Investigation of thermal management method for coil and capacitor in automobile ECU

When using a thermal sheet for cooling, heat-generating components are pressed strongly against the thermal sheet to maximize the contact area and reduce the thermal sheet thickness. However, such pressure can reduce the reliability of the solder joints on a printed circuit board. In this study, a novel heat dissipation method of achieving enhanced heat dissipation without the need for applying pressure was investigated. In this method, electrolytic capacitors and electric coils are immersed into an uncured thermal gel. The gel is then cured and adsorbed to the heat-generating components even if they have complex shapes. As a result of comparing the conventional method and the proposed method, the effectiveness of the proposed method was confirmed.