Comparison of Different Designs of a 42-V/14-V DC/DC Converter Regarding Losses and Thermal Aspects

In this paper, thermal analysis for a 42-V/14-V bidirectional dc/dc converter with integrated inductors is performed. An interleaved dc/dc converter system with four channels was chosen for the automotive-converter topology with 42-V/14-V dual-output voltages. Coupled inductors were designed and used for the four-channel dc/dc converter. A 3-D thermal model based on finite-element modeling using I-DEAS is presented and the thermal behavior of the dc/dc converter system is simulated and analyzed. The thermal model includes a printed circuit board, integrated inductors, a heat sink, and switching devices (MOSFETs). The analyzed thermal result can help to design a converter system under severe ambient-temperature conditions