Power Converters Coolant: Past, Present, Future, and a Path Toward Active Thermal Control in Electrified Ship Power Systems

Abstract

Power converters have widespread applications in automotive, renewables, and power systems. The demand for power modules with low power consumption and high efficiency has increased due to advancements in semiconductor devices. So, power converters need to be highly efficient to reduce costs associated with energy dissipation and cooling requirements. This paper discusses various active thermal control methods for high-power power converters. It covers modulation and configuration techniques, ranging from single configurations to cascaded, modular, and multilevel converters. These concepts form the basis of power electronics building blocks, particularly relevant in all-electric ship systems. Power electronics building blocks represent a thriving technology that will advance ship power systems, the thermal design of which plays a crucial role in managing high heat dissipation levels. Hence, thermal management is essential for reliable device performance. The paper thoroughly studies different active thermal control methods and their impact on power semiconductor devices and converters, categorized per configurations, power routing methods, modulation, and control layers. The review then moves to thermal control methods for the PEBBs concept using multilevel converters in all-electric ship systems and outlines future research directions for the thermal aspect of power electronics building blocks.