An advanced microprocessor based temperature controlled heatsink

This paper describes an advanced temperature controlled heat sink which can be used both for testing of single power semiconductors and for testing of power electronic circuits such as inverters including snubbers, rectifiers, power supplies etc. The heatsink is equipped with a mounting fixture which makes it possible to mount small discrete devices as well as large power modules. The heatsink is controlled by an 8-bit microcontroller which also communicates to a host computer. The heat sink is heated by built-in heating elements and cooled by a fan. The system is air-based to obtain a flexible, mobile and low cost system. A high performance power supply controls power to the heater/cooler system. The power supply has a high power factor rectifier as AC/DC power converter with almost unity power factor and a buck converter as DC/DC power converter. Temperature is measured at five different places in the heat sink and the microcontroller can control the temperature independently in the heat sink. The heat sink operates in the temperature range of 25°-130°C with fast dynamic response. Test shows low line-side harmonics, high power factor and efficiency higher than 0.75 of the power supply. It is concluded that the controlled heat sink works well. The heat sink is integrated in a complete measurement system for power electronic components and test results on an IGBT are presented