Thermal Performance Benchmarking: NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

This project proposes to seek out the SOA power electronics and motor technologies to thermally benchmark their performance. The benchmarking will focus on the thermal aspects of the system. System metrics including the junction-to-coolant thermal resistance and the parasitic power consumption (i.e., coolant flow rates and pressure drop performance) of the heat exchanger will be measured. The type of heat exchanger (i.e., channel flow, brazed, folded-fin) and any enhancement features (i.e., enhanced surfaces) will be identified and evaluated to understand their effect on performance. Additionally, the thermal resistance/conductivity of the power module's passive stack and motor's laminations and copper winding bundles will also be measured. The research conducted will allow insight into the various cooling strategies to understand which heat exchangers are most effective in terms of thermal performance and efficiency. Modeling analysis and fluid-flow visualization may also be carried out to better understand the heat transfer and fluid dynamics of the systems.