Industrial Control

Power electronics technology is used in electronics to control and convert/conserve electric power. Therefore, power electronics technology can be found across multiple types of industries in devices such as inverters, converters, and rectifiers. The advances in semiconductor and power electronics manufacturing are leading toward constantly increasing power densities and heat fluxes. The smaller module sizes and higher power dissipations are challenging the existing thermal management solutions, and the traditional aluminum heat sinks are not sufficient anymore.

The current trends, such as highly integrated components, increasing voltage, current capability, and miniaturization, lead to challenges: higher power loss and higher heat dissipation density. Currently, the power levels of IGBTs are excessive for the capabilities of traditional heatsink solutions. Traditional thermal solutions such as heat sinks and heat pipes are not capable of providing enough cooling power, and therefore the performance of the VFDs suffers greatly due to high heat flux and varying environments. The alternative option is liquid cooling which increases the complexity of the design as well as the price of cooling components.

The advances in semiconductor and power electronics manufacturing are leading toward constantly increasing power densities and heat fluxes. The smaller module sizes and higher power dissipations are challenging the existing thermal management solutions, and the traditional aluminum heat sinks are not sufficient anymore.

New improved heat sink designs are needed, capable of handling higher power densities without compromising device reliability, performance, and service life.