Heat dissipation enhancement method for finned heat sink for AGV motor driver's IGBT module

With the widespread use of high-power and highly integrated insulated gate bipolar transistor(IGBT),their cooling methods have become challenging.This paper proposes a liquid cooling scheme for heavy-duty automated guided vehicle(AGV)motor driver in port environment,and improves heat dissipation by analyzing and optimizing the core component of finned heat sink.Firstly,the temperature distribution of the initial scheme is studied by using Fluent software,and the heat transfer characteristics of the finned heat sink are obtained through numerical analysis.Secondly,an orthogonal test is designed and combined with the response surface methodology to optimize the structural parameters of the finned heat sink,resulting in a 14.57%increase in the heat dissipation effect.Finally,the effectiveness of heat dissipation enhancement is verified.This work provides valuable insights into improving the heat dissipation of IGBT modules and heat sinks,and provides guidance for their future applications.

Lifetime estimation of IGBT module using square-wave loss discretization and power cycling test

The insulated gate bipolar transistor(IGBT)module is one of the most age-affected components in the switch power supply, and its reliability prediction is conducive to timely troubleshooting and reduction in safety risks and unnecessary costs. The pulsed current pattern of the accelerator power supply is different from other converter applications;therefore, this study proposed a lifetime estimation method for IGBT modules in pulsed power supplies for accelerator magnets. The proposed methodology was based on junction temperature calculations using square-wave loss discretization and thermal modeling.Comparison results showed that the junction temperature error between the simulation and IR measurements was less than 3%. An AC power cycling test under real pulsed power supply applications was performed via offline wearout monitoring of the tested power IGBT module. After combining the IGBT4 PC curve and fitting the test results,a simple corrected lifetime model was developed to quantitatively evaluate the lifetime of the IGBT module,which can be employed for the accelerator pulsed power supply in engineering. This method can be applied to other IGBT modules and pulsed power supplies.

Partial Discharge Measurement and Analysis in High Voltage IGBT Modules Under DC Voltage

Insulation performance of high voltage IGBT modules is one of the key attributes in power system applications.However,the existing standards of IGBT devices and research on the evaluation of insulation performance of high voltage IGBT modules are insufficient;for example,partial discharge resistance under DC voltage blocking condition is not considered.In this paper,a new test was proposed to allow the measurement of partial discharges in all the components of IGBT modules under DC voltage.The topology of the measuring circuit is arranged in the polarity discrimination way to exclude the interference,and the voltage and discharge current waveforms during the partial discharge process are measured by the wideband time domain measurement technique.According to the proposed test,the discharge phenomenon of the IGBT modules below the rating voltage were detected.A comprehensive waveform analysis on the voltage and discharge current was performed,and the influence of the applied voltage on the waveform parameters was obtained.The waveform parameters are influenced by the applied voltage and insulation structure,which enables the discrimination of the causes of the observed partial discharge in the IGBT module under DC voltage by the waveform analysis technique.Based on the waveform analysis technique,the types and causes of the observed partial discharges were discussed and inferred,and the correctness of the inference was further verified by observation.The proposed test and waveform analysis technique provide the possibility to evaluate and distinguish partial discharges in the high voltage IGBT module under DC voltage,which may be helpful to insulation performance evaluation and insulation defect diagnosis in high voltage IGBT module.

A Precise Model for Simulation of Temperature Distribution in Power Modules

The interaction between the active chips mounted and the same base plate is considered as a thermoelectrical coupling effect.An approach to coupling effect analysis of a multi-chip system is presented with IGBT as a sample.Finite element method is used to evaluate the temperature distribution in power modules.The precise electrothermal model is obtained by fitting the curve of transient thermal impedance with a finite series of exponential terms,in which,the thermal-coupling effect among chips is considered as a prediction of the highest transient temperature of the chips.This model can be used in many thermal monitoring systems.Both ANSYS and PSPICE si- mulation software have been employed,and the simulation results agree with the experimental ones very well.

Trap Characteristics and Their Temperature-dependence of Silicone Gel for Encapsulation in IGBT Power Modules

Silicone gel is a prevailing material for encapsulation in insulated gate bipolar transistor(IGBT)power modules.The space charge transport behavior in silicone gel is significant to evaluate the electrical insulation characteristics.This paper focuses on the trap characteristics and electrical properties of the silicone gel,which were rarely studied before.The experiments are performed on the surface potential decay of silicone gel after the charge injection.Then,the energy distributions of electron or hole traps are determined by a double-trap energy level model,which can be fitted by the Gaussian distribution.In addition,the mobilities of positive and negative charges are determined,which are 1.38×10^(-12) m^(2)·V^(-1)·s^(-1) and 1.74×10^(12) m^(2)·V^(-1)·s^(-1),respectively.Furthermore,considering the heat as a byproduct resulting in thermal issues,the temperature-dependence of surface potential decay characteristics are also studied in this paper.When temperature rises,the decay rate of surface potential increases,especially when the temperature is higher than 80℃.Finally,the contrastive analysis illustrates that the trap characteristics of silicone gel are between the trap characteristics in liquid-state material and solid-state material,which supports the phenomenon that silicone gel is more resistive to the sharp edges in power modules.This work can provide a useful reference for the design of encapsulation in high-voltage IGBT power modules.