after I lost this week the second time the decoder panel of the CD-Player due to heating issues, I’ve got a “little bit” angry. Although I use this sound machine everyday it should not fail every six months. I guess it is time to improve the cooling of the sound machine.

Originally, the aluminium panel at the rear side which acts as a heating panel is closed and no air can circulate. There are only some slots on the top of the case behind the handle bar and on the bottom side. It’s really getting hot in there with basically no fresh air. 

Not only the CD chipset SAA70x0 is getting warm also other components like the linear power converter (7805) for powering all components of the CD player has the disgraceful job to reduce 12-13V to 5V, which is of course done by converting the electricity into useless heat.. maybe can be used in winter to warm up the house when we do not get gas for heating…

Other sources of heat generation are the power amplifier and another transistor which has to burn 22V(!) (7307, BD675 37V -> 15V). Those three components can be found on the aluminium U-profile which is connected with the rear panel and an additional heat sink which is absolutely necessary.

The idea is to design a different rear panel which has openings for air ventilation and in addition the possibility to add a silent fan. I designed the panel and printed it out to check if its fit to the machine. Now I am searching for a manufacturer with a laser cutter to get the panel produced. Hell, haven’t thought that this will be so expensive and time consuming. Have to do more research to find an affordable manufacturer…

In addition, to protect the CD-decoder panel and its ICs I added heatsinks onto the SAA70x0 series. Let’s hope all these activities will result in a more reliable sound machine.