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Aluminum IGBT heat dissipation design meets the thermal performance required by EV

The electronic components of the car should be reliable and durable, and need no maintenance during the life of the car. However, for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, electronic components must be subjected to high pressure and high temperature environment, it is necessary to have liquid cooling. Obviously, cooling technology requires careful technical research and development, and materials need to pass the assessment of reliable durability and applicability to ensure stable operation. Even with high technical requirements, OEM customers continue to pursue high-volume, low-cost, high-quality products.

Dana's brand LONG®Our thermal management products have many years of experience in thermal conduction solutions, providing the basis for the innovative development of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) heat sinks. Although copper has been traditionally used in automobile manufacturing for decades, it has been gradually replaced by lighter and lower-cost aluminum in recent years. The IGBT product package also goes beyond electronic solutions in the conventional sense. Today, the industry tends to use newly developed semiconductor materials to customize designs, but tailor-made product packages require thermal management equipment to meet key customer needs, such as lower cost, higher quality, and lighter weight.

Dana's aluminum IGBT thermal design is an excellent solution that can effectively cool down, reduce fuel consumption, have corrosion resistance, and can even be recycled. This optimized design provides the thermal performance and rapid heat transfer required for electric and hybrid vehicles.

In addition, Dana has also assembled many other features on this product to meet industry requirements. As the market tends to tailor thermal solutions with higher current density semiconductor materials, Dana engineers chose thermal resistance accordingly. Dana has therefore designed a unique cooling system specifically for these individual requirements.

Power electronics engineers are also constantly seeking to achieve high durability against thermal fatigue. Overheating of the IGBT stamper may cause peeling of the inner layer to eventually fail. Dana's thermal solution limits the maximum temperature at the junction by maintaining the appropriate heat increase between the layers of the entire system. Not only that, this compact and innovative design can dissipate heat from both surfaces of the power module to achieve optimal performance.

"We not only attach the heat sink to the IGBT products. We will customize a set of equipment according to the special configuration of performance requirements, and will be compact and lightweight." Dana Power Group Technology Business Development Manager Nick Carman said.

In order to create such a precise heat dissipation product, Dana uses fluid-free continuous aluminum welding instead of messy solvent welding. Due to the addition of salts and ions in the process of solvent welding, it will react with the refrigerant, resulting in the accumulation of conductivity. Dana's patented fluid-free welding process ensures that the workpiece is clean by eliminating contamination and also maintains low conductivity of the heat dissipation fluid.

By working with electronics manufacturers, Dana ensures that IGBTs can be matched to component interfaces in all models. Dana engineers improved bonding technology to install the interface layer to make better connectivity and optimize heat conduction. In addition, flatness is a key component interface. If not flat, it may cause the die to overheat. By reducing the contact resistance, Dana improves the thermal conductivity, thereby significantly improving the reliability of the vehicle.