Thermal Management

This report provides a comprehensive overview of thermal management system strategies, modeling, and simulation within the RHODaS project. 

It focuses on detailing the thermal interface between inverters and cooling systems, exploring estimated junction temperatures, and analysing the potential impacts of design choices on equivalent thermal resistance, as well as advanced 3D thermal and power loss modeling, employing Finite Element Analysis, with COMSOL Multiphysics playing a crucial role in heatsink design. Fundamental simulations cover aspects like liquid-cooled heatsink design and sensitivity studies.

In recent years, semiconductor manufacturers have developed power component packages which use a different thermal management approach - instead of placing the thermal pad on the bottom of a device pointing towards the PCB, the exposed metal pad is placed on the top side of the device. It has been shown that top-side cooling (TSC) can reduce the overall thermal resistance by 20% - 30% compared to bottom side cooling (BSC), making the process of heat extraction much simpler and consequently less expensive to implement. Ideas & Motion, a company which develops power inverters for electric vehicle (EV) powertrains, conducted simulations as part of the HiPE EU-funded project to assess the thermal performance of TSC packages from three leading semiconductor manufacturers.

The RHODaS Webinar Series presents four interconnected sessions exploring the latest European research on next-generation electric powertrain technologies. Hosted by the RHODaS consortium under the Horizon Europe framework, funded by ‪the European Commission‬ and as part of the E-VOLVE Cluster, the webinar series will feature insights from the RHODaS, SCAPE, ‪‪Maxima and EM-TECH projects, bringing together leading experts in power electronics, digital systems, and sustainability. Each webinar focuses on a specific technological domain critical to the electrification of transport — from component design and thermal management to digital intelligence and circularity. Together, they illustrate how European research is transforming electric mobility through efficiency, reliability, and environmental responsibility. 

This session addresses the crucial role of thermal management in ensuring performance and durability. Speakers from RHODaS and SCAPE will present cutting-edge cooling solutions for high-speed converters, chip-embedding technologies, and advanced thermal characterization methods.