Internally Cooled Magnetic Cores

The goal of this SBIR project is to demonstrate fabrication of advanced cooling solutions to achieve high power density magnetic components for the next generation of power electronic systems. These novel methods of cooling will allow more than two times the power density of existing magnetic cores. The proposed technology enables higher power density magnetic core designs by significantly improving heat transfer from the core to the coolant system using cooling channels formed integrally in the core. The Phase II effort will focus on improving the fabrication process and performance capabilities of internally-cooled magnetic cores developed in Phase I through an iterative design, build, and test development process. A second cooling approach is also proposed that could be used separately or in tandem with the internally-cooled cores. This approach uses ceramic microchannel heat exchangers that are directly bonded to the surface of the magnetic core providing a lower thermal resistance between the core and the coolant than can be achieved with existing metal cold-plate cooling configurations. Deliverables for the project will be internally cooled cores for an ARMY application, internally cooled cores for a commercial application, and microchannel devices for externally cooling cores.