At present, single-phase liquid, forced convection cooled heat sinks with fins are used to cool power electronics in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Although use of fins in the cooling channels increases heat transfer rates considerably, a second low-temperature radiator and associated pumping system are still required in HEVs. This additional cooling system adds weight and cost while decreasing the efficiency of HEVs. With the objective of eliminating this additional low-temperature radiator and pumping system in HEVs, an alternative cooling technology, subcooled boiling in the cooling channels, was investigated in the present study. Numerical heat transfer simulations were performed using subcooled boiling in the power electronics cooling channels with the coolant supplied from the existing main engine cooling system. Results show that this subcooled boiling system is capable of removing 25% more heat from the power electronics than the conventional forced convection cooling technology, or it can reduce the junction temperature of the power electronics at the current heat removal rate. With the 25% increased heat transfer option, high heat fluxes up to 250 W/cm2 (typical for wideband-gap semiconductor applications) are possible by using the subcooled boiling system.
Subcooled Boiling Heat Transfer for Cooling of Power Electronics in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
and Industrial Engineering,
e-mail: dsingh@anl.gov
and Industrial Engineering,
e-mail: dsingh@anl.gov
Contributed by the Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PACKAGING. Manuscript received October 13, 2014; final manuscript received June 15, 2015; published online July 7, 2015. Assoc. Editor: Sandeep Tonapi.
The United States Government retains, and by accepting the article for publication, the publisher acknowledges that the United States Government retains, a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Zhao, W., France, D. M., Yu, W., and Singh, D. (September 1, 2015). "Subcooled Boiling Heat Transfer for Cooling of Power Electronics in Hybrid Electric Vehicles." ASME. J. Electron. Packag. September 2015; 137(3): 031013. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4030896
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