Power-electronic arrangement

• US 8,405,992 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2010
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Yesin, Berk, Agostini, Bruno, Agostini, Francesco, Duran, Hamit, Haederli, Christoph, Liu, Chunlei, Kicin, Slavo
• Primary Examiner(s): PAPE, ZACHARY
• Application Number:
  US12/896,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20110080711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: 36167946-67954, 165 804- 805, 165/104.33, 257/715, 257/E23.088, 174/15.2, 353/141
• US Class Current: 361/700
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/0233 the conduits having a particular shape, e.g. non-circular cross-section, annular F28D15/0241, F28D15/0266 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/0266 with separate evaporating and condensing chambers connected by at least one conduit; Loop-type heat pipes; with multiple or common evaporating or condensing chambers F28D15/043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/427 Cooling by change of state, e.g. use of heat pipes by liquefied gas H01L23/445
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/072 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20936 Liquid coolant with phase change
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

A power-electronic arrangement comprising semiconductor components (102, 103, 107), a heat exchanger (110), and an electrically conductive element (109) is presented. The heat exchanger comprises evaporator channels (111) and condenser channels (112) for working fluid. The electrically conductive element comprises a contact surface providing a thermal contact to outer surfaces of walls of the evaporator channels for transferring heat from the electrically conductive element to the evaporator channels. A main current terminal of each semiconductor component is bonded to the electrically conductive element which thus forms a part of a main current circuitry of a power system. As the main current terminal is directly bonded to the electrically conductive element cooled with the heat exchanger, the temperature gradients inside the semiconductor components can be kept moderate, and thus the temperatures inside the semiconductor components can be limited.

Claims

1. A power-electronic arrangement comprising:

one or more semiconductor components,

a heat exchanger comprising at least one evaporator channel for working fluid and at least one condenser channel for the working fluid, and

an electrically conductive element comprising a contact surface providing a thermal contact to an outer surface of a wall of the evaporator channel for transferring heat from the electrically conductive element to the evaporator channel, wherein,

a main current terminal of each of the one or more semiconductor components is bonded to the electrically conductive element,

the heat exchanger is arranged to operate using the loop thermo-siphon principle, and

the contact surface of the electrically conductive element is arranged to provide, in addition to the thermal contact, also a galvanic contact from the electrically conductive element to the outer surface of the wall of the evaporator channel.

2. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the power-electronic arrangement further comprises another electrically conductive element, and wherein another main current terminal of each of the one or more semiconductor components is bonded to the other electrically conductive element, each of the one or more semiconductor components being sandwiched between the electrically conductive element and the other electrically conductive element.

3. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the power-electronic arrangement further comprises one or more wire-bonds, each of which being connected to another main current terminal of one of the one or more semi-conductor components.

4. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the at least one evaporator channel and the at least one condenser channel are formed with at least one conduit, each of which comprising an exterior wall and at least one interior wall.

5. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein each of the semiconductor components is one of the following:

an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), a field effect transistor (FET), a gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), a thyristor, a diode.

6. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the one or more semiconductor components comprise one or more insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), a collector of each insulated gate bipolar transistor representing the main current terminal of that insulated gate bipolar transistor and an emitter of each insulated gate bipolar transistor representing the other main current terminal of that insulated gate bipolar transistor.

7. A power-electronic arrangement according to claim 6, wherein the one or more semiconductor components further comprise one or more diodes that are anti-parallel to the one or more insulated gate bipolar transistors.

8. An electrical converter device comprising at least one power-electronic arrangement each of which comprises:

one or more semiconductor components,

a heat exchanger comprising at least one evaporator channel for working fluid and at least one condenser channel for the working fluid, and

an electrically conductive element comprising a contact surface providing a thermal contact to an outer surface of a wall of the evaporator channel for transferring heat from the electrically conductive element to the evaporator channel, wherein,

a main current terminal of each of the one or more semiconductor components is bonded to the electrically conductive element,

the electrically conductive element of each of at least one of the power-electronic arrangements constitutes a part of a main current circuitry of the electrical converter device,

the heat exchanger is arranged to operate using the loop thermo-siphon principle, and

the contact surface of the electrically conductive element is arranged to provide, in addition to the thermal contact, also a galvanic contact from the electrically conductive element to the outer surface of the wall of the evaporator channel.

9. An electrical converter device according to claim 8, wherein an angle between a horizontal plane and the at least one evaporator channel of the power-electronic arrangement is at least 45 degrees when the electrical converter device is in its operation position.

10. An electrical converter device according to claim 9, wherein the angle is substantially 90 degrees.

11. An electrical converter device according to claim 8, wherein the electrical converter device comprises a direct voltage intermediate circuit and an alternating voltage terminal, each power-electronic arrangement being pressed between a bus-bar of the direct voltage intermediate circuit and a bus-bar of the alternating voltage terminal.

12. A method for providing a cooling arrangement for one or more semiconductor components, the method comprising:

providing a heat exchanger comprising at least one evaporator channel for working fluid and at least one condenser channel for the working fluid,

providing a thermal contact from an electrically conductive element to an outer surface of a wall of the evaporator channel for transferring heat from the electrically conductive element to the evaporator channel, and

bonding a main current terminal of each semiconductor component to the electrically conductive element,

wherein the heat-exchanger operates using the loop thermo-siphon principle, and a galvanic contact is provided from the electrically conductive element to the outer surface of the wall of the evaporator channel when providing the thermal contact from the electrically conductive element to the outer surface of the wall of the evaporator channel.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises bonding another main current terminal of each semiconductor component to another electrically conductive element so that the one or more semiconductor components get sandwiched between the electrically conductive element and the other electrically conductive element.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises connecting a wire-bond to another main current terminal of each semiconductor component.

15. A method according to claim 12, wherein the method comprises positioning the at least one evaporator channel so that an angle between a horizontal plane and the at least one evaporator channel is at least 45 degrees.