Next Generation Additive Manufacturing for 3D Power Electronics Packaging

Project team: Professor Peter Wilson

Informal queries should be directed to Prof Peter Wilson - p.r.wilson@bath.ac.uk

Project:

Modern wide bandgap power electronic devices require custom packaging and layout design to ensure that the maximum performance can be extracted from the devices in an application such as electric vehicle propulsion systems.

In order to achieve this a critical aspect of any power electronics system is the thermal design and using additive manufacturing opens the potential for efficient and light structures to be implemented in cold plate and packaging not possible using conventional methods.

This project will therefore undertake fundamental research into the effective thermal design of Aluminium cold plate and bus bars for high power density and high-performance inverters for electric vehicles requiring liquid cooling. The design will not only consider the efficient removal of heat from power electronic devices, but also the optimization of material usage to reduce the weight of the packaging, and also to integrate custom bus bars using additive manufacturing to provide the most compact and thermally efficient design.

A key aspect of the work will be to develop a design methodology to allow designers to follow a series of rules and techniques to develop 3D structures and assembly that will have the optimal weight, power density, electrical performance and thermal efficiency for the specification required. In order to demonstrate this, a practical technology demonstrator of a 150kW inverter using Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power MOSFET devices to drive a brushless DC electric motor to be used in an electric vehicle will be designed and implemented to validate both the design methodology and the packaging design resulting from this process.

Candidate Requirements:

Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a First Class or good Upper Second Class Honours degree (or the equivalent). A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous.

Application:

Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Please ensure that you state the full project title and lead supervisor name on the application form.

https://samis.bath.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RDUEE-FP01&code2=0015

More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found here:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/how-to-apply-for-doctoral-study/

Expected start date: 4 October 2021