Lytron's Engineering Lab Develops IGBT Test Stand for Measuring Cold Plate Thermal Performance


IGBT Test Stand for Measuring Cold Plate

Thermal Performance - Woburn, MA, USA: Before custom cold plate prototypes leave Lytron's factory, the actual thermal performance of the cold plates can now be measured using an in-house Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) test stand. In cases where IGBT-to-IGBT temperature uniformity impacts the IGBT's function, Lytron can also validate temperature uniformity using the actual IGBT's and specified operating conditions. The benefit of conducting these cold plate performance tests in the same facility where the design and manufacturing of the cold plates takes place is that it can save Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) a significant amount of time in the development process. Additionally, Lytron's OEM customers are able to actively participate in the testing if desired.

Lytron can simultaneously test up to four IGBT's with different heat loads totaling up to 10 kW, as well as can test IGBT's from any manufacturer including ABB, Semicron, Infineon, and others. Lytron can also design and test cold plates for IGBT's that employ metallic heat spreaders as well as the more concentrated heat loads that are delivered when IGBT chips are closer to the cold plate, such as with Semicron's SKiiP technology.

"Even with the most accurate thermal and fluid dynamics models, there is still an element of the unknown until the cold plate is tested under actual application conditions," says Benjamin Fichera, Lytron's components engineering manager. "With our new test stand, we can eliminate that performance uncertainty, allowing OEM's to proceed with confidence in the development of their products."

For many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), proper electronics cooling is critical to their equipments' overall performance and reliability. Converters, inverters, variable frequency drives, amplifiers, and other electronics often use custom designed liquid-cooled cold plates to remove heat from multiple electronic components. Lytron's design engineers use cutting edge proprietary simulation software based on empirical data to perform advanced thermal analysis, as well as use tools such as CFD and structural analysis software. Lytron designs hundreds of new parts each year and uses the performance data collected during these designs to continuously improve the accuracy of its thermal and fluid dynamics models. Lytron can also validate and verify proposed designs using its extensive engineering laboratory.

All Topics