HEAT TRANSFER OPTIMIZATION OF AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT IMMERSED IN NATURAL CONVECTION COOLANT

Abstract

The current paper aims to present a thermal dissipation optimization for an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) cooled with thermal paste. The improvement consists of replacing the inside air of the module with four single-phase dielectric coolants in natural convection and one silicone elastomer compound, each of which has a higher thermal conductivity than air. Two distinct experiments were performed: electronics immersed in coolant with and without thermal paste, exposed to an ambient temperature of between -40°C and 105°C. Temperature measurements on the hot spots of these solutions were compared to electronic modules that are cooled only with thermal paste.