Evaluation of an Integrated Micro-Cooling Chip Architecture for Managing Thermal Concerns of a Power Electronics Module

The field of consumer and power electronics is surging ahead with more sophisticated and powerful devices that are smaller and more capable than before. Proper and efficient thermal management of such devices is increasingly challenging when addressing requirements to reduce size, weight and cost (both manufacturing and operational) while enabling the overall system to operate at higher power densities. The current effort considers a typical power electronic module most often used to address DC to AC voltage conversion in larger distributed energy systems. Significant heat generation results from switching and conduction losses inherent in such a circuit, which can then cause a drop in the power processing capabilities or worse, the destruction of the device itself if not properly cooled. A nominal architecture for the circuit module is selected and a combined experimental and analytical study is performed to implement an integrated micro-cooling chip architecture that leverages single phase jet-impingement and vortex flow approaches. The micro-cooling chip array is a multi-laminate design that features localized fluidic cells ducted to bring coolant in and out of a heat exchanger section. The paper reports on the design of the multi-laminate micro-cooling chip module in terms of manufacturability and fluid dynamics of the coolant in combination with the power electronics module. Results from bench-scale testing done on a monolithic part fabricated using additive manufacturing process are reported and compared with analysis. The results provide an initial basis for further miniaturization of the power electronic module and insights to manufacturability using standard 3D printing approaches.