Thermal networks for power semiconductor modules in power electronic systems : a review

Abstract

A comprehensive review on the development of thermal network models for power semiconductor modules is conducted in this paper. Driven by the wide-spread applications of the power electronics in numerous applications, the development of power modules is revolutionised with higher requirements in power density, switching frequency, operational temperature and reliability, which in turn induces considerable challenges on the thermal management and modelling. As one of the most promising thermal modelling technologies, the thermal networks describe superior performance in long-term profile-based temperature estimation, excellentmulti-physics analysis capability, good hardware compatibility as well as reasonable balance between computational load and accuracy. After revisiting the theoretical basis of the thermal networks, this paper focuses on the evolvement of the thermal networks in terms of format, modelling methodology, thermal boundary condition treatment and verification methods. The state-of-the-art topologies of the representative thermal networks are compared in detail, with a chronology of the thermal networks development being summarised. In addition, the typical application scenarios of the thermal networks and their advantages compared with other technologies are summarised, accompanied by a number of engineering implementation examples. What's more, the future development opportunities and challenges of the thermal networks are discussed, making this paper an all-around reference for researchers and engineers in the power module thermal modelling.