Power Electronics Thermal Management

This is a section in the Fuel Cell Technologies Office's Annual Progress Report that summarizes the research to develop new power electronics thermal management technologies to increase power density, enable high WBG temperature operation, and decrease cost. One of the main challenges to achieving high power densities is associated with packaging of high-temperature (250°C) WBG devices near lower-temperature-rated components (e.g., electrical boards and capacitors). Additionally, the high junction temperatures of the WBG devices will result in large temperature gradients through the power module layers that will present reliability challenges and require higher-temperature substrates and bonding materials. This project also supports a collaborative research effort between NREL and John Deere to research and develop advanced cooling technologies (two-phase cooling) for power electronics in heavy-duty vehicles. This work is part of a collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) and, due to the proprietary nature of the work, the results of this task are not provided in this report.