Rapid modeling of power electronics thermal management technologies

A methodology was developed to rapidly evaluate trade-offs associated with alternative packaging configurations and thermal management technologies for power electronics packaging. The methodology includes the integration of available experimental correlations, computational fluid dynamics results, parametric 3D finite element analysis (FEA) thermal models, and established heat exchanger analysis techniques. The parametric 3D FEA model enables sensitivity studies related to the power module package configuration and cooling technologies. This paper focuses on the study of alternative cooling technologies as they are applied to a fixed power module package. The methodology is applied to a double-sided power module package for several alternative cooling technologies.