On the application of liquid metal cooling for electronic switching devices

Abstract

Increasingly smaller and lighter power electronics converters are needed for the advancement of electrified transport. The development of high heat flux heat sinks is imperative to maintain modern converters at an operable temperature. So far, liquid metal based heat sinks have not received as much attention as other solutions, yet they provide a multitude of benefits beyond their superior thermal conductivity. Their use with compact magnetohydrodynamic pumping systems, straight-forward incorporations of active cooling techniques, elimination of water corrosion issues in power converter systems using press-pack IGBT’s and a significant increase in thermal performance in conventional pin–fin structures are demonstrated in this paper. Some additional functionalities of liquid metal systems which could be explored in the future are also highlighted.