A study on passive cooling in subsea power electronics

Faisal Wani; Udai Shipurkar; Jianning Dong; Henk Polinder

doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2879273

A study on passive cooling in subsea power electronics

Faisal Wani, Udai Shipurkar, Jianning Dong, Henk Polinder

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Abstract

This paper proposes a simplified approach to model the thermal behavior of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in a subsea power electronic converter. The models are based on empirical relations for natural convection in water, and IGBT datasheet values. The proposed model can be used in the design of subsea converters and in the reliability analysis of their IGBTs. Experimental results are provided to validate the proposed thermal model. Suggestions are made to minimize the net thermal resistance by introducing a high conductivity thermal material as a mounting plate between the IGBT and the cabinet walls. Impact of the mounting plate dimensions, and material properties on the junction temperature of the IGBTs is studied. A case study analysis is made on a 100 kVA converter. Results indicate that the thermal spreading resistances in the mounting plate and the cabinet walls contribute significantly to the overall thermal resistance. Spreading resistances can be mitigated by appropriate design measures. Furthermore, it was observed that the passive cooling in water is not as effective as the forced water cooling. However, the low cost, simple design and higher reliability of passive cooling systems might make them a favorable choice for subsea systems.

Original language	English
Article number	8520864
Pages (from-to)	67543-67554
Number of pages	12
Journal	IEEE Access
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2879273
Publication status	Published - 2018

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

Analytical models
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Convection
Cooling
IGBT
Insulated gate bipolar transistors
Natural Convection
Submerged power electronics
Thermal management of electronics
Thermal resistance
tidal turbines

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10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2879273

A_Study_on_Passive_Cooling_in_Subsea_Power_ElectronicsFinal published version, 2.76 MB

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title = "A study on passive cooling in subsea power electronics",

abstract = "This paper proposes a simplified approach to model the thermal behavior of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in a subsea power electronic converter. The models are based on empirical relations for natural convection in water, and IGBT datasheet values. The proposed model can be used in the design of subsea converters and in the reliability analysis of their IGBTs. Experimental results are provided to validate the proposed thermal model. Suggestions are made to minimize the net thermal resistance by introducing a high conductivity thermal material as a mounting plate between the IGBT and the cabinet walls. Impact of the mounting plate dimensions, and material properties on the junction temperature of the IGBTs is studied. A case study analysis is made on a 100 kVA converter. Results indicate that the thermal spreading resistances in the mounting plate and the cabinet walls contribute significantly to the overall thermal resistance. Spreading resistances can be mitigated by appropriate design measures. Furthermore, it was observed that the passive cooling in water is not as effective as the forced water cooling. However, the low cost, simple design and higher reliability of passive cooling systems might make them a favorable choice for subsea systems.",

keywords = "Analytical models, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Convection, Cooling, IGBT, Insulated gate bipolar transistors, Natural Convection, Submerged power electronics, Thermal management of electronics, Thermal resistance, tidal turbines",

author = "Faisal Wani and Udai Shipurkar and Jianning Dong and Henk Polinder",

note = "Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository {\textquoteleft}You share, we take care!{\textquoteright} – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2879273",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

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AU - Wani, Faisal

AU - Shipurkar, Udai

AU - Dong, Jianning

AU - Polinder, Henk

N1 - Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - This paper proposes a simplified approach to model the thermal behavior of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in a subsea power electronic converter. The models are based on empirical relations for natural convection in water, and IGBT datasheet values. The proposed model can be used in the design of subsea converters and in the reliability analysis of their IGBTs. Experimental results are provided to validate the proposed thermal model. Suggestions are made to minimize the net thermal resistance by introducing a high conductivity thermal material as a mounting plate between the IGBT and the cabinet walls. Impact of the mounting plate dimensions, and material properties on the junction temperature of the IGBTs is studied. A case study analysis is made on a 100 kVA converter. Results indicate that the thermal spreading resistances in the mounting plate and the cabinet walls contribute significantly to the overall thermal resistance. Spreading resistances can be mitigated by appropriate design measures. Furthermore, it was observed that the passive cooling in water is not as effective as the forced water cooling. However, the low cost, simple design and higher reliability of passive cooling systems might make them a favorable choice for subsea systems.

AB - This paper proposes a simplified approach to model the thermal behavior of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in a subsea power electronic converter. The models are based on empirical relations for natural convection in water, and IGBT datasheet values. The proposed model can be used in the design of subsea converters and in the reliability analysis of their IGBTs. Experimental results are provided to validate the proposed thermal model. Suggestions are made to minimize the net thermal resistance by introducing a high conductivity thermal material as a mounting plate between the IGBT and the cabinet walls. Impact of the mounting plate dimensions, and material properties on the junction temperature of the IGBTs is studied. A case study analysis is made on a 100 kVA converter. Results indicate that the thermal spreading resistances in the mounting plate and the cabinet walls contribute significantly to the overall thermal resistance. Spreading resistances can be mitigated by appropriate design measures. Furthermore, it was observed that the passive cooling in water is not as effective as the forced water cooling. However, the low cost, simple design and higher reliability of passive cooling systems might make them a favorable choice for subsea systems.

KW - Analytical models

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KW - Convection

KW - Cooling

KW - IGBT

KW - Insulated gate bipolar transistors

KW - Natural Convection

KW - Submerged power electronics

KW - Thermal management of electronics

KW - Thermal resistance

KW - tidal turbines

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DO - 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2879273

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SP - 67543

EP - 67554

JO - IEEE Access

JF - IEEE Access

M1 - 8520864

ER -

A study on passive cooling in subsea power electronics

Abstract

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Keywords

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