Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger
The onboard circuits of EV chargers comprise heat-producing electronic devices such as MOSFETs and diodes for switching and power conversion operations. A heatsink must dissipate this generated heat to extend the devices’ life and prevent component thermal stress or failure. This study primarily inv...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/1/180 |
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| _version_ | 1841549200197681152 |
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| author | Iheanyi Emmanuel Ebere Ashraf Ali Khan Samuel Ogundahunsi Emeka Ugwuemeaju Usman Ali Khan Shehab Ahmed |
| author_facet | Iheanyi Emmanuel Ebere Ashraf Ali Khan Samuel Ogundahunsi Emeka Ugwuemeaju Usman Ali Khan Shehab Ahmed |
| author_sort | Iheanyi Emmanuel Ebere |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The onboard circuits of EV chargers comprise heat-producing electronic devices such as MOSFETs and diodes for switching and power conversion operations. A heatsink must dissipate this generated heat to extend the devices’ life and prevent component thermal stress or failure. This study primarily investigates the optimal heatsink geometry and pin configuration, which offers the most efficient temperature versus cost performance. MATLAB/Simulink (R2024a) was used to model a Level 1 charger using eight MOSFETs and four diodes. Various heatsink geometries were modeled using the ANSYS (2024 R1) Workbench and Fluent software to optimize the sink’s thermal performance. The analyses were performed under transient conditions using natural and forced cooling scenarios. The 2 mm wide plate fin heatsink with 44 fins yielded the best result. Further enhancement of the best-performing naturally cooled model improved the switches and diodes temperatures by 14% and 4%, respectively. The performance of the heatsink was further improved by applying a cooling fan to achieve an up to 25% diode and 40% MOSFET thermal dissipation efficiency. The results of this study show that the most efficient cooling performance and cost are realized when the optimum combination of fin spacing, proximity from the cooling fan, and fin geometry is selected. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1dad0f9748d343f2ad8145a21b49c604 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj-art-1dad0f9748d343f2ad8145a21b49c6042025-01-10T13:17:19ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732025-01-0118118010.3390/en18010180Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle ChargerIheanyi Emmanuel Ebere0Ashraf Ali Khan1Samuel Ogundahunsi2Emeka Ugwuemeaju3Usman Ali Khan4Shehab Ahmed5Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, CanadaSchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of KoreaCEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi ArabiaThe onboard circuits of EV chargers comprise heat-producing electronic devices such as MOSFETs and diodes for switching and power conversion operations. A heatsink must dissipate this generated heat to extend the devices’ life and prevent component thermal stress or failure. This study primarily investigates the optimal heatsink geometry and pin configuration, which offers the most efficient temperature versus cost performance. MATLAB/Simulink (R2024a) was used to model a Level 1 charger using eight MOSFETs and four diodes. Various heatsink geometries were modeled using the ANSYS (2024 R1) Workbench and Fluent software to optimize the sink’s thermal performance. The analyses were performed under transient conditions using natural and forced cooling scenarios. The 2 mm wide plate fin heatsink with 44 fins yielded the best result. Further enhancement of the best-performing naturally cooled model improved the switches and diodes temperatures by 14% and 4%, respectively. The performance of the heatsink was further improved by applying a cooling fan to achieve an up to 25% diode and 40% MOSFET thermal dissipation efficiency. The results of this study show that the most efficient cooling performance and cost are realized when the optimum combination of fin spacing, proximity from the cooling fan, and fin geometry is selected.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/1/180natural convectionheat dissipationtransient thermal analysisAnsys Workbench |
| spellingShingle | Iheanyi Emmanuel Ebere Ashraf Ali Khan Samuel Ogundahunsi Emeka Ugwuemeaju Usman Ali Khan Shehab Ahmed Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger Energies natural convection heat dissipation transient thermal analysis Ansys Workbench |
| title | Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger |
| title_full | Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger |
| title_fullStr | Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger |
| title_short | Design and Optimization of the Heatsink of a Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger |
| title_sort | design and optimization of the heatsink of a level 1 electric vehicle charger |
| topic | natural convection heat dissipation transient thermal analysis Ansys Workbench |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/1/180 |
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