Analysis of Using a Thermoelectric Module for Power Electronics Cooling

Abubakar, Abdullahi; Klumpner, Christian; Wheeler, Patrick

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a PLECS equivalent circuit of a thermoelectric module to be used in power electronics cooling applications. The proposed model is built using elements from the PLECS thermal model block-set. To test this, a resistive c device producing losses is mounted on a heatsink with a cooling fan that can also be interfaced with the thermoelectric module allowing for a controlled heat loss generated to be processed by this cooling system and assess its cooling performance. The effectiveness of the cooling of this setup is simulated in three conditions: under passive cooling, active (fan) cooling without the Peltier and active (fan) cooling with Peltier. A DC/DC boost converter is simulated with
comparisons in different cases. This showed that based on active cooling with Peltier, size of the converter magnetics and heatsink can be reduced. Experimental results are shown to validate the simulation.

Citation

Abubakar, A., Klumpner, C., & Wheeler, P. (2022). Analysis of Using a Thermoelectric Module for Power Electronics Cooling. In 2022 IEEE 1st Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference (ONCON) (909-914). https://doi.org/10.1109/oncon56984.2022.10126992

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: IEEE 1st Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference (ONCON 2022 IEEE 1st Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference (ONCON 2022)
• Start Date: Dec 9, 2022
• End Date: Dec 11, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 24, 2023
• Publication Date: Dec 9, 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 2, 2023
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Pages: 909-914
• Series Title: IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference (ONCON)
• Book Title: 2022 IEEE 1st Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference (ONCON)
• ISBN: 9798350398076
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/oncon56984.2022.10126992
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/21630539
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10126992
• Related Public URLs: http://ies-oncon.com/OnConPapers2022.pdf
• Additional Information: Technical Paper Session-II/Bl I Power Converters ; Electric Transportation ; Paper id: 166