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Efficient Microchannel Cooling of Multiple Power Devices With Compact Flow Distribution for High Power-Density Converters
Open accessAbstract
In this article, we describe a new approach for the compact and energy-efficient cooling of converters where multiple miniaturized microfluidic cold plates are attached to transistors providing local heat extraction. The high pressure drop associated with microchannels was minimized by connecting these cold plates in parallel using a compact three-dimensional-printed flow distribution manifold. We present the modeling, design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of this microfluidic cooling system and provide a design strategy for achieving energy-efficient cooling with minimized pumping power. An integrated cooling system is experimentally demonstrated on a 2.5-kW switched-capacitor dc-dc converter, cooling down 20 GaN transistors. A thermal resistance of 0.2 K/W was measured at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/s and a pressure drop of 20 mbar, enabling the cooling of a total of 300 W of losses in the converter using several milliwatt of pumping power, which can be realized with small micropumps. Experimental results show a tenfold increase in power density compared with the conventional cooling, potentially up to 30 kW/L. This proposed cooling approach offers a new way of coengineering the cooling and the electronics together to achieve more compact and efficient power converters.
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Embedded microchannels have demonstrated up to a 43% reduction in thermal resistance while mitigating self-heating and thermal coupling in dense power modules.
“Microchannel cooling routes coolant through tens to hundreds of µ mchannels etched in or beneath the substrate; embedded microchannels further shorten the conduction path and have demonstrated up to a 43% [29] reduction in thermal resistance while mitigating self-heating and thermal coupling in dense power modules [55-58].”
From Thermal Management of Wide-Bandgap Power Semiconductors: Strategies and Challenges in SiC and GaN Power Devices (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
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Han, G., Kim, J., Park, S., & Bae, W. (2025) · Electronics · doi:10.3390/electronics14214193 · Cited by 34
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Metadata
- Authors
- van Erp, R., Kampitsis, G., & Matioli, E.
- Affiliations
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 7235-7245
- ISSN
- 0885-8993 (ISSN-L)
- 1941-0107
- OpenAlex
- W2994993270
- Cited by
- 97
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 3.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- infoscience.epfl.ch
- Licence
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (publishedVersion)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- European Research Council (679425)
- Swiss Office of Energy (SI501568-01)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Heat Transfer and Optimization
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced DC-DC Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Heat Transfer and Boiling Studies
- Keywords
- microchannel cooling, GaN transistors, switched-capacitor DC-DC converter, power density, pumping power, pressure drop, thermal resistance
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