Author_Institution :
Aavid Thermalloy LLC, Concord, NH, USA
Abstract :
Power electronics devices such as MOSFET´s, GTO´s, IGBT´s, IGCT´s etc. are now widely used to efficiently deliver electrical power in home electronics, industrial drives, telecommunication, transport, electric grid and numerous other applications. This paper discusses cooling technologies that have evolved in step to remove increasing levels of heat dissipation and manage junction temperatures to achieve goals for efficiency, cost, and reliability. Cooling technologies rely on heat spreading and convection. In applications that use natural or forced air cooling, water heat pipes provide efficient heat spreading for size and weight reduction. Previous concepts are reviewed and an improved heat sink concept with staggered fin density is described for more isothermal cooling. Where gravity can drive liquid flow, thermosiphons provide efficient heat transport to remote fin volumes that can be oriented for natural and/or forced air cooling. Liquid cold plates (LCP´s) offer the means to cool high heat loads and heat fluxes including double sided cooling for the highest density packaging. LCP´s can be used both in single phase cooling systems with aqueous or oil based coolants and in two-phase cooling systems with dielectric fluids and refrigerants. Previous concepts are reviewed and new concepts including an air cooled heat sink, a thermosiphon heat sink, a vortex flow LCP and a shear flow direct contact cooling concept are described.
Keywords :
cooling; heat sinks; power electronics; thermal management (packaging); GTO; IGBT; IGCT; MOSFET; air cooled heat sink; cooling technology; dielectric fluid; heat convection; heat dissipation; heat sink concept; heat spreading; heat transport; isothermal cooling; junction temperature; liquid cold plate; oil based coolant; power electronics; refrigerant; shear flow direct contact cooling; thermosiphon heat sink; thermosiphons; two-phase cooling system; vortex flow LCP; water heat pipes; Heat sinks; Heat transfer; Resistance heating; Space heating; Thermal resistance;