Dynamic compact thermal model for smart electro-thermal simulation: Application to automotive power device

This paper presents a new and innovative methodology for power components manufacturers to generate accurate boundary condition independent dynamic Compact Thermal Models (“BCI” DCTMs). The originality of this methodology summarized by: taking into account of the thermal behavior of electronic components containing several cooling surfaces, and representing the non-linear properties of materials, while keeping a simple and recurring structure of generated models. Moreover, the dependence of dissipated power on temperature is considered. The proposed method makes it possible to obtain DCTMs with a limited number of measurements or 3D thermal simulations. The methodology to build the DCTM is based on the extraction of equivalent thermal RC network. The precision of the RC thermal network is improved by using variable resistances and capacitances related to the heat fluxes so that the compact model can adapt its parameters automatically with boundary conditions.