Thermal Management
Modern high-wattage GaN chargers and workstation power supplies generate significant heat during AC/DC conversion. How you mount them matters.
The Ambient Trap
Power adapters are designed to dissipate heat into ambient air via their casing. When multiple adapters are stacked together in a narrow wire tray or plastic channel, their localized ambient temperature rises drastically.
A 140W charger operating at 90% efficiency dissipates 14W as pure heat. Three such adapters piled together create a 42W thermal core in a confined space. This leads to component degradation and thermal throttling (where the charger reduces output to prevent melting).
SCB Thermal Strategy
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01Mandatory Spacing
Grid mounting forces physical separation between heat sources, allowing natural convection to cool each brick individually.
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02Thermal Mass
The aluminum PDU spine acts as a massive 3-pound heatsink for the integrated power circuitry.