THERMAL MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS FOR POWER ELECTRONIC MODULES

The amount of electronics in vehicles of any kind increases steadily, for each new generation more functions, previously realized mechanically, are solved electronically, simultaneously completely new application-areas are invented that demand electronics too. The growth happen in the control electronics as well as in the power electronics areas: from advanced motor-controllers to power electronics in electric power steering, electrical braking, advanced fan drives, electrical turbo generators, piezoelectric valve controllers and of course starter generator designs. A three dimensional thermal finite element (3DFE) simulator and a thermal camera have been used to investigate the thermal heat distribution in a power module. The heat distribution in a MOSFET-module with and without a Cu-baseplate, working as a heat spreader has been studied. I