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  4. Efficient Microchannel Cooling of Multiple Power Devices with Compact Flow Distribution for High Power-Density Converters
 
research article

Efficient Microchannel Cooling of Multiple Power Devices with Compact Flow Distribution for High Power-Density Converters

Van Erp, Remco  
•
Kampitsis, Georgios  
•
Matioli, Elison  
2020
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics

In this work, we describe a new approach for compact and energy-efficient cooling of converters where multiple miniaturized microfluidic cold-plates are attached to transistors providing local heat extraction. The high pressure drop associated with microchannels was minimized by connecting these cold-plates in parallel using a compact 3D-printed flow distribution manifold. We present the modeling, design, fabrication and experimental evaluation of this microfluidic cooling system and provide a design strategy for achieving energy-efficient cooling with minimized pumping power. An integrated cooling system is experimentally demonstrated on a 2.5 kW switched capacitor DC-DC converter, cooling down 20 GaN transistors. A thermal resistance of 0.2 K/W was measured at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/s and a pressure drop of 600 mbar, enabling the cooling of a total of 300 W of losses in the converter using only 75 mW of pumping power, which can be realized with small micropumps. Experimental results show a 10-fold increase in power density compared to conventional cooling, potentially up to 30 kW/l. This proposed cooling approach offers a new way of co-engineering the cooling and the electronics together to achieve more compact and efficient power converters.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1109/TPEL.2019.2959736
Author(s)
Van Erp, Remco  
Kampitsis, Georgios  
Matioli, Elison  
Date Issued

2020

Published in
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
Volume

35

Issue

7

Start page

7235

End page

7245

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
POWERLAB  
FunderGrant Number

H2020

679425

Available on Infoscience
December 18, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/164066
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