Weight Reduction Considerations for Thermal Management of Aerospace Power Electronics

Electrification in the aerospace industry introduces new challenges and design criteria for thermal management solutions. As electrical systems replace their mechanical counterparts, weight becomes an exceedingly critical factor since it affects the energy consumption of aircraft. Currently, investigations on thermal management of power electronics report the final weight of the proposed cooling designs. However, weight should be considered as a major design parameter to achieve the desired specific power for aerospace applications. This paper addresses potential design choices for weight reduction and investigates the effect of material selection on the thermal management solution for power electronics through numerical modeling.