Comparison of Heat-Pipe Cooling System Design Processes in Railway Propulsion Inverter Considering Power Module Reliability

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of the heat-pipe cooling system design processes on the reliability of the power module in a railway propulsion inverter was investigated. The existing design processes for the heat-pipe cooling system guarantee that the junction temperature of power devices does not exceed the maximum allowable junction temperature when the railway propulsion inverter operates under its mission profile; therefore, each step of the design process was reviewed to analyze the effect of the heat-pipe cooling system. Based on the processes, in the calculation for the required thermal resistance of the heat-pipe cooling system, two difference losses were considered with the thermal resistances of the insulated gate bipolar mode transistor (IGBT) module and the thermal grease at an interface between the baseplate of IGBT module and heat-pipe cooling system. The control scheme and mission profile of the train were taken into account to calculate the power losses. Then, the designed heat-pipe cooling systems were compared in terms of the size and weight. In addition, the junction temperatures and lifetimes of the power module with heat-pipe cooling systems designed by different power losses were estimated and compared. Finally, guidelines for a heat-pipe system cooling design are proposed.

Effect of Solder Layer Void Damage on the Temperature of IGBT Modules

“…where S is the effective contact area of adjacent two layers, L is the thickness of each layer, and θ is the thermal diffusion angle. Therefore, the heat transfer area is given by Equation (7). [ ] 2 ( )…”

“…Surendar [14] et al simulated IGBT modules under CTC (conventional thermal cycling) and TSC (thermal In addition to being affected by the working environment, the module will also be affected by long-term temperature changes during use. The high temperature will lead to internal fatigue aging, and the reliability [7][8][9] will be reduced. The main fatigue failure [10,11] of IGBT modules is the failure of the solder layer.…”

IGBT Energy Losses Analysis and Heat Dissipation System Design of Three-level Inverter

“…where 𝑃 is the total power losses of the IGBT and 𝑃 is the total power losses of the FWD. The converter heat dissipation system is a forced air cooling system, and it is mainly divided into the following three steps [6][7][8]: 1) Power electronic device losses calculation; 2) Based on the calculation results, the preliminary design is to select the heat dissipation sink and air channel, etc. ; 3) Conduct the modeling and simulation according to the preliminary design, optimize the design, and then implement the experimental verification.…”

Predictive model of cooling system for railway electric propulsion: validation of design choices and last mile analysis

“…Cooling based on the heat pipe is another system widely used, especially for urban trains. This system has better heat dissipation performance than the heat-sink cooling system in the same size, and there are fewer maintenance points compared to the water-cooling systems [2].…”