Distributed Force-Directed Algorithm-Assisted Thermal Design Method of IGCT Driver Board

Abstract

The thermal failure of integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT) is often attributed to the driver board, making the thermal design of the board crucial for improving reliability. To tackle the challenge of optimizing the components layout of the board, a distributed force-directed algorithm is introduced for the thermal layout of IGCT driver board components, which is effective in achieving multiobjective optimization. First, the functional regions of the IGCT driver board are divided based on their electrothermal characteristics requirements. Then, the initial driver board with multilayer is then designed through engineering experience, followed by simplified modeling using this initial design. Second, based on the designed initial layout, the force-directed algorithm is used to optimize the layout by considering the size, adjacent spacing, and heat flux gradient of the components in each region. Finally, experimental comparisons between the optimized and initial driver boards demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly enhances the thermal performance of the IGCT driver board.