TY - GEN
T1 - Application of thermoelectricity to IGBT for temperature regulation and energy harvesting
AU - Tian, Yi
AU - Vasic, Dejan
AU - Lefebvre, Stephane
PY - 2012/8/15
Y1 - 2012/8/15
N2 - The internal junction temperature of an IGBT is the key element of confining life period of components. Meanwhile, during the IGBT works as a switch in a half bridge circuit, it usually arrives at a high temperature level about 150 °C to 175 °C, due to the accumulation of heat in the junction of IGBT. Thus, a large quantity of energy is lost in the form of heat. This paper focuses on the reduction of the internal junction temperature of the IGBT using a thermoelectric module (TEM), also known as thermoelectric generator (TEG), sitting between the IGBT component and heatsink. As an application of thermoelectric energy harvesting, this technique combines a cooling system equiped TEM for the IGBT and electrical energy harvesting. Moreover, for the optimal load, the maximum electrical harvest power arrives at 0.5 W. Finally, based on the experimental results on two comparable models, we could prove that the cooling system with the TEM reduces internal junction temperature of the IGBT by several degrees. Consequently, with this cooling system, the IGBT could work at a higher current and several electrical energy is harvested.
AB - The internal junction temperature of an IGBT is the key element of confining life period of components. Meanwhile, during the IGBT works as a switch in a half bridge circuit, it usually arrives at a high temperature level about 150 °C to 175 °C, due to the accumulation of heat in the junction of IGBT. Thus, a large quantity of energy is lost in the form of heat. This paper focuses on the reduction of the internal junction temperature of the IGBT using a thermoelectric module (TEM), also known as thermoelectric generator (TEG), sitting between the IGBT component and heatsink. As an application of thermoelectric energy harvesting, this technique combines a cooling system equiped TEM for the IGBT and electrical energy harvesting. Moreover, for the optimal load, the maximum electrical harvest power arrives at 0.5 W. Finally, based on the experimental results on two comparable models, we could prove that the cooling system with the TEM reduces internal junction temperature of the IGBT by several degrees. Consequently, with this cooling system, the IGBT could work at a higher current and several electrical energy is harvested.
KW - cooling system
KW - energy harvesting
KW - reducing temperature
KW - Thermoelectric module (TEM)
KW - thermoelectricity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864848293&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84864848293&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISIE.2012.6237086
DO - 10.1109/ISIE.2012.6237086
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84864848293
SN - 9781467301589
T3 - IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics
SP - 211
EP - 216
BT - Proceedings - 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, ISIE 2012
T2 - 21st IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, ISIE 2012
Y2 - 28 May 2012 through 31 May 2012
ER -