Cooling of wide bandgap semiconductor devices
AssigneeABB Schweiz AG
InventorsBruno Agostini, Daniele Torresin, Francesco Agostini, Mathieu Habert, Munaf Rahimo
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Abstract
A power device comprises at least one power semiconductor module comprising a wide bandgap semiconductor element; and a cooling system for actively cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor element with a cooling medium, wherein the cooling system comprises a refrigeration device for lowering a temperature of the cooling medium below an ambient temperature of the power device; wherein the cooling system is adapted for lowering the temperature of the cooling medium in such a way that a temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element is below 100° C.
Claims19
A power device, comprising:
- at least one power semiconductor module comprising a wide bandgap semiconductor element;
- a cooling system for actively cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor element with a cooling medium, wherein the cooling system comprises a refrigeration device for lowering a temperature of the cooling medium below an ambient temperature of the power device;
- wherein the cooling system is adapted for lowering the temperature of the cooling medium in such a way that a temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element is below 100° C.
A method for cooling at least one power semiconductor module comprising a wide bandgap semiconductor element, the method comprising:
- lowering, with a refrigeration device, a temperature of a cooling medium below an ambient temperature of a power device comprising the wide bandgap semiconductor element;
- cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor with the cooling medium such that a temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element is below 100° C.
A method for operating a power device, the method comprising:
- operating a wide bandgap semiconductor element with a switching frequency below 500 Hz;
- cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor element below a temperature of 100° C. by lowering, with a refrigeration device, a temperature of a cooling medium below an ambient temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element;
- and
- cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor with the cooling medium.
A power device comprising:
- at least one power semiconductor module comprising a wide bandgap semiconductor element;
- a cooling system for actively cooling the wide bandgap semiconductor element with a cooling medium, wherein the cooling system comprises a refrigeration device for lowering a temperature of the cooling medium below an ambient temperature of the power device, the cooling system is adapted for lowering the temperature of the cooling medium in such a way that a temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element is below 100° C.;
- a controller for controlling a switching frequency of the wide bandgap semiconductor element, wherein the power device is adapted for performing the operations under the control of the controller comprising:
- operate the wide bandgap semiconductor element with a switching frequency below 500 Hz;
- cool the wide bandgap semiconductor element below 100° C. by lowering, with the refrigeration device, a temperature of the cooling medium below the ambient temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor element;
- and
- cool the wide bandgap semiconductor with the cooling medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.