Abstract
A thermosyphon loop, designed for the thermal management of a large Medium voltage power converter 5 MW overall, corresponding to a 2.4 kW thermal load per cooling unit) is presented. The device is mainly made of an evaporator, a condenser and a reservoir connected with plastic liquid and vapor lines. Novec 649 (3M) has been chosen as the working fluid due to environmental and electrical concerns. A model of the loop is described, and its predictions are compared with experiments. A first comparison yields a maximum mean deviation of 20 % between experimental results and numerical simulation at the maximum coolant temperature. The main sources of errors are identified, and improvements are proposed for better model accuracy. • Selection of an environment-friendly fluid (Novec 649). • Entire model of the loop thermo-syphon is presented. • Experimental validation on a full-scale protype (up to 2400 W thermal load) shows < 20% deviation.
Highlights
Recent developments in the field of power electronics, and in particular the advent of wide-bandgap semiconductor devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) [3] allow for more compact systems, and as a consequence result in denser heat fluxes
We present a two-phase Closed Loop Thermosyphons (CLT) dedicated to a large power electronic converter (2400 W max. heat dissipation)
In addition to presenting experimental results, we describe a theoretical model (Section 3) based on coupling heat, mass, and momentum equations, in the different volumes of the loop
Summary
Recent developments in the field of power electronics, and in particular the advent of wide-bandgap semiconductor devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) [3] allow for more compact systems, and as a consequence result in denser heat fluxes. There is a need for efficient thermal management systems which can cool semiconductor chips dissipating a high power density (in the order of 100 W/cm2) down to a temperature of 100 °C or less (which, in our case, corresponds to a temperature difference ΔT of 60 °C with respect to the temperature of the environment) Such requirements are beyond the limits of air cooling technologies. Two-phase cooling devices are seen as the in line to replace air or liquid cooling systems as they offer the possibility of dissipating higher heat fluxes Many of these systems require no pumps or moving parts as fluid circulation can rely on capillary force [5], gravity [6], electrostatic force [7] or magnetism [8]. CLTs can manage more complex configurations, such as multiple heat sources: Kim et al [13] made a CLT with two evaporators
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