Kenwood TS-480 User Manual page 39

The TS-480HX is equipped with 4 final transistors (2 in the case of the SAT model), and the heat
produced by these disperses through the die-cast aluminum chassis. In order to efficiently transfer
this heat outside the transceiver, cooling fins are absolutely essential. We would like to provide as
many of these fins as possible, but in fact on more than one occasion we have found that, owing to
space limitations, we were not able to fit in the normal complement of cooling fins. In the case of
the TS-480, in order to make the transceiver compact we provided a single row of tall, highly
efficient cooling fins right above the final transistors. This compensated for the lack of cooling fins
dictated by the design restrictions.
Our decision to suspend the filter unit was made in order to fit in as many cooling fins as possible
by packing in the components.
Fig. 27: Upper side
The air that is sucked in from the front is divided into two flows, one through the top of the chassis
and the other through the bottom. The upper flow of air must pass through these high-efficiency
cooling fins, absorbing the heat from them before it is expelled to the outside.
These fins, which also serve as a partition between the TXRX unit and the filter unit, are set
diagonally so as to offer a degree of shielding.
Fig. 28: Underside
Fig. 29: Fin
Figs. 27~29 are photographs of the
TH-480HX die-cast aluminum chassis.
The final transistors are positioned on the
four raised areas (circled) that can be seen
in the middle of the chassis (underside).
On the opposite side to the final transistors,
running across the middle of the upper side
of the chassis, can be seen a row of
relatively tall, flat cooling fins.
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