By George P. Dixon
The aim of this paper is to review the basic concepts of heat generation and transfer from the standpoint of the technical man with CATV operational responsibility.
The paper will also present some information, which it is hoped will be found useful in solving specific practical problems imposed by the fact that the CATV system must operate over a wide ambient temperature range.
It might be argued that the thermal design problems belong to the equipment designer and to a certain· degree this is true. However, it should be pointed out that .the final equipment operating temperatures can be strongly influenced by installation techniques and location. The operating engineer or technician is very often much closer to this problem than the designer.
This paper is not suggesting that the operating engineer should plunge into realm of mathematics of heat transfer but rather to point out that the .investment of a little time to understanding the principles plus a modest investment in some· temperature measuring equipment can pay off in improved reliability and performance.
I have in mind some specific situation where unreliability was "installed in". To illustrate, I know of an installation in a boiler room where a few changes in the housing could have avoided a lot of grief. I suspect also that most pedestal installations are unnecessarily over heated and could be vastly improved by making a few basic changes. I am sure there are many situations where AC input voltage on amplifiers are greater than required, a procedure that usually does nothing more than increase operating temperature.