This invention was made with government support under DE-AR0000889 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.
The embodiments herein relate to systems for cooling of electronic components and more specifically to an oscillating heat pipe integrated thermal management system for power electronics.
Power electronic devices and modules are used in a wide range of applications. For example, in electric motor controllers, switches and diodes are employed to define rectifiers, inverters, and more generally, power converters. In a typical inverter, for example, incoming single or three-phase AC power is converted to DC power, and power electronic switches, such as insolated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are switched to generate an output waveform from the DC power that is applied to drive a motor. Such inverter drives are particularly useful insomuch as the speed of a driven motor is a function of the frequency of the output waveform. Other similar devices may modify AC power and DC power, convert DC power to AC power and vice versa, and so forth. Other power electronic devices incorporated in such circuits may include silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs), as examples.
Depending upon the size and rating of the circuits and components used in the power electronic circuits, a plurality of components are typically disposed on a common support or substrate to form a module. A continuing issue in such components is the management of heat that is generated by the components. In general, generated heat must be removed to protect the components from damage and to extend their useful life.