A Thorough Review of Cooling Concepts and Thermal Management Techniques for Automotive WBG Inverters: Topology, Technology and Integration Level
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energies Review A Thorough Review of Cooling Concepts and Thermal Management Techniques for Automotive WBG Inverters: Topology, Technology and Integration Level Ekaterina Abramushkina 1,2,* , Assel Zhaksylyk 1,2, Thomas Geury 1,2 , Mohamed El Baghdadi 1,2 and Omar Hegazy 1,2 1 Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI), Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology (ETEC), Faculty of Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1050 Brussel, Belgium; [email protected] (A.Z.); [email protected] (T.G.); [email protected] (M.E.B.); [email protected] (O.H.) 2 Flanders Make, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The development of electric vehicles (EVs) is an important step towards clean and green cities. An electric powertrain provides power to the vehicle and consists of a charger, a battery, an inverter, and a motor as the main components. Supplied by a battery pack, the automotive inverter manages the power of the motor. EVs require a highly efficient inverter, which satisfies low cost, size, and weight requirements. One approach to meeting these requirements is to use the new wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, which are being widely investigated in the industry as an alternative to silicon switches. WBG devices have superior intrinsic properties, such as high thermal Citation: Abramushkina, E.; flux, of up to 120 W/cm2 (on average); junction temperature of 175–200 ◦C; blocking voltage limit of Zhaksylyk, A.; Geury, T.; El Baghdadi, about 6.5 kV; switching frequency about 20-fold higher than that of Si; and up to 73% lower switching M.; Hegazy, O. A Thorough Review losses with a lower conduction voltage drop. This study presents a review of WBG-based inverter of Cooling Concepts and Thermal cooling systems to investigate trends in cooling techniques and changes associated with the use Management Techniques for of WBG devices. The aim is to consider suitable cooling techniques for WBG inverters at different Automotive WBG Inverters: power levels. Topology, Technology and Integration Level. Energies 2021, 14, 4981. Keywords: cooling system; wide-bandgap (WBG); silicon carbide (SiC); gallium nitride (GaN); https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164981 automotive inverter; electric vehicle Academic Editor: Hongwen He Received: 15 June 2021 Accepted: 4 August 2021 1. Introduction Published: 13 August 2021 The electric vehicle (EV) market has grown rapidly for several decades as an alterna- tive to conventional internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, resulting in reduced air Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral pollution [1]. The trend of reducing emissions in the atmosphere is demonstrated by the with regard to jurisdictional claims in results of the voluntary agreement between the European Commission and the European published maps and institutional affil- Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers iations. Association, and the Korean Automobile Manufacturers Association. This agreement has a target to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 37.5% compared to a 2021 baseline, which equates to the reduction of CO2 emissions to 59.4 g/km by 2030 (fleet-average emissions are tested through the New European Driving Cycle) [2,3]. Moreover, the European Union Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. (EU) has set targets to reduce greenhouse emissions in the 2030 climate and energy frame- Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. work to 55% compared to 1990 [3]. According to the ACEA, the percentage of electrically This article is an open access article chargeable and hybrid cars compared to the total of all newly registered cars in Europe distributed under the terms and increased from 4.3% to 22.4% between 2017 and 2020 (Figure1)[4]. conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Energies 2021, 14, 4981. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164981 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies EnergiesEnergies2021 2021, ,14 14,, 4981 x FOR PEER REVIEW 22 of 2121 FigureFigure 1.1. ACEAACEA statistics:statistics: fuelfuel typestypes ofof newnew passengerpassenger carscars inin Europe,Europe, %.%. TheThe propulsionpropulsion systemsystem playsplays aa centralcentral rolerole inin providingproviding tractivetractive efforteffort andand energyenergy managementmanagement ofof anan electricelectric vehicle.vehicle. TheThe propulsionpropulsion systemsystem includesincludes thethe energyenergy storage,storage, powerpower converters,converters, electricelectric motors,motors, andand associatedassociated controllerscontrollers [5[5].]. EVEV propulsionpropulsion systemssystems havehave beenbeen steadilysteadily improved,improved, withwith thethe mainmain developmentdevelopment trendstrends includingincluding higherhigher powerpower density,density, andand reductionreduction inin size,size, weight,weight, andand costcost [6[6].]. TheThe increaseincrease inin powerpower densitydensity andand decreasedecrease inin size size can can lead lead to to poor poor heat heat dissipation dissipation and and thermal thermal stress, stress, which which in turnin turn leads leads to additionalto additional failures failures of powerof power converters converters [7]. [7]. Thus, Thus, to boostto boost reliability, reliability, the the main main challenge challenge of theof the propulsion’s propulsion’s thermal thermal management management is to is obtainto obtain a compromise a compromise between between power power density den- andsity size.and size. This This compromise compromise allows allows thermal thermal stress stress to to be be avoided avoided and and provides provides a a better better operatingoperating conditioncondition throughthrough aa properproper coolingcooling system system design design [ 8[8].]. Initially,Initially, coolingcooling systemssystems inin EVsEVs usedused forcedforced airair cooling,cooling, beforebefore evolvingevolving toto liquidliquid coolingcooling as a more more effective effective solution solution [9]. [9 ].Because Because air aircooling cooling is less is lessthermally thermally efficient efficient than than liquid cooling, in current automotive applications the inverter air cooling is only liquid cooling, in current automotive applications the inverter air cooling is only possible possible for low power levels. Liquid cooling of EVs is usually provided using a low- for low power levels. Liquid cooling of EVs is usually provided using a low-temperature temperature cooling loop (65 ◦C) for the power inverter [10,11], a high-temperature loop cooling loop (65 °C) for the power inverter [10,11], a high-temperature loop for the electric for the electric machine [12], and a separate battery-cooling loop (20–40 ◦C) [13–15]. This machine [12], and a separate battery-cooling loop (20–40 °C) [13–15]. This research focuses research focuses on the cooling design issues of automotive inverters with new wide- on the cooling design issues of automotive inverters with new wide-bandgap (WBG) sem- bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. Recent contributions regarding the advanced cooling of iconductors. Recent contributions regarding the advanced cooling of automotive inverters automotive inverters show two main approaches. The first approach is to eliminate the show two main approaches. The first approach is to eliminate the low temperature loop low temperature loop through high thermal performance cooling circuits, such as direct through high thermal performance cooling circuits, such as direct liquid cooling and dual- liquid cooling and dual-sided cooling. [13,16–19]. The second approach is to use air cooling sided cooling. [13,16–19]. The second approach is to use air cooling for the inverter and for the inverter and machine, instead of separate cooling loops for each. An example is machine, instead of separate cooling loops for each. An example is the integrated motor the integrated motor drive (IMD) [20]. The air-cooling loop for the IMDs requires the inverterdrive (IMD) to operate [20]. The at highair-cooling temperatures. loop for Becausethe IMDs the requires inverter the operating inverter temperaturesto operate at high are limitedtemperatures. with silicon Because (Si) semiconductors,the inverter operating using newtemperatures semiconductor are limited materials with may silicon lead (Si) to widersemiconductors, applications using of air new cooling. semiconductor WBG semiconductors materials may are lead a possible to wider substitution applications for of air Si semiconductorscooling. WBG semiconductors in automotive applications. are a possible substitution for Si semiconductors in auto- motiveThe applications. thermal performance of a device can be evaluated using different parameters. The The thermal performance of a device can be evaluated using different parameters. thermal resistance, Rth, is a parameter of power modules that indicates the heat transfer capabilityThe thermal and resistance, determines Rth the, is temperaturea parameter differenceof power modules between athat heat indicates source and the aheat case trans- or a fer capability and determines the temperature difference between a heat source and a case heat sink, if specified. Therefore, the junction to heat sink thermal resistance value, Rthj-h, is aor crucial a heat parameter sink, if specified. for heat dissipationTherefore, efficiency.the junction In addition,to heat sink the designthermal of resistance power modules value, Rthj-h, is a crucial parameter for heat dissipation efficiency. In addition, the