Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
Research on heat dissipation design 0(0) 1–13
! IMechE 2019

method for motor controller radiator Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0954406219893723
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Huanlong Liu, Chixin Xie , Guanpeng Chen and Zeping Cao

Abstract
With the complication of electric vehicles operating conditions, the damage caused by the overheating of insulated gate
bipolar transistor and freewheeling diode that are the core components of the motor controller has become a key factor
restricting the development of electric vehicles. The motor controller is primarily cooled by a radiator, and the heat
exchange of the radiator includes heat transfer between the heat sources of the motor controller and the radiator walls
and heat convection between the cooling medium and the radiator walls. A fluid–solid coupling heat transfer model for
analyzing the motor controller was established. The flow field performances and main influencing factors were analyzed,
and the correctness of the method was verified by experiments. To improve the design efficiency of the motor controller
radiator, a design method based on target temperature, installation position of the liquid cooling radiator, fluid param-
eters, and heating power was proposed. This method can quickly calculate and evaluate the heat dissipation capability of
the radiator. The fluid–solid coupling heat transfer model using this design method is established in computational fluid
dynamics software, and the results show that the relative error between the simulation results and the design method
results is within 20%.

Keywords
Motor controller, radiator, fluid–solid coupling, liquid cooling, heat dissipation performance

Date received: 9 June 2019; accepted: 28 October 2019

Introduction package structure was reduced about 13  C.

As the control hub of electric vehicles (EVs), the
motor controller (MC) directly affects the operational
safety of EVs. During the operation of the MC, the
relevant electronic components generate a certain
amount of heat. The main heat sources include insu-
lated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), freewheeling
diodes (FWD), capacitors, busbars, circuit boards,
etc.1,2 As the operating conditions of EVs increase,
damage caused by overheating of core components
IGBT and FWD in MCs has become a key factor
restricting the development of EVs.3,4 The heat dissi-
pation of the IGBT module is mainly achieved by
liquid cooling and air cooling.5 Regarding liquid cool-
ing, the main research focuses on direct cooling.6 Sun
et al.7 tested the heat dissipation performance of the
IGBT module and found that the overall thermal
resistance of the direct cooling module was reduced
by 33% compared to the indirect cooling module,
which has a better cooling effect. Zhao et al.8 pro-
posed the optimal package structure of an IGBT for
a new energy vehicle. It was found that when a gra-
phene-based film was placed on both the top and
bottom of an IGBT chip with a load power of
200 W, the maximum temperature of the entire
Remsburg and Hager9 designed a radiator for the
MC to improve the heat dissipation of the Toyota
Prius IGBT. The thermal resistance of the direct
bond copper (DBC) substrate is reduced by 55% by
improving the DBC substrate used in conventional
power modules. Using the improved DBC substrate
and radiator fins, the heat dissipation performance of
the Prius controller is doubled. Moores et al.10
removed the connection layer between the substrate
and the fins in the IGBT module of the MC and
changed the shape and parameters of the fins in the
radiator. The results show that the higher the fins, the
better the heat dissipation effect of the radiator.
Remsburg and Gilmore11 studied the fin life in the
Engineering Research Center of Advanced Driving Energy-saving
Technology, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University,
Chengdu, PR China
Corresponding author:
Chixin Xie, Engineering Research Center of Advanced Driving
Energy-saving Technology, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong
University, 111 North Second Ring Road, Jinniu District, Chengdu,
Sichuan, China.
Email: xcx1573054396@my.swjtu.edu.cn
2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

MC and analyzed the particle erosion of the three fins this article proposes a new design method of elec-
of the square fin, rhombic fin, and circular fin. It was tronic component radiator based on theoretical calcu-
found that the particle erosion of the square fin was lation. The method can quickly design a radiator that
around 1.5 times the shape of the fins, the diamond satisfies the safe operation of electronic components
fins are 2.1 times the circular fins. Lee12 proposed a fin according to the target temperature and related basic
array optimization design method for integrated parameters, and has the advantages of simple and
liquid-cooled IGBT power modules and compared high efficiency, high accuracy, good processing prop-
several fin array methods designed. The results show erty, and flow resistance characteristics. Finally, the
that by optimizing the fins at the inlet and outlet ends feasibility and accuracy of the new design method are
of the flow path, not only the junction temperature verified by simulation.
of the IGBT module is lowered, but also the tempera-
ture distribution is more balanced. Based on the Physical model and initial parameter
higher pressure drop of the pin fins wound affect the
settings
overall heat dissipation performance of the radiator.
Sahiti et al.13 studied the effect of radiator fins on The EV radiator studied in this article mainly includes
the radiator pressure drop and heat transfer per- the box body, heat source, inlet, and outlet, which
formance. It is found that the commonly used fork structure is shown in Figure 1. According to the
row distributed fin elliptical fins have better heat road power spectrum density, the operating condi-
transfer performance, and the circular fins have tions of EVs can be divided into the rated operating
good heat dissipation performance for the arrange- condition (ROC) and the peak operating condition
ment of the fins. (POC). For different operating conditions, the front
According to the literature review mentioned capacitors and inductors, the back IGBT and FWD
above, for the design of the radiator of the MC, heat source in the MC are different, and the location
researchers are mainly based on the theory of heat of each heat source is shown in Figure 2.
transfer, using relevant software to analyze the ther-
mal resistance, the cooling method, and the geometric
parameters of the radiator, or the heat transfer effect
Heat source simulation parameters
of the new heat transfer materials. Few studies have According to the power loss and the area of heat
proposed a theoretically based design method for MC source under different operating conditions, the heat
radiators. In most cases, in order to increase the con- flux corresponding to different conditions can be cal-
vective heat transfer performance of EV radiators, culated.19 The heat flux of the heat source is shown in
engineers usually use fins or increase the flow rate of Table 1.
the cooling medium. However, after increasing the
flow rate of the fins and the cooling medium,
the flow resistance characteristics of the radiator are
Initial conditions
poor, and the overall processing property of the radi- Considering the heat flux of the radiator is high, copper
ator is reduced.14,15 In the actual design process, the is selected as a thermally conductive material for radi-
radiator is designed after the completion of MC ator substrate and fin, and ADC12 is selected for other
design. However, the structure of the MC cannot be radiator walls. Ethylene glycol solution with volume
changed, so the optimization of its structure is often fraction of 50% is applied for the cooling medium.
unrealistic. In addition, the design of the radiator is The inlet flow is 8 L/min and the diameter of the flow
still carried out according to the traditional experience channel is 12 mm, so its velocity is 1.18 m/s. The inlet
design, and it needs to be completed through a series
of optimization and verification, the design cycle is
often longer.16 Therefore, in order to reduce the
safety problems caused by excessive temperature of
the controller, it is necessary to propose a guiding
method for the design of the radiator,17,2 so that the
designer can use this method to efficiently design the
heat dissipation that meets the heat dissipation
requirements of the controller, while avoiding the
problem of poor process performance and flow resist-
ance caused by fin redundancy.
This article establishes the heat transfer model of
the existing MC radiator, the performance of MC
radiator is analyzed and the correctness of simulation
calculation is verified by the experiment.11,18 Aiming
at the shortcomings of traditional radiator design
relying on experience design and long design cycle, Figure 1. Radiator structure.
Liu et al. 3

Figure 2. Position distribution of heat source and fin structure. (a) Front heat source distribution; (b) back heat source distribution;
(c) fin structure.

Table 1. Heat source parameters.

Heat Contact Rated heating Peak heating Rated heat Peak heat
source area (m2) power (W) power (W) flux (W/m2) flux (W/m2)

IGBT 0.000190 154 261 808,654 1,370,510

FWD 0.000067 29 40 431,291 594,884
A 0.002267 13 18 5734 7940
C 0.004086 38 52 9300 12,726
D 0.003493 45 62 12,883 17,749
E 0.000667 6 8 8996 11,994
FWD: freewheeling diode; IGBT: insulated gate bipolar transistor.

Table 2. Physical properties of cooling medium and heat-dissipating materials.

Density Viscosity Thermal conductivity Specific heat

Material (kg/m3) (kg(ms)1) (W(mK)1) (J(kgK)1)

Ethylene glycol (338 K) 1048.8 0.00129 0.406 3454

Water (338 K) 981 0.00044 0.66 4187
Water (300 K) 998.2 0.00100 0.60 4182
ADC12 2680  96.00 960
Copper 8978  387.60 381

temperature of the cooling medium is 338 K and the For a homogeneous fluid of incompressible flow,
ambient temperature is 358 K. Since the radiator is in when the density is constant, the mass conservation
the MC box and the cabinet ambient temperature is equation can be expressed as
high, the effect of natural convection on the heat sink
heat dissipation is not considered. The physical proper- @
ði Þ ¼ 0 ð1Þ
ties of the cooling medium and the heat-dissipating @xj
material are shown in Table 2.
The expression of the momentum conservation
equation is
CFD simulation
@ @p @ij
Liquid cooling control equation ði j Þ ¼  þ þ gi þ Fi ð2Þ
@xj @xi @xj
The heat transfer equation needs to be followed in the
heat transfer process, and it is also necessary to follow The expression of the energy conservation equation is
the law of conservation of mass, the law of conserva-
tion of momentum, and the law of conservation of @ @ @T
ði h0 Þ ¼ ðk þ ki Þ þ Sh ð3Þ
energy.20 As shown below. @xi @xi @xi
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

where i is the velocity component of the fluid in the
i direction; xi is the three mutually perpendicular
coordinate axes x,y,z. i, j ¼ 1,2,3; ij is the stress
vector; gi is the gravity component of the i direction;
Fi is the other heat source term caused by the resist-
ance and the heat source. h0 is entropy; k is the ther-
mal conductivity of the heat-dissipating material; Sh is
the defined volumetric heat source; T is the tempera-
ture; and P is the fluid pressure.
The mathematical equation for heat transfer by
heat conduction per unit time follows Fourier’s law
Q ¼ kA1 dT=dx ð4Þ
In the formula, Q is the heat source consumption
per unit time; A1 is the heat transfer area; k is the
thermal conductivity of the material; dT=dx is the
rate of change of the temperature T in the x direction.
The mathematical equation for heat transfer
through heat convection per unit time can be
expressed by Newton’s law of cooling
mesh type is selected as the unstructured tetrahedral
mesh. In order to ensure the simulation accuracy and
save the computer computing cost, after testing, when
the grid size is 0.003 m, good results can be obtained.
At this time, the total number of grids is 1,784,276,
and the number of summary points is 414,655. The
radiator finite element model is shown in Figure 4,
and the fluid domain finite element model is shown
in Figure 5.
Boundary conditions
In combination with the operating conditions and
assumptions of the MC, the simulation inlet boundary
is set as the speed boundary, and the outlet is set as
the pressure boundary; Since the coolant is 50%
ethylene glycol solution, the mixed flow model is
selected; the heat source acts on the heat source sur-
face in the form of heat flux density; other parameters
are set according to the initial conditions.

Q ¼ hA2 ðTw  Tf Þ ð5Þ

where A2 is the effective heat exchange area for con-

vective heat transfer; h is the convective heat transfer
coefficient; Tw is the cooling channel wall surface tem-
perature; Tf is the fluid temperature.

Finite element model

In order to ensure the simulation accuracy of the heat
transfer calculation, the fluid region and the solid
region need to be fully coupled when establishing
the fluid–solid coupling simulation model. The fluid
part is extracted using the Geometry module of
ANSYS software. The fluid domain is shown in
Figure 3. When meshing, the fin and fluid–solid con- Figure 4. Finite element model of the radiator.
tact surface are the main heat transfer areas. To
ensure the calculation accuracy, encryption processing
is required. Because the geometric model of the radi-
ator is more complicated, the geometric model is
appropriately simplified before meshing, and the

Figure 3. Fluid region. Figure 5. Fluid region finite element model.

Liu et al. 5

Solution method
The entire simulation process is implemented by fluent
software. The solution model is set to transient in time
and the pressure gradient is calculated by Green-
Gauss cell based. The solution algorithm uses the
SIMPLEC algorithm, which belongs to the pressure
correction method. Its core is the method of ‘‘guess-
correction’’. Compared with the SIMPLE algorithm,
it improves some of the coefficients in the pressure
correction term, which can accelerate the convergence
of the iterative process.21 Because the simulation
solves the flow and heat transfer problems, it needs
to contain the energy equation, and when the fluid
flows, the Reynolds number is high and the streamline
is bent to a large extent. The RNG k  " model can
achieve good results. Since the model adopts 3D tetra-
hedral grid and the fluid flow condition is complex, in
order to ensure the accuracy of the solution, the dif-
fusion term and the convection term in the governing
equation are all discretized by the second-order
upwind style. The under-relaxation factors of pres-
sure, momentum, k and " were set to 0.2, 0.5, 0.5,
and 0.5, respectively.

Simulation and test verification

Comparing with the heat flux of IGBT and FWD, the
heat flux of inductors and capacitors are low, and
inductors and capacitors can satisfy safe operation
requirements after cooling. Therefore, the heat source
temperature is mainly aiming at IGBT and FWD.
Figure 6. Radiator temperature distribution under different
operating conditions. (a) Radiator temperature nephogram
under ROC; (b) radiator temperature nephogram under POC.

Radiator simulation calculation

A fluid–solid coupling heat transfer simulation model
is established by the heat flux in Table 1 and the phys-
ical properties of the material in Table 2. The final
stability temperature nephograms of the radiator
under different operating conditions are shown in
Figure 6.
It can be seen from the nephograms that the max-
imum heat source temperature in ROC and POC are
369 and 389 K, respectively, and the highest tempera-
ture occurs on the IGBT module.
To find out the temperature change of the heat
source in the cooling process, this article takes the
single IGBT and FWD with the highest temperature
in the radiator as the research object and measures the
transient temperature of the heat source through com-
putational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The tem-
perature changes are shown in Figure 7.
According to the above results, it can be concluded
that the peak temperature and stable temperature of
IGBT and FWD under different operating conditions
are greatly affected by the heat flux. The highest tem-
perature of a single IGBT and FWD chip, the final
stable temperature under ROC are 366.1 and 356.2 K, Figure 7. Simulation temperature curve. (a) Temperature
respectively; the final stable temperature under POC is curve of heat source under ROC; (b) temperature curve of
384.1 and 368.4 K, respectively. heat source under POC.
6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Experimenting verification
To verify the correctness of simulation results, an
experiment platform with the same parameters as the
simulation is built based on the MC prototype. The
experimental schematic diagram is shown in Figure 8.
The experiment platform is shown in Figure 9.
The experimental principle is as follows:
Preheat the MC. When the temperature of the
IGBT and FWD is close to 358 K, open the globe
valve 4 and start the variable pump 2. When the
system flow rate is 8 L/min, the ethylene glycol solu-
tion in the water tank starts to cool the MC. Start the
negative temperature coefficient (NTC) module, test
the temperature of the IGBT and FWD in the motor
control, and measure the temperature change of the
inlet and outlet of the cooling medium during
the cooling process using thermocouples 5 and 8.
The inlet and outlet pressures of the radiator were
Figure 8. Experimental schematic. (1) Water tank; (2) vari-
able pump; (3) manual overflow valve; (4) globe valve; (5, 8)
thermocouple; (6, 9) pressure gauge; (7) flowmeter.
Figure 9. Experiment platform.
measured by pressure gauges 6 and 9, and the liquid
cooling device was adjusted to maintain the tempera-
ture of the cooling medium at 338 K.
When the cooling medium in the water tank is a
50% ethylene glycol solution, the pump 2 and the
relief valve 3 are adjusted so that the flow rate of
the cooling medium is 8 L/min. Using a principle of
drag test,22 the temperature curves of IGBT and
FWD under ROC are measured by NTC, and the
results are shown in Figure 10(a).
Comparing the simulation results in Figure 7(a),
which shows a great consistency between the simula-
tion results and the experiment results. The stability
time of simulation is shorter, the main reason that
IGBT and FWD are packaged into controller case
and the initial temperature of IGBT and FWD
reaches 358 K, but the ambient temperature of the
laboratory is 295 K. Besides, the mounting plate of
the radiator, inlet and outlet of the cooling medium
are exposed to the outside. Therefore, the simulation
and test results have certain errors in the stability
time, but it is within the acceptable range.
The motor and the MC are working in an actual
peak condition by increasing the load of the motor;
the temperature curves of IGBT and FWD with cool-
ing time in peak condition are measured by NTC, and
the results are shown in Figure 10(b).
It can be seen from the results that the simulation
results in Figure 7(b) are in the same trend as experi-
mental results of IGBT and FWD chip temperature.
The time point of maximum temperature has some
Figure 10. Experimental temperature curve. (a) Heat source
temperature under ROC; (b) heat source temperature under
POC.
Liu et al. 7

error between experiment results and simulation
results, the main reason that IGBT and FWD are
packaged into controller case and the initial tempera-
ture of IGBT and FWD reaches 358 K, but the ambi-
ent temperature of laboratory is 295 K.
Radiator design method
In recent years, with the gradual improvement of the
computer simulation platform, the heat dissipation
performance of the radiator can be evaluated in all
aspects. However, the design of the radiator is mainly
completed by traditional experience and common spe-
cifications, and then the heat dissipation performance
is tested and verified directly through the test platform.
Therefore, the heat dissipation rate of the radiator is
slow or the processing property of the radiator is poor,
and the processing cost is high. Given the above prob-
lems, this article proposes a design method of the radi-
ator, which can quickly design a radiator that meets the
heat dissipation requirements according to the target
temperature and related parameters, and avoid prob-
lems such as poor processing property.
Heat source cooling temperature calculation
When the radiator is operating in a stable state, the
temperature of the radiator wall, heat source, and cool-
ing medium can be considered constant. Since the main
form of heat transfer is heat conduction among heat
source, radiator wall, and cooling medium, the natural
convection and radiation heat dissipation are not con-
sidered during the heat source cooling temperature
calculation.23,24
According to the energy conservation equation per
unit of time, we can draw
dTðxÞ  2 ðTw  Tf Þ
Q ¼ kA1 ¼ CMðTin  Tout Þ ¼ hA
dx
ð6Þ
Considering that the channel structure of the radi-
ator is more complex and the temperature difference
between the inlet and outlet of the cooling medium is
small after the temperature of the radiator is stable.
Therefore, the temperature of the cooling medium
 can
be approximately given as Tf ¼ ðTin þ Tout Þ 2, and
the temperature of the heat source can be expressed as
Ql Q Q
T0 ¼ Tk þ Th þ Tin þ Tc ¼ þ þ Tin þ

kA1 hA2 2CM
ð8Þ
where Tk is the temperature rise caused by heat con-
duction, Th is the temperature rise caused by convect-
ive heat transfer, and Tc is the temperature rise caused
by cooling medium.
It can be seen from equation (8) that without con-
sidering the heat radiation and natural convection, the
heat source stabilization temperature is mainly
affected by the radiator wall thickness, convection
heat transfer area, wall heat transfer area, effective
heat transfer coefficient, cooling medium ratio, and
cooling medium flow rate parameters.
When the flow state of the liquid cooling medium is
turbulent and the fluid flows through a horizontal
single-cylinder, the corresponding average convective
heat transfer coefficient when the liquid flows around
is indicated by25
cl Pr1=3 Ren k
h¼ ð9Þ
L
where cl and n are constants affected by the Reynolds
number, L is the length of the cooling channel, Re is
the Reynolds number, and Pr is the Prandtl number.
The Prandtl number of the cooling medium can be
expressed as

Pr ¼ ð10Þ
a

where Q is the heat source power, k is the thermal con- where  is the fluid kinematic viscosity, a is the ther-
ductivity of heat dissipation materials, A1 is the heat mal diffusivity.
transfer area, C is the specific heat, M is the mass of When the tube bundle is arranged in the cooling
cooling medium, Tin is the inlet temperature of cooling channel, the average convective heat transfer coeffi-
medium, Tout is the outlet temperature of cooling cient can be calculated by the Hilbert correction equa-
medium, h is the average convective heat transfer coef- tion. The average convective heat transfer coefficient
ficient, A2 is the heat exchange area of cooling channel, of the 10 and more rows of tubes can be expressed as
Tw is the wall temperature of cooling channel, and Tf is follows26
the fluid temperature. TðxÞ is the wall temperature
between the heat source and the cooling channel 1:33c1 Ren1 Pr1=3 k
h¼ ð11Þ
along the direction of heat transfer can be expressed as L
where c1 and n1 are constants influenced by tube
To  Tw bundle gap and tube diameter.
TðxÞ ¼ To  x ð7Þ
l The characteristic length of the flow channel can be
expressed as follows
where T0 is the heat source cooling temperature and l
is the wall thickness of the radiator along the direction 4A
L¼ ð12Þ
of heat transfer. l0
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
where A is the cross-sectional area of the flow channel
at the fins and l0 is the cross-sectional perimeter.
Error determination of design method
If the CFD simulation result is regarded as a real
value, the heat source stable temperature calculated
by equation (8) is regarded as theoretical value. The
inlet temperature of the cooling medium directly
affects the theoretical calculation valve and CFD
simulation value during the cooling process. Thus,
the relative error between the theoretical calculation
valve and CFD simulation value should consider the
temperature of the cooling medium. The relative error
can be expressed as
ðT0  Tin Þ  ðT1  Tin Þ
Er ¼  100%
T1  Tin
where T1 is the CFD calculation value and Er is the
relative error.
Radiator structure design and temperature
calculation
The design requirements are as follows: four identical
electronic component modules and its total power loss
is 5000 W, the heat source area is 2500 mm2, the cool-
ing temperature of heat source lower than 448 K, the
cooling medium is pure water, the length, width, and
height of the radiator are not more than 80 mm, the
radiator wall material is copper, the inlet and ambient
temperature of the coolant are both 300 K, and the
cooling medium flow rate is not higher than 10 L/min.
Substituting the above parameters into equation (8),
the following relationship can be obtained
5000
44855160l þ þ 303:6
h  A2
According to the O’Shaughnessy et al.,27 the forced
convection heat transfer coefficient of water is less
Figure 11. Radiator verification model. (a) Radiator structure; (b) fin structure.
than 15,000 W/(m2 K). Therefore, the heat exchange
area of the cooling channel is not less than 2309 mm2.
According to the design parameters of the radiator,
the radiator model shown in Figure 11 is designed.
The length, width, and height of the radiator are
respectively 80, 80, and 22 mm. The cooling medium
is pure water, and the inlet and outlet pipes are both
10 mm in diameter. The shape of the sheet is designed
as a columnar fin, and the fins are 2, 2, and 10 mm
high, the number of fins is 300. The effective convec-
tion heat transfer area of the radiator is 34,601 mm2.
Thermal parameters and temperature rise
determination
(1) Convective heat transfer parameters and tempera-
ture rise
ð13Þ
Using equation (12), the characteristic length at the
column fins of the fork row is 12.8 mm. When the
cooling medium’s flow rate was up to 10 L/min, its
velocity at the fins can be calculated to be 0.94 m/s.
According to the physical parameters of the pure
water shown in Table 2, the Reynolds number at the
fins can be obtained as equal to 12,010.
The average convection heat transfer coefficient is
9502 W/(m2 K), which is calculated by the Prandtl
number of the cooling medium and Reynolds number.
According to the convective heat transfer coeffi-
cient, effective heat transfer area and equation (9), it
can be further confirmed that the average wall thick-
ness of the radiator heat source from the needs satisfy
l 4 22:4 mm. To fully verify the design method used
for design liquid cooling radiator, three cooler base
verification models with an average wall thickness of
6, 10, and 16 mm from the cooling medium are
selected. The schematic diagram of the radiator
ð14Þ
cooler base is shown in Figure 12.
The average convection heat transfer coefficient,
the total heat source power loss, and the effective
convection heat transfer area are substituted into
Liu et al.
Figure 12. Schematic diagrams of cooler base. (a) Cooler base structure with wall thickness of 6 mm; (b) cooler base structure with
wall thickness of 10 mm; (c) cooler base structure with wall thickness of 16 mm.
equation (8), and the convective heat transfer tem-
perature rise can be calculated as 15.2 K.
(2) Heat conduction parameters and temperature rise
Heat resource area is 2500 mm2, wall material is
copper, and cooler base thickness are 6, 10, 16 mm,
the thermal conductivity temperature rise is calculated
by equation (8), and the results show that the tem-
perature rise is 31.0, 51.6, and 82.6 K.
(3) Flow field parameters and temperature rise
When the heat dissipation system maintains a stable
state, heat source and wall temperature of the radiator
remain unchanged. The radiator only considers con-
vective heat transfer between cooling medium and
wall, and heat conduction between heat source and
wall, the radiator will be deemed to adiabatic with
the surrounding environment. Therefore, the energy
released from the heat source converted to the internal
energy of the cooling medium, the internal energy is
taken away by the flow channel. The cooling medium
temperature rise is calculated by equation (8) and phys-
ical parameters of pure water in Table 2, and the results
show the temperature rise is 7.2 K.
Heat source stable temperature
When the temperature of the cooling medium is
300 K, and the thickness of the cooler base is 6 mm,
the heat source average temperature is 349.8 K. When
the thickness of the cooler base is 10 and 16 mm, the
average temperature is calculated by equation (3), and
the results show the average temperatures of heat
sources are 370.4 and 401.4 K.
Radiator verification calculation
To verify the correctness of design method, the simu-
lation models of radiators with the thickness of 6, 10,
9
and 16 mm, and experiment prototype of IGBT radi-
ator are established.
Simulation calculation of design model under
different substrate thicknesses
The simulation boundary conditions are the same as
design conditions; the heat transfer analysis results of
different substrate thickness radiators are shown in
Figure 13.
It can be seen from the nephogram that heat source
temperature increases with the increase of cooler base
thickness. When the cooler base thickness is 6, 10, and
16 mm, respectively, the corresponding average tem-
peratures of the four heat sources are 360.5, 374.7,
and 388.8 K.
The heat source block with the highest temperature
is selected from the four heat source blocks as the
research object, and the cooling temperature variation
curve when the cooling substrate thickness is 6, 10,
and 16 mm is calculated separately by CFD software.
The result is shown in Figure 14.
As can be seen from Figure 14, different substrate
thicknesses can result in differences in the heat
transfer efficiency of the radiator. When the radiator
substrate is thin, on the one hand, the heat flow of
the heat source can be quickly transferred to the
cooling medium. In addition, the cooling medium
takes more heat in a unit time, so the cooling
rate of the heat source is higher, and the cooling
temperature of the heat source is lower. When the
thickness of the cooling substrate is 6, 10, and
16 mm, the corresponding maximum cooling tem-
perature of the heat source is 363.7, 380.2, and
391.3 K, respectively.
Theoretical calculation of heat source’s stable
temperature under different fin structures
To fully verify the correctness of the design method,
the mixed fin and parallel fin are optimized according
10
Figure 13. Temperature distribution of different cooler bases
thickness. (a) Thickness with 6 mm; (b) thickness with 10 mm;
(c) thickness with 16 mm.
to the model of the fork row fin structure radiator.
The fins number after optimization is 319 and 16, and
the fin structures are shown in Figure 15.
The parameters of fin structure radiators based on
Figure 15 can be calculated by using ANSYS soft-
ware. When the cooling medium is ethylene glycol
solution with the volume fraction of 50%, the cooling
inlet temperature is 338 K and the flow is 8 L/min, the
parameters of different fin structure radiators are
shown in Table 3.
The fins and cooler base materials are copper; the
convective heat transfer coefficients of fork row fin,
the mixed fin, and the parallel fin can be obtained by
Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 14. Temperature variation of the cooling substrate
thickness.
Figure 15. Optimized fin structures. (a) Mixed fin;
(b) parallel fin.
using equations (9) and (11); the results show that the
heat convection coefficients are 3838, 3647, and 3433.
The average heat temperature of the three fin struc-
ture radiators is calculated by the design method, and
the results show the average heat temperatures are
359.9, 360.8, and 361.5 K after cooling.
Simulation calculation of heat source stable
temperature under different fin structures
The heat transfer calculation boundary of optimized
fins is consistent with the simulation calculation
Liu et al. 11

Table 3. Radiator parameters for different fin structures.

Cross section Section Characteristic Heat transfer Heat exchange Wall Power
Fin structures area (m2) circumference (m) length (m) area (m2) area (m2) thickness (m) (W)

Fork row 0.000325 0.083 0.0157 0.001638 0.133514 0.0058 1806

Mixed 0.000351 0.088 0.0160 0.001638 0.122564 0.0058 1806
Parallel 0.000179 0.055 0.013 0.001638 0.122074 0.0058 1806

Figure 17. Different fin radiator heat source temperature

curve. (a) Heat source temperature variation curve of mixed fin
radiator; (b) heat source temperature variation curve of parallel
fin radiator.

Figure 16. Temperature distribution of radiators.
(a) Temperature nephogram of mixed fin radiator;
(b) temperature nephogram of parallel fin radiator.
of the fork column fin. The temperature of opti-
mized radiators in different conditions is shown in
Figure 16.
It can be seen from the nephogram that the opti-
mized fin structure radiator has different heat source
temperatures, the mixed fin radiator maximum node
temperature is 374 K, parallel fin radiator maximum
node temperature is 378 K, and the average cooling
temperature is 364.8 and 367.1 K.
It can be seen from Figure 17 that the cooling
temperature curve of the IGBT and FWD under
the same working conditions are consistent, and
the IGBT temperature rapidly increases from
358 K when the MC is operating, and then tends
to be stable. For the single IGBT chip with the
highest temperature and the ROCs, the final stable
temperatures of the IGBTs corresponding to the
cross row of fins, hybrid fins, and parallel fins are
366.1, 371.2, and 376.8 K, respectively; The final
stable temperatures of the corresponding IGBT
for the column fins, hybrid fins, and parallel fin
structure radiators are 384.1, 392.6, and 401.6 K,
respectively.
Error calculation
The relative error values of different models can be
calculated according to equation (13). The calculation
results are shown in Table 4.
The results show that the average temperature of
the heat source calculated by the design method is
basically consistent with the CFD simulation, and
the error of the design method is within 20%. Thus,
the correctness of the design method is verified by
CFD simulation.
12
Table 4. Calculation of temperature and error.
Radiator model Tin ðKÞ
Design model (6 mm) 300
Design model (10 mm) 300
Design mode (16 mm) 300
Radiator (fork column fin) 338
Radiator (mixed) 338
Radiator (parallel) 338
Conclusions
In this article, the theoretical calculation and experimen-
tal verification of the fluid–solid coupling heat transfer
model of the radiator are carried out. At the same time, a
high-efficiency design method of the electronic compo-
nent radiator is proposed for the deficiency of the trad-
itional design method of the radiator. Comparing the
simulation results of the designed model with the theor-
etical results, the following conclusions can be obtained.
1. The calculation correctness of the fluid–solid cou-
pling heat transfer of the radiator is verified by
experiments.
2. The optimized radiators can not only achieve
better flow resistance characteristic, but also
have better processing property.
3. The newly proposed design method can not only
quickly determine the main parameters of the radi-
ator, but also avoid the fin redundancy problem,
and the design error can be controlled within 20%.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Chixin Xie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9069-1997
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