Heat flux sensor for power loss measurements of switching devices

Author

Iero, D. ; Della Corte, Francesco G. ; Fiorentino, G. ; Sarro, P.M. ; Morana, B.

Author_Institution

Univ. “Mediterranea” of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

fYear

2013

fDate

25-27 Sept. 2013

Firstpage

327

Lastpage

330

Abstract

The measurement of the power dissipated by a semiconductor device is of great importance for assessing system performance and reliability and to evaluate the overall efficiency of a power electronics systems. Efficiency measurement can be difficult when the device is highly efficient and the power losses are extremely low. Measurement errors can be introduced due to high frequency components in the waveforms. We present a calorimetric method based on a micromachined dual-sensor heat-flux measurement device that allows the estimation of the power dissipated by a semiconductor device. The system use a thermoelectric heat pump to keep the switching device at room temperature in order to minimise the heat exchanged with the ambient and improve therefore the precision of the measurement.

Keywords

calorimetry; loss measurement; microsensors; power measurement; semiconductor devices; calorimetric method; high frequency components; measurement errors; micromachined dual-sensor heat-flux measurement device; power electronic systems; power estimation; power loss measurements; reliability assessment; semiconductor device; switching devices; system performance assessment; temperature 293 K to 298 K; thermoelectric heat pump;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermal Investigations of ICs and Systems (THERMINIC), 2013 19th International Workshop on

Conference_Location

Berlin

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-2271-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/THERMINIC.2013.6675201

Filename

6675201