Thermal Performance Analysis of a Cold Plate for IGBT Cooling

Abstract

Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), often used in power electronics circuits, are voltage- controlled semiconductor equipment that perform switching. IGBTs dissipate a significant amount of heat while performing the switching process. They need effective cooling for high performance and long-life operation. Air cooling or liquid cooling systems are used for IGBT cooling. Air cooling systems are used to remove the generated heat in low power applications by convection with air. Liquid cooling systems are more preferred for IGBT systems used in high power applications. In these systems, the IGBT element is mounted on a cold plate and the generated heat is transferred with refrigerant. In order to achieve effective cooling, the design of the liquid channels in the cold plate is great importance. In this study, the thermal performance analysis of a cold plate with 2 IGBTs and a total heat dissipation of 3 kW is carried out. First, the thermal performance analysis of the cold plate at different flow rates was carried out and the effect of flow rate change on heat transfer was examined. The optimum flow rate value was determined by considering performance and cost. Secondly, an optimization study was carried out by observing the effects of the design parameters of channel height and width on thermal performance with the determined flow rate value. The optimization of the fluid channels in the cold plate is determined by CFD methods with temperature and pressure drops are obtained.