Summary

 독일의 한 자동차 공급업체가 전자 제어 장치에 대한 새로운 액체 냉각 개념을 검증하기 위해 전자 제품 제조업체를 찾고 있습니다. 이 프로토타입은 전기화 및 자율 주행 기능으로 인해 증가하는 열 방출 수요에 대응합니다. 중량 감소(-35%), 공간 감소(-50%), 냉각 개선(+10%)이 장점입니다. 파트너는 프로토타입(TRL5)을 테스트하여 시장 성숙도를 높이고 판매 파트너 역할을 할 수 있도록 해야 합니다.

Description

 Electrification, driving assistance systems and autonomous driving functions increase the number of electronic control  units (ECUs) and computing power in current and future mobility concepts. This causes more need for electrical power  and thus more waste heat produced, which must be removed from the ECUs' housings to ensure their safe operation.  1250 W are predicted until 2025.

 From an electrical power of approx. 150 W, only liquid-cooled systems can provide sufficient cooling capacity for cooling

of the ECU. However, with the power losses to be expected future ECUs, it is foreseeable that current liquid cooling  systems and their cold plates will reach the limits of their performance. In addition to the processors for autonomous  driving functions, the power electronics of battery-electric vehicles also require cooling. This cooling task can also usually  only be solved with liquid cooling.

 A large German automotive supplier (Aluminum, steel and plastic) and a global tech company (software and system  integration) have co-developed a cooling concept that not only meets the required cooling conditions, but also minimizes  the weight and installation space of the cooling unit. The newly developed optimized coldplate is based on multi-channel  flat tubes (Micro Multi Port, MMP) made of 3000 series aluminum (e.g. EN AW 3102). Thanks to their low wall  thicknesses, the large number of extremely small chambers and the resulting very high internal surface area, as well as  the good thermal conductivity of 160 to 200 W/mK versus approx. 130 W/mK for die-cast materials, they can dissipate  high heat quantities in a short time.

 For a prototype of the novel liquid cooling system, an MMP (Fig. 1) with external dimensions of 60 mm x 3 mm, a wall  thickness of 0.35 mm and 29 chambers was used. This geometry is well suited for the use of water/glycol as a cooling  medium. The MMP and the actual cold plate are connected by soldering (Fig. 2). The planar metallic contact ensures the  best possible heat conduction. The choice of a suitable solder allows soldering to air atmosphere. The coldplate, in turn,  is in good thermal contact with the components to be cooled on the PCB of the ECU. To compensate for manufacturing  of the electronic components, thermal paste is usually applied between the cold plate and the components. The new  concept allowed the amount of necessary thermal paste to be reduced to a minimum. This is extremely important  because the thermal conductivity of the thermal pastes is a factor of 40 lower than that of the aluminum alloys used. The  coldplates of the prototype are supplied with coolant by an external, on-board coolant circuit. The coolant is fed into one  coolant connection at the housing of the electronic control unit and from there transported from there through the MMPs  to a second coolant connection, where it leaves the housing again. The coolant can then be cooled down again via a  chiller.

 The cooling performance of the prototype was characterized using thermal simulations. The coldplate ensures that the  components do not heat up above their specified operating temperature. The cooling performance is improved by up to  10 percent compared to conventional heat sinks. In addition weight can be reduced by around 35 percent compared with

conventional die-cast solutions, equal to approximately one kilogram. In addition the compact design, especially of the  MMPs, offers opportunities to minimize the required installation space. Compared with die casting solutions, the MMP-  based coldplate requires a maximum of 10 mm in the Z-direction, which corresponds to a saving of around 50 percent.

Technical Specification or Expertise Sought

The industrial partner should be from the fields of power electronics, ideally related to the mobility sector (electro mobility,  autonomous driving, etc.).

In addition to the automotive sector, the following fields are relevant: New Mobility, Railways, Ships, Aerospace,  Chemicals, Energy Supply, Power Grids, Charging Technologies (electric vehicles), Telecommunications, Data Centers,  Drive Technology, High Performance Electronics, Medical Technology, Defense, IT Hardware, Server Parks.

In general, cooperation partners are sought where heat generation is an issue (heat generation and its effect on  electronics and respective cooling technologies).

Technology Keywords

02009014 - Automotive electrical and  electronics

001001015 - Semiconductors

04002008 - Cooling technologies

001001004 - Electronic engineering

Market Application Keywords

06002003 - Power grid and distribution

03003 - Power Supplies

03002 - Batteries

007004008 - Automobile parts

03001009 - Other electronics related (including  keyboards)

Sector Group

Aerospace and Defence

Energy-Intensive Industries

Digital

Electronics

Mobility - Transport - Automotive

Type and Role of Partner Sought

 Role of the partner would be to validate and test the prototype, identify possible problems and help to further improve the  solution so that it meets market demands. Agreements to jointly sell the product are possible.