Design of thermal system that emulates real cooling condition for power converter in the aircraft

Abstract

Overheating is one of the main concerns in electronic equipment. Conventional cooling systems for Aircraft Power Converter involves natural cooling or forced convection. This project will examine another form of effective cooling and consider the practicality. Simulations will be conducted to understand the thermal behavior of a simple circuit so as to identify the considerations in the design of a circuit thermal management system. Research was done to identify the advantages and disadvantages of implementing liquid cooling system to the Aircraft Power Converter, however it was concluded that the risks were too high to deem the implementation impractical. SolidWorks was used to create the 3D model of a simple circuit and conduct thermal simulations. In conclusion, it was identified that material used, space in between components, and the presence of heat sinks can greatly affect the thermal performance of an electronic circuit.