Thermal Performance Analysis of Power Converters in High-Density Renewable Installations

Abstract

Higher power densities of renewable energy systems are gradually depending on smaller power converters, in which too much heat production has a major impact on efficiency, reliability, and operational life. The paper will focus on the critical thermal issues in converting such converters by presenting a complete electro-thermal analysis frame work and combining finite element (FEM), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and reduced circuit (RC) based thermal network modeling. The offered solution allows to predict the heat distribution and the development of a hotspot and transient thermal behavior under the different load conditions accurately. Also, a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based algorithm is utilized to calculate the optimal thermal parameters, such as the airflow conditions and design of the heat sink, to achieve a higher cooling rate. The results of simulation indicate that, the junction temperature was significantly reduced by about 18.6% and thermal resistance was reduced by 14.2% resulting in a net 6.8% efficiency increase over the traditional methods of thermal management. The findings also show that it has better temperature uniformity and a smaller thermal stress, hence improving the reliability of the converter and increasing operational life. The suggested framework would provide an efficient and scalable thermal management system in high-density renewable facilities and therefore would be highly applicable in next-generation power electronic systems.