Advanced Direct Energy Conversion for Power Electronics Cooling

A new metal matrix composite material consisting of natural graphite particulates processed into a designed reinforcement architecture that, after pressure infiltration casting with molten Al alloy, results in materials with thermal conductivity (TC) controllable over a range of 600 to 750 W/mK and thermal expansion controllable over the range of 7 to 3 ppm/K. This material is proposed as a spreader and as a natural circulation cooled heat sink to be integrated with a solid state thermoelectric module to generate energy from waste heat sources. This energy can be utilized for powering a pump for circulating fluid for cooling a power conversion module. The cold plate for the power conversion module can also be made from this high thermal conductivity material and can be optimized for low pressure drop and low power consumption in pumping liquid through the cold plate. The proposed scheme can not only maximize the power generated from any given thermoelectric or other solid state technology, but also use that power most efficiently by minimizing the power drop through the channels