Layered electro-thermal model of high-end integrated power electronics modules with IGBTs

Integrated Power Electronics Modules (IPEMs) have been developed to relieve the converter manufacturers of the burden of several discrete power devices integration. With respect to generic assemblies, modern high-end IPEMs guarantee several advantages such as high power density, low profiles and an optimal management of the wasted heat. An available model able to reproduce both electrical and thermal behavior is helpful to save designers' time and to avoid the application failure due to overheating. In this paper, a layered-approach methodology aimed at generating an IPEM model featuring six IGBT devices connected in a three-phase bridge topology is described. The approach relies on a strategy that implies the definition of an electrical and thermal layer in a segregate way and has as main objective the generation of a full-PSpice model of the IPEM able to take into account both the electrical and thermal behavior. The layers are then linked together by an IGBT self-heating model. The thermal layer, which poses many difficulties for its implementation, is automatically synthetized by using a custom Electric Design Automation (EDA) flow developed within the context of this work. A series of comparison between FEM simulations and the final PSpice model demonstrates the validity of the proposed approach.