Evaluation of the thermal performance with different fin shapes of the air-cooled heat sink for power electronic applications

The proper selection of the heat sink, which is attached at the insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module to dissipate heat by electric losses of the IGBT/diode chips, is important to satisfy the design criterion of the IGBT module. Prior to the performance evaluation of the air-cooled heat sink using the numerical method, the suitability of the simulation model was validated through the experimental result of the developed product. The simulation model predicted the hotspot temperature on the heat sink within a margin of error of 5.6 percent. From the verified numerical method, the thermal performance of the heat sink was evaluated according to the shape of the fins. The heat sink with the perforated fins had an excellent thermal performance because the rate of increment of the dissipation area was greater than the rate of decrement of the convection coefficient. The selected heat sink with the perforated fins was attached at the IGBT module and the junction temperature of the IGBT module was predicted. The predicted junction temperature was 131.4°C and the result satisfied the design criterion of 140.0°C