Enclosed thermal management method for high-power photovoltaic inverters based on heat pipe heat sink

Photovoltaic (PV) inverter plays a crucial role in PV power generation. For high-power PV inverter, its heat loss accounts for about 2% of the total power. If the large amount of heat generated during the operation of the inverter is not dissipated in time, excessive temperature rise will reduce the safety of the devices. This paper proposes a closed PV inverter structure based on heat pipe and liquid cooling which overcomes the noise, dust and other problems caused by traditional air-cooling heat dissipation method and reduces cost of the volume occupied inside the body. Heat is dissipated through heat pipes, which are efficient heat transfer units. A simulation model of the actual cabinet was established using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the maximum junction temperature in the inverter was investigated under different coolant temperatures, flow rates, cooling liquid and heat loads. The results showed that the liquid cooling heat dissipation structure can effectively dissipate the heat inside the cabinet. The impact of two different types of heat sink used for power modules on temperature uniformity was studied. The results indicated that the 9-heat pipe type heat sink has better heat dissipation and uniform hot spots performance, the maximum heat source temperatures in the chip and capacitor were reduced by 9.91?C and 7.49?C respectively. Finally, the performance of the two types of radiators under different heat loads was studied.