Semiconductor Power Electronics Electro-Thermal Design

NREL investigates and develops electro-thermal designs and thermal management strategies for compact, power-dense wide-bandgap (WBG) and ultra-WBG (UWBG) semiconductor electronics.

NREL researchers focus on electrical and electro-thermal modeling and cutting-edge thermal management technologies to enable the development of WBG and UWBG components that are compact, demonstrate significantly higher performance, and are highly efficient.

NREL is researching system-level thermal management with advanced heat transfer to regulate temperatures throughout the complete power electronics system.

NREL research informs cooling concept prototype development, evaluation, refinement, and demonstration. Thermal and cooling specifications for components such as the inverter and DC-DC converter within an electric vehicle determine the feasibility of several innovative cooling strategies, such as jet impingement.

Capabilities

NREL's semiconductor power electronics electro-thermal research includes:

• Performing modeling to design and develop advanced (U)WBG semiconductor devices
• Developing novel cooling technologies for emerging power module and converter configurations based on (U)WBG and high-temperature devices
• Performing electro-thermal modeling of emerging inverter and DC-DC converters based on WBG and high-temperature devices
• Investigating the impact of higher temperature on power electronics system components, including capacitors and gate drivers.

Publications

See power electronics and electric machines publications.

Contacts