| Abstract: | This study describes the transient temperature distributions in a cooling apparatus for high-power semiconductor devices used in electric-railcar drive systems. The cooling apparatus is composed of heat pipes, air-cooled fin arrays, and a metal block which is used for attaching several semiconductor packages, In our numerical simulation model, we substituted solid elements for the heat pipes, and determined their thermal properties by experiment. As a result, we could obtain transient temperature distributions for the cooling apparatus through a heat conduction analysis. Calculated results showed that when the amount of heat generated in the devices changes, the temperature of the cooling apparatus changes more slowly than that of the devices. A comparison between the transient-temperature distribution calculations and the experiments confirmed the accuracy of the modeling and prediction method. Thus, these calculations can be used to provide data for packaging design, especially concerning thermal stress and fatigue in the packages. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Inc. Heat Trans Jpn Res, 26(2): 107–115, 1997 |
