Test Solution for Heatsinks in Power Electronics Applications

Power electronics technology is widely used in several areas, such as in the railways, automotive, electric vehicles, and renewable energy sectors. Some of these applications are safety critical, e.g., in the automotive domain. The heat produced by power devices must be efficiently dissipated to allow them to work within their operational thermal limits. Moreover, numerous ageing effects are due to thermal stress, which causes mechanical issues. Therefore, the reliability of a circuit depends on its dissipation system, even if it consists of a simple passive heatsink mounted on the power device. During the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) production, an incorrect assembly of the heatsink can cause a worse heat dissipation with a significant increase of the junction temperatures (Tj). In this paper, three possible test strategies are compared for testing the correct assembling of heatsinks. The considered strategies are used at the PCB end-manufacturing. The effectiveness of the different test methods considered is assessed on a case study corresponding to a Power Supply Unit (PSU).