Source: By Andrew Bryars, Applications Engineering Manager, XP Power

Everyone knows that if you dissipate heat inside a confined space then the temperature in that space will increase i.e. the ambient temperature inside the enclosure will rise.

If you have an enclosure containing a power supply and its load i.e. the PCBs that its powering then as the ambient air temperature increases due to the heat dissipated by both, the power supply and the PCBs will further heat up, possibly beyond
their maximum operating temperatures.

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