IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v210y2025ics1364032124009456.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Progress in insulated gate bipolar transistor thermal management: From fundamentals to advanced strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Rehman, Tauseef-ur
  • Park, Cheol Woo

Abstract

Renewable energy and electric vehicles are crucial subjects of the global transition towards a sustainable future. Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are essential components of these systems, generating substantial heat during operation. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the thermal control strategies for IGBTs, covering fundamental concepts, heat generation mechanisms, thermal failure modes and state-of-the-art cooling techniques. The review emphasises the reduction of junction temperature, thermal resistance and temperature gradient in IGBT chips and modules. Various cooling technologies are explored, including air and liquid cooling with novel configurations, PCM-based cooling, two-phase cooling (microchannels, thermosyphon and vapour chambers), nanofluid-based cooling, spray and jet impingement and hybrid configurations. This review highlights the significance of flow rate, fluid type, cooling system configuration and flow type (single or two-phase) on cooling performance. Key findings from extensive research are summarised, including the inadequacy of natural air circulation for thermal buffering, the effectiveness of passive cooling techniques for low to moderate heat generation, effectiveness of two-phase cooling for elevated heat flux and the directions for making the cooling systems hybrid (active and passive). This review sums up by discussing the outlook, challenges and future directions in IGBT thermal management, emphasising the need for further investigation into the diverse areas of thermal management leading towards the implications of the research at commercial level.

Suggested Citation

  • Rehman, Tauseef-ur & Park, Cheol Woo, 2025. "Progress in insulated gate bipolar transistor thermal management: From fundamentals to advanced strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124009456
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.115219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124009456
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115219?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ding, Xiaofeng & Du, Min & Zhou, Tong & Guo, Hong & Zhang, Chengming, 2017. "Comprehensive comparison between silicon carbide MOSFETs and silicon IGBTs based traction systems for electric vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 626-634.
    2. He, Ziqiang & Yan, Yunfei & Zhang, Zhien, 2021. "Thermal management and temperature uniformity enhancement of electronic devices by micro heat sinks: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Pourfattah, Farzad & Sabzpooshani, Majid, 2021. "On the thermal management of a power electronics system: Optimization of the cooling system using genetic algorithm and response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    4. Qi, Di & He, Jing & Xu, Yongsheng & Lin, Mei & Wang, Qiuwang, 2022. "Effect of rib diameter on flow boiling heat transfer with staggered rib arrays in a heat sink," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    5. Alam, Tabish & Kim, Man-Hoe, 2018. "A comprehensive review on single phase heat transfer enhancement techniques in heat exchanger applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 813-839.
    6. Liyi He & Xue Hu & Lixin Zhang & Tongtong Xing & Zemin Jin, 2023. "Performance Evaluation and Optimization of Series Flow Channel Water-Cooled Plate for IGBT Modules," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Wang, Jin & Yu, Kai & Ye, Mingzheng & Wang, Enyu & Wang, Wei & Sundén, Bengt, 2022. "Effects of pin fins and vortex generators on thermal performance in a microchannel with Al2O3 nanofluids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    8. Jiefeng Liu & Shangxin Yu & Shichang Yang & Yiyi Zhang & Xianhao Fan & Bing Gao, 2020. "Numerical Studies on the Performance of the PCM Mesh-Finned Heat Sink Base on Thermal-Flow Multiphysics Coupling Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Souayfane, Farah & Biwole, Pascal Henry & Fardoun, Farouk & Achard, Patrick, 2019. "Energy performance and economic analysis of a TIM-PCM wall under different climates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1274-1291.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rui, Ziliang & Sun, Hong & Ma, Jie & Peng, Hao, 2023. "Experimental study and prediction on the thermal management performance of SDS aqueous solution based microchannel flow boiling system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Hajialibabaei, Mahsa & Saghir, M.Ziad & Dincer, Ibrahim & Bicer, Yusuf, 2024. "Optimization of heat dissipation in novel design wavy channel heat sinks for better performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    3. Feng, Zhenfei & Jiang, Ping & Zheng, Siyao & Zhang, Qingyuan & Chen, Zhen & Guo, Fangwen & Zhang, Jinxin, 2023. "Experimental and numerical investigations on the effects of insertion-type longitudinal vortex generators on flow and heat transfer characteristics in square minichannels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    4. Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Wang, Bohong & Ocłoń, Paweł & Radziszewska-Zielina, Elżbieta & Ma, Ting & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Jia, Xuexiu, 2023. "Efficiency measures for energy supply and use aiming for a clean circular economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    5. Kosdere, Ozgun & Sert, Zerrin & Altun, Ozge, 2024. "Investigation of thermal performance at forced convection in plate-fin heat sink," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    6. Boud Verbrugge & Haaris Rasool & Mohammed Mahedi Hasan & Sajib Chakraborty & Thomas Geury & Mohamed El Baghdadi & Omar Hegazy, 2022. "Reliability Assessment of SiC-Based Depot Charging Infrastructure with Smart and Bidirectional (V2X) Charging Strategies for Electric Buses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Martí Comamala & Ivan Ruiz Cózar & Albert Massaguer & Eduard Massaguer & Toni Pujol, 2018. "Effects of Design Parameters on Fuel Economy and Output Power in an Automotive Thermoelectric Generator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-28, November.
    8. Ljungdahl, V. & Taha, K. & Dallaire, J. & Kieseritzky, E. & Pawelz, F. & Jradi, M. & Veje, C., 2021. "Phase change material based ventilation module - Numerical study and experimental validation of serial design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    9. Ye, Mingzheng & Du, Jianqiang & Wang, Jin & Chen, Lei & Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír, 2022. "Investigation on thermal performance of nanofluids in a microchannel with fan-shaped cavities and oval pin fins," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    10. Ghadim, H. Benisi & Godin, A. & Veillere, A. & Duquesne, M. & Haillot, D., 2025. "Review of thermal management of electronics and phase change materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    11. Li, Jing & Zuo, Wei & E, Jiaqiang & Zhang, Yuntian & Li, Qingqing & Sun, Ke & Zhou, Kun & Zhang, Guangde, 2022. "Multi-objective optimization of mini U-channel cold plate with SiO2 nanofluid by RSM and NSGA-II," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    12. Said, Zafar & El Haj Assad, M. & Hachicha, Ahmed Amine & Bellos, Evangelos & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Alazaizeh, Duha Zeyad & Yousef, Bashria A.A., 2019. "Enhancing the performance of automotive radiators using nanofluids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 183-194.
    13. Mahir Faris Abdullah & Rozli Zulkifli & Hazim Moria & Asmaa Soheil Najm & Zambri Harun & Shahrir Abdullah & Wan Aizon Wan Ghopa & Noor Humam Sulaiman, 2021. "Assessment of TiO 2 Nanoconcentration and Twin Impingement Jet of Heat Transfer Enhancement—A Statistical Approach Using Response Surface Methodology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-29, January.
    14. Wu, Minqiang & Li, Tingxian & He, Qifan & Du, Ruxue & Wang, Ruzhu, 2022. "Thermally conductive and form-stable phase change composite for building thermal management," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    15. Xinjian Deng & Enying Li & Hu Wang, 2023. "A Variable-Fidelity Multi-Objective Evolutionary Method for Polygonal Pin Fin Heat Sink Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    16. Guo, Qingbo & Zhang, Chengming & Li, Liyi & Gerada, David & Zhang, Jiangpeng & Wang, Mingyi, 2017. "Design and implementation of a loss optimization control for electric vehicle in-wheel permanent-magnet synchronous motor direct drive system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1317-1332.
    17. Choi, Seungyeong & Bang, Minho & Park, Hee Seung & Heo, Jeonghun & Cho, Myung Hwan & Cho, Hyung Hee, 2024. "Machine learning-assisted effective thermal management of rotor-stator systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    18. Guo, Chao & Liu, Huan-ling & Guo, Qi & Shao, Xiao-dong & Zhu, Ming-liang, 2022. "Investigations on a novel cold plate achieved by topology optimization for lithium-ion batteries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    19. Mashoofi Maleki, Nemat & Pourahmad, Saman & Haghighi Khoshkhoo, Ramin & Ameri, Mohammad, 2023. "Performance improvement of a double tube heat exchanger using novel electromagnetic vibration (EMV) method in the presence of Al2O3-water and CuO-water nanofluid; An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    20. Wei, Li-si & Liu, Huan-ling & Tang, Chuan-geng & Tang, Xing-ping & Shao, Xiao-dong & Gongnan Xie,, 2024. "Investigation of novel type of cylindrical lithium-ion battery heat exchangers based on topology optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124009456. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.