Advances in Two-Phase Cooling for Next Power Electronics Converters

Abstract

This article deals with a comprehensive analysis and performance evaluation of a fully integrated two-phase cooling system for power converters. A suitable test bed has been properly manufactured to perform the experimental campaign for the evaluation of the benefits and to deploy a dedicated management procedure of the two-phase cooling. The system is tested under real operating conditions, in which the system is employed for cooling a 1200-V 100-A insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power module of an inverter controlling a permanent magnet synchronous machine. The experimental results show the inverter temperature behavior in start-up for different flow rates of coolant and different temperatures of the fluid on the secondary system. In the steady-state operation, using lower coolant flow rates in the primary circuit achieved equal or even better cooling for the IGBT module compared with higher flow rates. With respect to traditional cooling approaches, the proposed arrangement allows a greater extraction of the heat at a very low flow rate of the cooling fluid, even with standard industrial grade heat sinks, which motivates the use of this cooling technology for the next generation of power electronics converters.

Keywords

• Cooling
• electrical drives
• power modules
• two-phase cooling (TPC)