Speaker
Mr
RODRIGO LEITE PINTO
(MaMaSELF)
Description
This project, born from a partnership between Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe (MERCE) and the Ampère Laboratory in Lyon (France), consists in the enhancement of the design of conventional heat sinks, ubiquitous elements used in power electronics systems as heat dissipating units. The final goal of this project is to design, fabricate and validate a novel packaging solution that reduces the thermal resistance between the power chips (die) and the heat sink while keeping it safe to handle.
Most cases of study focus on the design of metallic heat sinks due to their easiness of shaping. Pin shaped, straight shaped and even flared shapes have been proposed in literature in order to induce an optimal heat dissipation in power electronic systems. The nature of these heat sinks showcase some problems as the use of electrically conducting materials that can present potential health threatening risks to technicians and engineers who handle those power electronics systems.
Agreements have been made towards the design of novel heat sinks using a specific class of insulating materials: ceramics. In order to asses this project, a bibliographic study was made. Alumina (Al2O3) and aluminium nitride (AlN) were the chosen materials for the study. Heat spreading simulations were conducted using a finite element solver (COMSOL Multiphysics) and prototyping has been made through computer assisted design. Eventually, a test bench was set up with the objective of validating the theoretical results.
Primary author
Mr
RODRIGO LEITE PINTO
(MaMaSELF)
