Investigation of a finned baseplate material and thickness variation for thermal performance of a SiC power module

A simplified transient computational fluid dynamics model of an automotive three-phase double-side liquid cooled silicon carbide power inverter, including pin-fin baseplates, has been developed and qualified for parametric studies. Effective heat transfer coefficients have been extracted from the detailed pin-fin baseplate model for two coolant volume flow rates 2 l/min and 6 l/min, at the coolant temperature 105°C. The inverter model includes temperature dependent heat losses of SiC transistors and diodes, calculated for two driving cycles. Baseplate materials such as copper, aluminum-silicon carbide metal matrix composite, aluminium alloy 6061 as well as virtual materials have been evaluated in the parametric studies. Thermal conductivity, specific heat and density have been varied as well as thickness of the finned baseplates (1 to 3 mm). A trade-off between temperature of SiC chips and baseplate weight has been investigated by means of Pareto optimization. The main results of the parametric studies include a weak dependence (1 to 3°C) of the chip temperature on baseplate thickness. Furthermore, switching e.g. between copper and AlSiC results in 5 to 8°C increase of the chip temperature, at 65 to 70% baseplate weight reduction.