Microchannel Thermal Management System With Two-Phase Flow for Power Electronics Over 500 W/cm2 Heat Dissipation

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power electronics Vol. 35; no. 10; pp. 10592 - 10600
• Main Authors: Hou, Fengze, Zhang, Hengyun, Huang, Dezhu, Fan, Jiajie, Liu, Fengman, Lin, Tingyu, Cao, Liqiang, Fan, Xuejun, Ferreira, Braham, Zhang, Guoqi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aluminum; Cooling systems; Electron tubes; Global warming; Heat; Heat flux; Heat sinks; Heat transfer; Heating systems; Microchannel thermal management system (MTMS); Microchannels; power electronics; R1234yf; Refrigerants; SiC MOSFET; Silicon carbide; Substrates; Temperature measurement; Test vehicles; Thermal management; Throttling; Two phase flow
• ISSN: 0885-8993; 1941-0107
• DOI: 10.1109/TPEL.2020.2985117

In this article, a microchannel thermal management system (MTMS) with the two-phase flow using the refrigerant R1234yf with low global warming potential is presented. The thermal test vehicles (TTVs) were made of either single or multiple thermal test chips embedded in the substrates, which were then attached to the MTMS. The system included two identical aluminum microchannel heat sinks (MHSs) connected in series in the cooling loop, which also consisted of a gas flowmeter, a miniature compressor, a condenser, a throttling device, and accessory measurement components. The experimental results showed that the thermal management system could dissipate a heat flux of 526 W/cm 2 while maintaining the junction temperature below 120 °C. For SiC mosfet with a higher junction temperature, e.g., 175 °C, the current system is expected to dissipate a heat flux as high as about 750 W/cm 2 . The effects of the rotational speed of the compressor, the opening of the throttling device, TTV layout on MHS, and a downstream heater on the cooling performance of the system were analyzed in detail. The study shows that the present thermal management with a two-phase flow system is a promising cooling technology for the high heat flux SiC devices.