A CFD simulation of the liquid-cooled pipe conductors for the high power and high frequency power electronic circuits

Abstract

In recent years, depending on the developments in semiconductor technology; the performance of power electronic circuits has been increased significantly with higher power and higher switching frequency capability. However, the higher switching frequency increases both core and winding losses of the magnetic components (such as inductor and transformer) contained in the power electronics circuits. In high frequency inductors, during the rippled current flow, the winding conductors cause abnormal temperature rises due to the skin and proximity effects. This phenomenon cannot be precisely determined by mathematical methods in the design phase. In this study, the liquid cooled pipe conductors are recommended in the windings of high-frequency and high-power inductors employed in the power electronic circuits, which can be used in renewable energy systems and electric vehicles. These pipe conductors have been modeled with the Ansys-Mechanical Fluent software and the temperature values have been determined with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Thus, the cooling performance for the inductor winding versus the liquid circulation through the copper pipe conductor has been reported.