Electrothermal modeling of hybrid power modules

Purpose - Power modules including the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) are widely used in the applications of motor drivers. The thermal behavior of these modules makes it important to choose the optimum design of cooling system. The purpose of this paper is to propose an RC thermal model of the dynamic electro-thermal behavior of IGBT pulse width modulation inverter modules.Design methodology approach - The electrothermal model has been implemented and simulated with a MATLAB simulator and takes into account the thermal influence between the different module chips based on the technique of superposition.Findings - This study has led to a correction of the junction temperature values estimated from the transient thermal impedance of each component operating alone.Originality value - In this paper, an experimental technique of a thermal influence evaluation is presented.