Design and manufacturing of liquid-cooled SiC power modules for EV applications

发展电动汽车是应对日益加剧的气候变化的关键措施之一。发展加拿大电动汽车产业的机会比以往任何时候都要好。各省和联邦政府正在投资数亿美元创造新的就业机会，这激起了人们对加拿大成为电动汽车制造商的希望。虽然最初的大部分重点放在低成本、大容量电池的制造上，但仍有很大的市场空间来开发互补的汽车零部件。多伦多大学电动汽车(UTEV)研究中心的研究人员与Dana Canada Corporation(Oakville，ON)和Dana TM4(Boucherville，QC)合作，提议设计和开发高性能液体冷却碳化硅(SIC)智能功率模块(IMP)的制造技术。在现有技术的基础上，UTEV计划扩大以前与Dana Canada共同开发的GaN(GaN)电源模块的直接芯片焊接技术，以制造能够为电动汽车的充电和驱动系统提供超过100千瓦的液体冷却碳化硅电源模块。一些需要克服的挑战包括开发直接连接技术，如金属铜焊和银烧结，以提供低热阻和高可靠性。此外，IMP的物理布局和结构对电气和热性能的优化具有相互矛盾的要求。智能栅极驱动器IC的开发还可以为IMP增加新的功能，如数字接口、电磁干扰(EMI)抑制、老化和健康监测。UTEV计划使用这些SIC IMP原型演示高效功率转换器的实施。这些功率转换器也将安装在UTEV的电动汽车滚动底盘上，以评估真实世界的驾驶循环性能。与此同时，戴纳加拿大公司将确保制造技术与严格的汽车制造要求相兼容。

The development of Electric Vehicles (EV) is one of the key measures to combat the accelerating climate change. The opportunity to develop the Canadian EV industry is better than ever. Provincial and Federal governments are investing "hundreds of millions" of dollars to create new jobs, stirring hopes to put Canada on the map as EV manufacturers. While much of the initial focus is placed on the manufacturing of low cost, high-capacity batteries, there are plenty of market space to develop complementary automotive parts. Researchers at the University of Toronto Electric Vehicle (UTEV) Research Centre, in partnership with Dana Canada Corporation (Oakville, ON) and Dana TM4 (Boucherville, QC), propose to design and develop manufacturing techniques for high performance liquid-cooled Silicon-Carbide (SiC) intelligent power modules (IMPs). Building on existing know how, UTEV plans to scale up the direct die bonding techniques for Gallium-Nitride (GaN) power modules, developed previously with Dana Canada, to build liquid-cooled SiC power modules capable of delivering more than 100 kW for the EV's charging and drive systems. Some of the challenges to overcome include the development of direct bonding techniques such as metal brazing and silver sintering, to provide low thermal resistance and high reliability. In addition, the physical layout and structure of the IMPs has conflicting requirements for the optimization of electrical and thermal performance. The development of smart gate driver ICs can also adds novel features such as digital interface, Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) suppression, aging and health monitoring to the IMPs. UTEV plans to demonstrate the implementation of high efficiency power converters using these SiC IMP prototypes. Theses power converters will also be installed on UTEV's EV rolling chassis to evaluate the real-world drive cycle performance. At the same time, Dana Canada will ensure that the fabrication techniques are compatible with the stringent automotive manufacturing requirements.