Medium and high current SSR's dissipate heat during switching. When using an SSR this problem of heat dissipation must be managed. It is very important to select the correct heatsink to allow maximum performance from the SSR. The use of the correct heatsink has a direct influence on the maximum load current that can be switched and the maximum ambient temperature of the SSR. To assist with heat dissipation a thermal pad should be used between the relay and heatsink, or alternatively thermal conductive grease can be used. For very high performance applications, air cooling may also be necessary. Failure to manage the generation of heat by the SSR during switching may damage the SSR and lead to product failure.
We can use a simple thermal model to calculate the heat dissipation as follows:
TJ-TA=P X RJA
In the above formula TJ stands for the junction temperature of the power parts of semiconductor(℃), TA stands for the ambient temperature (℃), P stands for general power consumption (W) and RJA stands for thermal resistance (℃/W) from junction to ambient. The thermal resistance of simplified SSR relays is made up of two parts as follow: RJA=RJC+RCA. In the formula, RJC stands for thermal resistance from junction to case and RCA stands for the thermal resistance from case to ambient.