STUDY ON THE OPTIMIZATION OF IGBT THERMAL MANAGEMENT FOR PTC HEATER

Abstract

It is essential to optimize HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) system for a thermal plant or an electric vehicle since it has a significant effect on the thermal efficiency. PTC (positive temperature coefficient) heaters are often used for a heating system and the power module of the PTC heaters, IGBT (insulated gate bipolar mode transistor), requires thermal management. In this study, in order to maximize the cooling performance for IGBT, a novel method that uses forced convection inside the HVAC duct with heat sinks was developed. In addition, heat sinks were optimized in terms of IGBT junction temperature and heat sink weight by 3-dimensional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation. The results show that the junction temperature of IGBT for 5.6kW PTC heater can be maintained at about 335K.

Keywords

• HVAC (heating
• ventilation and air-conditioning)
• PTC (positive temperature coefficient)
• IGBT (insulated gate bipolar mode transistor)
• Heat sink