Passive Cooling of Power Electronics: Heat in the Box
M. Berger[1], W. Schernus[1][1]West Coast University of Applied Sciences, Heide, Germany
Results presented are a contribution to the design of a 5kW-DC-AC-converter for applications in forklifts. The device is located in a closed environment and entirely operated with passive cooling. Due to concurrent engineering approach and environmental conditions correct prediction of absolute temperature values by simulation was crucial. Heat sinks have been modeled properly and a thermal network has been extracted for co-simulation with the electronic network. In order to characterize the closed environment, heat flow in boxes filled with air has been analyzed by solving coupled heat and mass flow equations with minor simplifications. Some essential results have been achieved concerning heat transport patterns, turbulences, and missing stationary solutions. A sample problem called “heat in the box” has been defined.
