Two-Phase Liquid Cooling for Thermal Management of IGBT Power Electronic Module

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Patrick McCluskey ◽  
Avram Bar-Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Power Electronics ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
System Level ◽  
Cooling Power ◽  
Cold Plate ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Cold Plates

Recent trends including rapid increases in the power ratings and continued miniaturization of semiconductor devices have pushed the heat dissipation of power electronics well beyond the range of conventional thermal management solutions, making control of device temperature a critical issue in the thermal packaging of power electronics. Although evaporative cooling is capable of removing very high heat fluxes, two-phase cold plates have received little attention for cooling power electronics modules. In this work, device-level analytical modeling and system-level thermal simulation are used to examine and compare single-phase and two-phase cold plates for a specified inverter module, consisting of 12 pairs of silicon insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices and diodes. For the conditions studied, an R134a-cooled, two-phase cold plate is found to substantially reduce the maximum IGBT temperature and spatial temperature variation, as well as reduce the pumping power and flow rate, in comparison to a conventional single-phase water-cooled cold plate. These results suggest that two-phase cold plates can be used to substantially improve the performance, reliability, and conversion efficiency of power electronics systems.

Evaluation of Two-Phase Cold Plate for Cooling Electric Vehicle Power Electronics

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Patrick McCluskey ◽  
Avram Bar-Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Power Electronics ◽  
Electric Vehicle ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
System Level ◽  
Cold Plate ◽  
Two Phase

Rapid increases in the power ratings and continued miniaturization of semiconductor devices have pushed the heat flux of power electronics well beyond the range of conventional thermal management techniques, and thus maintaining the IGBT temperature below a specified limit has become a critical issue for thermal management of electric vehicle power electronics. Although two-phase cold plates have been identified as a very promising high flux cooling solution, they have received little attention for cooling of power electronics. In this work, a first-order analytical model and a system-level thermal simulation are used to compare single-phase and two-phase cold plate cooling for Toyota Prius motor inverter, consisting of 12 pairs of IGBT’s and diodes. Our results demonstrate that with the same cold plate geometry, R134a two-phase cooling can substantially reduce the maximum IGBT temperature, operate all the IGBT’s at very uniform temperatures, and lower the pumping power and flow rate in comparison to single-phase cold plate cooling. These results suggest that two-phase cold plate can be developed as a low-cost, small-volume, and high-performance cooling solution to improve system reliability and conversion efficiency for electric vehicle power electronics.

Lightweight, Cost-Effective Power Modules Using Polymer Baseplates With Integrated Microconvective Cooling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Earley ◽  
Jordan Mizerak ◽  
Chris May ◽  
Bernard Malouin
Keyword(s):  
Power Electronics ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Power Density ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Heat Removal ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Cold Plate ◽  
Power Module ◽  
Heat Spreading

Abstract The advent of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), has enabled power electronics with increasing current densities and switching frequencies. A byproduct of these improved electrical characteristics is an increase in thermal power density. Indeed, the full capability of WBG semiconductors may be underutilized if the thermal management solution cannot keep pace with the device heat generation density. Further, as many power electronics devices are integrated into a power module form factor containing a metal baseplate to allow heat spreading from high heat fluxes generated at semiconductor dies, system integrators are often sensitive to cost and weight considerations in building up systems with traditional power module designs. In this paper, a polymer baseplate with integrated microconvective cooling (PBIMC) is designed and built as a low-weight, cost-effective alternative for metal baseplates on power module devices. Microconvective cooling, featuring optimized single-phase impingement cooling and effluent fluid flow control, provides high power density heat removal from localized heat flux areas in power module packages to obviate the need for a metal heat spreader. Thermal performance of the PBIMC is tested on a thermal test vehicle representative of an IGBT power module to power densities up to 200W/cm2 and compared to an off the shelf minichannel cold plate. The PBIMC achieved equivalent per IGBT case-to-fluid areal thermal resistances of 0.15 K-cm2/W, a 69% decrease compared to the baseline cold plate. Additionally, thermal crosstalk was shown to be reduced by up to 89% when moving from the cold plate to the PBIMC, demonstrating potential advantages in utilizing thermal management techniques that do not feature heat spreading. The prototype-level polymer baseplates showed a > 80% decrease in weight compared to a traditional power module metal baseplate. The study concludes that the PBIMC shows promise as a solution for high current density power electronics in weight sensitive applications, while providing opportunities for cost savings.

Assessing the Performance of Advanced Cooling Techniques on Thermal Management of Next-Generation Power Electronics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palash V. Acharya ◽  
Vaibhav Bahadur ◽  
Robert Hebner ◽  
Abdelhamid Ouroua ◽  
Shannon Strank
Keyword(s):  
Power Electronics ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Jet Impingement ◽  
Heat Sinks ◽  
Junction Temperature ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Electronics Packages

Abstract Rapid miniaturization alongwith increasing heat loads in power electronics devices like insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) have necessitated the need for advanced thermal management technologies in the packaging of these devices. This study quantifies the benefits of key advanced thermal management solutions for packaging of power electronics packages. Thermal resistance network modeling is used to estimate the maximum heat flux that can be dissipated by an IGBT package, while maintaining the junction temperature below 125 °C and 200 °C for silicon and silicon carbide (wide bandgap material) devices, respectively. While the model is completely analytical, it does address important complexities associated with heat flow in packages via the use of a sub-model to account for thermal spreading. The advanced cooling technologies evaluated in this study include the use of high thermal conductivity polymer heat sinks, double-sided heat sinking of packages, liquid cooling (single and two-phase), jet impingement and spray cooling. Additionally, combinations of these cooling technologies are evaluated as well. The heat dissipation achievable from these technologies is compared with that from an air cooled copper heat sink (baseline). The results of this study provide insights and a starting point for selecting thermal management technologies (or combinations) based on the heat dissipation requirements of power electronics packages.

Effects of Varying Geometrical Parameters on Boiling From Microfabricated Enhanced Structures

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ramaswamy ◽  
Y. Joshi ◽  
W. Nakayama ◽  
W. B. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Layer Structure ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Nucleate Boiling ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
Small Range ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Wall Superheat

The current study involves two-phase cooling from enhanced structures whose dimensions have been changed systematically using microfabrication techniques. The aim is to optimize the dimensions to maximize the heat transfer. The enhanced structure used in this study consists of a stacked network of interconnecting channels making it highly porous. The effect of varying the pore size, pitch and height on the boiling performance was studied, with fluorocarbon FC-72 as the working fluid. While most of the previous studies on the mechanism of enhanced nucleate boiling have focused on a small range of wall superheats (0–4 K), the present study covers a wider range (as high as 30 K). A larger pore and smaller pitch resulted in higher heat dissipation at all heat fluxes. The effect of stacking multiple layers showed a proportional increase in heat dissipation (with additional layers) in a certain range of wall superheat values only. In the wall superheat range 8–13 K, no appreciable difference was observed between a single layer structure and a three layer structure. A fin effect combined with change in the boiling phenomenon within the sub-surface layers is proposed to explain this effect.

scholarly journals Thermal Analysis of Cold Plate with Different Configurations for Thermal Management of a Lithium-Ion Battery

Batteries ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Seyed Saeed Madani ◽  
Erik Schaltz ◽  
Søren Knudsen Kær
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Analysis ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Lithium Ion Battery ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Cold Plate ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Cooling Design

Thermal analysis and thermal management of lithium-ion batteries for utilization in electric vehicles is vital. In order to investigate the thermal behavior of a lithium-ion battery, a liquid cooling design is demonstrated in this research. The influence of cooling direction and conduit distribution on the thermal performance of the lithium-ion battery is analyzed. The outcomes exhibit that the appropriate flow rate for heat dissipation is dependent on different configurations for cold plate. The acceptable heat dissipation condition could be acquired by adding more cooling conduits. Moreover, it was distinguished that satisfactory cooling direction could efficiently enhance the homogeneity of temperature distribution of the lithium-ion battery.

Thermal Characterization of Interlayer Microfluidic Cooling of Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits With Nonuniform Heat Flux

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon Jo Kim ◽  
Yogendra K. Joshi ◽  
Andrei G. Fedorov ◽  
Young-Joon Lee ◽  
Sung-Kyu Lim
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Mass Flow Rate ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Two Phase Cooling

It is now widely recognized that the three-dimensional (3D) system integration is a key enabling technology to achieve the performance needs of future microprocessor integrated circuits (ICs). To provide modular thermal management in 3D-stacked ICs, the interlayer microfluidic cooling scheme is adopted and analyzed in this study focusing on a single cooling layer performance. The effects of cooling mode (single-phase versus phase-change) and stack/layer geometry on thermal management performance are quantitatively analyzed, and implications on the through-silicon-via scaling and electrical interconnect congestion are discussed. Also, the thermal and hydraulic performance of several two-phase refrigerants is discussed in comparison with single-phase cooling. The results show that the large internal pressure and the pumping pressure drop are significant limiting factors, along with significant mass flow rate maldistribution due to the presence of hot-spots. Nevertheless, two-phase cooling using R123 and R245ca refrigerants yields superior performance to single-phase cooling for the hot-spot fluxes approaching ∼300 W/cm2. In general, a hybrid cooling scheme with a dedicated approach to the hot-spot thermal management should greatly improve the two-phase cooling system performance and reliability by enabling a cooling-load-matched thermal design and by suppressing the mass flow rate maldistribution within the cooling layer.

High Heat Flux Boiling Heat Transfer for Laser Diode Arrays

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd M. Bandhauer ◽  
Taylor A. Bevis
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Laser Diode ◽  
Boiling Heat Transfer ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Laser Diodes ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Laser Diode Arrays

The principle limit for achieving higher brightness of laser diode arrays is thermal management. State of the art laser diodes generate heat at fluxes in excess of 1 kW cm−2 on a plane parallel to the light emitting edge. As the laser diode bars are packed closer together, it becomes increasingly difficult to remove large amounts of heat in the diminishing space between neighboring diode bars. Thermal management of these diode arrays using conduction and natural convection is practically impossible, and, therefore, some form of forced convective cooling must be utilized. Cooling large arrays of laser diodes using single-phase convection heat transfer has been investigated for more than two decades by multiple investigators. Unfortunately, either large fluid temperature increases or very high flow velocities must be utilized to reject heat to a single phase fluid, and the practical threshold for single phase convective cooling of laser diodes appears to have been reached. In contrast, liquid-vapor phase change heat transport can occur with a negligible increase in temperature and, due to a high enthalpy of vaporization, at comparatively low mass flow rates. However, there have been no prior investigations at the conditions required for high brightness edge emitting laser diode arrays: >1 kW cm−2 and >10 kW cm−3. In the current investigation, flow boiling heat transfer at heat fluxes up to 1.1 kW cm−2 was studied in a microchannel heat sink with plurality of very small channels (45 × 200 microns) using R134a as the phase change fluid. The high aspect ratio channels (4.4:1) were manufactured using MEMS fabrication techniques, which yielded a large heat transfer surface area to volume ratio in the vicinity of the laser diode. To characterize the heat transfer performance, a test facility was constructed that enabled testing over a range of fluid saturation temperatures (15°C to 25°C). Due to the very small geometric features, significant heat spreading was observed, necessitating numerical methods to determine the average heat transfer coefficient from test data. This technique is crucial to accurately calculate the heat transfer coefficients for the current investigation, and it is shown that the analytical approach used by many previous investigations requires assumptions that are inadequate for the very small dimensions and heat fluxes observed in the present study. During the tests, the calculated outlet vapor quality exceeded 0.6 and the base heat flux reached a maximum of 1.1 kW cm−2. The resulting experimental heat transfer coefficients are found to be as large a 58.1 kW m−2 K−1 with an average uncertainty of ±11.1%, which includes uncertainty from all measured and calculated values, required assumptions, and geometric discretization error from meshing.

Two Phase Flow Patterns and Cooling Power of Mixed Refrigerant in Micro Cryogenic Coolers

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Lewis ◽  
Hayley Schneider ◽  
Yunda Wang ◽  
Ray Radebaugh ◽  
Y. C. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Flow ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Liquid Fraction ◽  
Cryogenic Cooling ◽  
Cooling Power ◽  
Vapor Flow ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Power Draw

Micro cryogenic coolers (MCCs) operating in the Joule-Thomson cycle with mixed refrigerants offer an attractive way to decrease the size, cost, and power draw required for cryogenic cooling. Recent studies of MCCs with mixed refrigerants have, when employing pre-cooling, shown pulsating flow-rates and oscillating temperatures, which have been linked to the refrigerant flow regime in the MCC. In this study we investigate those flow regimes. Using a high-speed camera and optical microscopy, it is found that the pulsations in flow correspond to an abrupt switch from single-phase vapor flow to single-phase liquid flow, followed by 2-phase flow in the form of bubbles, liquid slugs, and liquid slug-annular rings. After this period of 2-phase flow, the refrigerant transitions back to single-phase vapor flow for the cycle to repeat. Under different pre-cooling temperatures, the mole fraction of the vapor-phase refrigerant, as measured by molar flow-rate, agrees reasonably well with the quality of the refrigerant at that temperature as calculated by an equation of state. The frequency of pulsation increases with liquid fraction in the refrigerant, and the volume of liquid in each pulse only weakly increases with increasing liquid fraction. The cooling power of the liquid-flow is up to a factor of 7 greater than that of the 2-phase flows and single-phase vapor flow.

Effect of Variable Heating Load on the Refrigerant Distribution of a Dual Cold-Plate System

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Wei Tien ◽  
Kun-Huang Yu ◽  
Wen-Junn Sheu ◽  
Chi-Chuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Phase Distribution ◽  
Cold Plate ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Nominal Capacity ◽  
Mass Flowrate ◽  
Heating Load ◽  
Cold Plates ◽  
The Difference ◽  
R 134A ◽  
Plate System

This study examines the refrigerant distribution of a dual cold-plate system subject to the influence of heating load, using a R-134a based vapor compression system with a nominal capacity ranging from 50 W to 250 W. The cold plate is of identical configuration. Initially, test is performed under an equal heating load for each cold plate (70 W), which then gives rise to a uniform distribution and equal outlet superheat condition. For an unequal heating load, it is found that the distribution of mass flowrate subject to the influence of heating load is strongly related to the outlet states of the two cold plates. For the condition where one of the cold plates is in superheated state while the other is in saturated state, the mass flowrate for the fixed heating load is lower than that of smaller heating load, and the difference increases when the heating load gets smaller due to the influence of accelerational pressure drop. A maximum of 17% difference is seen at a loading ratio of 0.571 (40 W/70 W). For the condition where both outlet states of the cold plate are at superheated states, the mass flowrate for the fixed heating load is marginally higher than that of the smaller heating load, and the difference is insensitive to the increase in heating load. For this situation, the effect of accelerational pressure is negligible, and it is mainly attributed to two-phase/single-phase distribution pertaining to the effect of heating load.

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