Directly cooled silicon carbide power modules: Thermal model and experimental characterization

The Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductor material is playing a fundamental role in the development of new power modules. Due to its excellent physical properties, the power devices based on this novel compound improve the traction inverter performance in electric vehicles. This work presents a 3D Finite Element Model (FEM) and fluid dynamics simulation to investigate the behavior of a directly cooled SiC module structure. Furthermore, a two-step experimental procedure to thermally characterize the module is also reported. It comprises a calibration and, subsequently, the thermal impedance computation. The proposed FEM model is compared with experimental test results in order to demonstrate its effectiveness.