Capacitor thermal management for mobile power electronics

Technology Assessment & Transfer, Inc. (TA&T) proposes a complete thermal management solution for high power capacitors in military vehicle converters/inverters and similar devices that addresses not only self-heating but also high temperature ambient conditions. The Army’s recent push to utilize the primary internal combustion engine coolant loop in hybrid vehicles to transport heat away from these drive electronics eliminates the cost, weight, and volume of dedicated secondary cooling loops. Current capacitor arrays in these converters rely on convective cooling and therefore occupy large volumes. Increased coolant temperatures have heated ambient air near levels to the already limited maximum temperature of the high power capacitors. TA&T proposes an actively cooled solution that is isolated from the ambient and interfaces to the existing system coldplate, while allowing higher power density in the capacitor array.