Improving the Performance of High Temperature Power Electronic Devices

Power conversion Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) used on advanced tactical aircraft use liquid cooling and complex packaging geometries to provide adequate thermal management. Typical LRUs could have cooling loops operating at 70 deg C inlet temperatures, enclosures which dissipate hundreds of watts of electrical power, and which have silicon based semiconductors rated for operation at a maximum temperature of 125 deg C. These packages have evolved over many years and many creative ideas have enabled that performance. However, these tactical platforms are continually being challenged to increase performance, and new, innovative advances are required. We will use a two-prong approach to attack this problem by evaluating (1) alternative electronic device technologies and (2) thermal management strategies which allow operation at higher coolant temperatures. During Phase I we will develop innovative electronic topologies and thermal management systems to allow these advances. We will evaluate the expected improvement in performance of our concepts by developing an aggregate electrical/thermal analytical model for an advanced LRU thermal management system. During Phase II we will fabricate and evaluate performance of a prototype system, comparing actual results to the model predictions. BENEFIT: Our advanced electronics and thermal management systems will improve LRUs required for advanced tactical platforms. Applications include power conversion units such as Nonlinear Inverters (NLI) and Inverter-Converter-Controllers (ICCs). These concepts will have broad application to military and commercial equipment such as hybrid electric vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.