Thermal Characterization of Non-Isolated DC to DC Convertor

Improved performance of semiconductor devices in recent years has resulted in consequent increase in power dissipation. Hence thermal characterization of components becomes important from an overall thermal design perspective of the system. This study looks at a high performance non-isolated point of load power module (a DC to DC converter) meant for advanced computing and server applications. Thermal characteristics of the module were experimentally analyzed by placing the power module on a bare test board (with no insulation) inside a wind tunnel with thermocouples attached to it. There were three devices on this module that dissipate power. There were two FETs (Field Effect Transistors) and an inductor which can be considered as sources. The consolidated power dissipation from the module was calculated by measuring the input voltage and input current while keeping the output voltage and current constant. Temperatures at various points on the module and the test card were recorded for different air flow velocities and overall power dissipation. Subsequently this set up was numerically analyzed using a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code with the objective of comparing the results with experimental data previously obtained.