Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles

Burak Ozpineci
Corporate Fellow
Section Head, Vehicle and Mobility
Systems Research
Email: burak@ornl.gov
Phone: 865-341-1329
@burakozpineci
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the US Department of Energy
 Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• Largest DOE national laboratory (out of 17)

• $2.5B budget
• ~5,500 employees
• ~3,000 research
guests annually
• Tennessineà most recent addition to
periodic table

World’s fastest supercomputer in 2020

(designed for AI applications)
2
Electric Drive
Technologies Consortium
 Trends
• Focus on pure EVs
– > 200 mile range
• Increased consumer acceptance
– ≥ 60 kWh energy storage
• Required for extended range
– Propulsion power ≥ 150 kW
• Provide reasonable acceleration
– Mass of vehicles > 3,500 lbs.
• Increases in-spite of light-weighting

• Integrating Powertrain into Chassis

– Production of multiple vehicle types
– Integration into flat package

4
 US DOE Electric Drive Technologies R&D Targets
Our roadmap defines the pathway to achieving 2025 targets
Current Status 2025+
$1800* $900
($12/kW 2015 Target) ($6/kW 2025 Target)

Chevrolet Bolt Future Mobility Design Concept

2025 Targets 2015
Cost ($/kW) $6/kW $12/kW
Power Density 33 kW/L 3.5 kW/L
(kW/L)
Power Level 100 kW 55 kW
Reliability/lifetime 300,000 miles 150,000 miles
* Based on 2016 Bolt 150 kW system
Roadmap: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/11/f39/EETT%20Roadmap%2010-27-17.pdf
5
 Traction Drives and 2025 targets

BMW – i3 Toyota Prius ELT 2015 ELT 2020 ELT 2025

EV HEV Targets Targets Targets
2016 2017
Motor 11 L 17.5 L 11L 3.1 L 2L
Inverter 5.04 L 4.6 L 4.6L 4.1 L 1L
Traction 16.04 L 22.1 L 15.6L 7.2 L 3L
drive

6
Keystone Project #1

Pis: Gui-Jia Su, Emre Gurpinar, and Shajjad

Chowdhury
 Components of an inverter
Heat sink Power modules
DC link capacitors

Major power density impact Controller/DSP board

- DC Link Capacitors
- Heat sink
- Power Modules

Busbars
Gate driver boards
Sensors

8
 Power Modules
Power modules

Major power density impact Controller/DSP board

- DC Link Capacitors
- Heat sink
- Power Modules

Gate driver boards

Sensors

9
 Approaches to Reducing the Power Module Volume

• Efficient and flexible substrates

• Low volume reliable interconnects
• Double-sided packaging
• Low profile gate drivers
• Integrated gate drivers and control circuits
• Integrated sensors

10
 Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) with Thermal Pyrolytic
Graphite (TPG) Insert
ORNL DBC Based Solution IMS with TPG Insert Based Solution

x * Drawings
not to scale
Die
Die

z
Copper Ceramic Terminals Copper
Dielectric Terminals
(AlN) TPG
Film Core
Thermal Conductivity of TPG Core
[1]

[1] Momentive

• Same electrical layout is used for the comparison

• Future improvement on CTE matching to WBG devices can be
accomplished by using low CTE metal to encapsulate TPG insert
• Thermal performance of DBC and IMS with TPG insert will be compared
Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov
11
 Power Module Substrates
Prototyped DBC, IMS, and IMSwTPG Substrates
Substrate Samples Based on Different Technologies

Direct Bonded
Copper
(DBC)

Insulated
Metal Substrate
(IMS)

IMS with
TPG Core
(IMSwTPG)

TPG: Thermal pyrolytic graphite

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

12
 Test setup for thermal and electrical characterization
Half-Bridge Power Module based on IMSwTPG
The test setup accommodates:
• Junction temperature measurement of SiC MOSFET via
thermal imaging
• Substrate base temperature measurement via
thermocouples
• Coolant flow and temperature regulation
• Power loss dissipation control across SiC MOSFETs
• Switching and conduction performance evaluation of
the module under different case temperature and load
current conditions
Assembled module for thermal characterization

Control and Power Board

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

13
 Steady State Thermal Performance Based on
Experimental Characterization
Compared thermal resistance of paralleled SiC MOSFETs (M4-6, M1-3) with different substrate solutions

Test Conditions

Power Loss Up to 200W across each substrate until

Steady-State Thermal Performance Tj= 150°C

• With adequate heat spreading (case M4-6), conventional IMS can match the Coolant 50/50 water/glycol mix
performance of AlN DBC

• TPG embedded IMS (IMSwTPG) outperforms DBC and IMS under all operating Coolant Temperature 25°C, 45°C and 65°C
conditions

Flow Rate 1.66 L/min

Steady State Thermal Resistance Comparison

1.5 1.5 1.5
R th-mean @ T c =45 ° C [°K/W]

R th-mean @ T c =65 C [°K/W]

@ T =25 C [°K/W]

1 1 1

°
°
c

DBC
0.5 DBC 0.5 IMS 0.5 DBC
th-mean

IMS IMSwTPG IMS

IMSwTPG IMSwTPG
R

0 0 0
M4-6 M1-3 M M M4-6 M1-3
4-6 1-3

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

14
 Current Capability and Heat Spreading of Different
Substrates Steady State Temperature Distribution

Based on the experimental and simulation results of DBC and

IMSwTPG, the current density of SiC MOSFETs on each DBC
substrate with different coolant performances are evaluated

The results show that IMSwTPG provides 10% improvement in

SiC MOSFET current density regardless of the cooling
performance in comparison to conventional DBC
IMSwTPG

Heat Spreading Across the Substrate

Embedded TPG tiles successfully spreads heat
across the substrate before reaching the dielectric
layer. Heat Spreading Performance of Different Substrates
DBC IMS IMSwTPG

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

15
 Integrated ODBC Based Power Module
Thermal Analysis Results
• Organic Direct Bonded Copper (ODBC) provides a multi-layer structure that enables
integration of heat sink and gate driver in the power module
– Middle copper layer provides common-mode shielding

• Thin organic film dielectric (35µm) can operate at high temperature (>175ºC) and withstand
high voltage (>5kV, dielectric strength=164kV/mm)

• Copper thickness can be optimized, and thermally annealed pyrolytic graphite (TPG) can be
embedded for enhanced heat spreading
– TPG has 1500W/(m×K) thermal conductivity in two axes and 10W/(m×K) in the third axis

ODBC Based Integrated Power Module Concept

DC-
DC+ Output
TPG Core
SiC MOSFET Final Module Layout Based on Thermal Analysis
DC Terminals TPG Alignment
Dielectric (1500W/(m×K)
Copper

High power density capable substrate TPG Core

layout is achieved by optimizing layer
thickness and TPG alignment SiC MOSFETs

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov Heat Sink Surface

16
 Multi-layer ODBC Based GaN HEMT Module
Terminal Output
Al wire Terminal Power Vias
• Integrated power module based on 650V, 10mΩ GaN HEMTs: DC+
Terminal Solder GaN HEMT
DC- Terminal
• Integrated gate driver & passives DC-
ODBC

• Direct attached high performance heat sink

• Embedded high performance materials

• High temperature dielectric

Integrated Half Bridge Switching Cell

Decoupling
DC+ Capacitors Power
Terminals
Gate
S1 GaN HEMT
Driver

CDC Out

S2 Gate Drivers
Gate
Driver
GaN HEMT
DC-

17
 Heat sink
Heat sink

Major power density impact

- DC Link Capacitors
- Heat sink
- Power Modules

18
 Genetic Algorithm Optimized Heat Sink Design

Wu, Ozpineci, et.al. APEC 2016

19
 Approaches to Reducing the Heatsink Volume
• Artificial Intelligence-based heatsink design

• Constrained multi-objective optimization of heat sink such that

Ø Max. junction temperature < 110 deg C
Ø Max. Pressure drop < 1000 Pa
Ø Reynolds number < 2000
Ø Minimize(Max. Junction Temperature & Pressure Drop)
• GA ran with 40 populations for 20 generations
• Optimal heat sink has reduction in junction temperature by 5 degC
Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov
20
 Heat Sinks in Pareto Front

Right most with

maximum volume

Left most with

least volume

(Dimensions in mm)

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

21
 Optimal Selection – 50% reduction
Temperature Distribution in Heat Sink @ 1.667 (l/min)

Metric Optimized vs Pin- BMW i3

Comparison fin
Heat Sink Volume 50% reduction

Heat Sink Mass 48.5% reduction

(without coolant)

Optimal Heat Sink Cross Section

Dr. Emre Gurpinar (ORNL) – gurpinare@ornl.gov

22
 DC link Capacitor
DC link capacitors

Major power density impact

- DC Link Capacitors
- Heat sink
- Power Modules

23
 Approaches to Reducing the Capacitor Volume

• High Energy Density Capacitors

• Distributed Capacitors
• PE Topologies
• Capacitor Cooling

24
 Capacitor Technologies Used as DC Bus
Capacitor technologies
• Film – Widely used as a DC bus capacitor for traction drives. These capacitors are popular due to higher
current conduction capability, long lifespan, and self-healing capability.
• Multilayer Ceramic (MLCC) – Exhibit higher energy density, and high current conduction capability than film
capacitor.
• PLZT Ceramic – Higher energy density than the film, and high current conduction capability than film and
ceramic capacitor. This capacitor also shows higher reliability than MLCC due to its series parallel
construction.
Dielectric constant
Dielectric characteristics
Ceramic Plastic/
Dielectric Material
Polymer
Temperature Capacitance Operating Type of
Class 1 Class 2 PLZT
dependency and DC bias temperature capacitor

Barium titanate (BaTiO3) 300 - 7000 High ↓↓↓ High Ceramic

Ba2Ti9O20 40 Stable No Change High Ceramic

(ZrSn)TiO4 37 Stable No Change High Ceramic
ZnTa2O6 38 Stable No Change High Ceramic
PLZT 500-1500 High ↑↑ High PLZT
Polypropylene 2.2 Stable No change Low Film
Polyethylene Terephthalate 3.3 Stable No change Low Film

25 Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

 High Energy Density Capacitors – 76 percent reduction
BMW i3 Film PLZT Ceramic

0.644 L 0.612 L
0.155 L 0.123 L

184x70x50 184x70x47.5 184x70x12 184x70x9.5

76% reduction
81% reduction
Film PLZT Ceramic
Dielectric Metalized Polypropylene PLZT BaTiO3
Temperature 105 oC 150 oC 125 oC
Structure Series Parallel Parallel
Current handling 3 Amps @ 50 kHz, 85oC 8 Amps @ 50 kHz, 85oC 5 Amps @ 50 kHz, 85oC
capacity 0 Amps @ 50 kHz, 105oC 6.5 Amps @ 50 kHz, 3.5 Amps @ 50 kHz,
105oC 105oC
PLZT: Lead Lanthanum Zirconate Titanate
PLZT capacitor has slightly higher volume than the MLCC for a given capacitance
but can handle higher current, temperature, and has better reliability.
26 Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov
 Optimized Capacitor Structure Design

In the circular design, capacitors are equal distance from the termination
points which allows evenly distributed current with better flux cancellation.

Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

27
 Optimized capacitor packaging
• Designed a circular capacitor to fit each power module – six of them will be used in the segmented inverter
• Packaged considering 52mm x 52mm dimensions – circular capacitor

Circular capacitor package Traditional flat capacitor package

DC-
Isolating sleeve
Mounting holes
DC+

DC-

Capacitors
Top PCB

Bottom PCB
Flat capacitor boards containing 15 capacitors
Exploded diagram of the designed circular package

Cross section showing two identical current loops Cross section showing several current loops

Circular design has better flux cancellation due to overlapping current path and has improved fill factor
than a traditional flat design (fill factor: 35% for circular and 27% for flat design)

Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

28
 Optimized capacitor packaging
Designed and assembled packaged capacitors
Assembled flat capacitor boards
• Designed considering outer rotor motor dimensions
• Built two traditional flat boards for performance
evaluation and comparison
• Assembled all three packages with 15 capacitors in
parallel

Circular capacitor board components

3x5 arrays 5x3 arrays

Assembled circular capacitor board

Connectors and terminals

13mm
52mm

Top view Bottom view

Top board Bottom board
29 Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov
 Thermal Performance Evaluation
Thermal characterization and comparison
Flat 3x5 Flat 5x3 Circular

Outcomes
• Total capacitor volume is 0.168L, which is 70%
less than BMW-i3’s capacitor volume
(improve power density of overall electric
Max
drive)
Avg • Designed capacitor package show 40% less
Min layout inductance (3nH) compared to
traditional flat packages (5.3nH for flat 3x5 and
4.9nH for flat 5x3) (improve inverter switching
performance)
Average temperature Temperature variation • Thermal characterization results show 80%
lower temperature variation (ΔT) among the
parallel capacitor branches (improve
capacitor’s lifetime)

Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

30
 Challenges and Opportunities
• Failure mechanism of Ceramic capacitors – electrical shorts
• Paralleling of small ceramic/PLZT capacitors for equal current
distribution
• Distributed Capacitors
• Capacitor Cooling

31
 PE Topologies – 60% reduction 3-phase Inverter

High-Voltage, High-Power Density Traction Drive Inverter

• Inverter architecture to reduce capacitor requirements:

– Multiphase inverter
– Segmented inverter arrangement
Segmented Inverter
– Fault tolerance

• Increase dc bus voltage (800V+): Comparison of normalized capacitor ripple current vs

– Better utilize SiC switching devices’ inherently higher voltage modulation index for 3-phase and segmented inverters
ratings
Inv1 Inv2 ia1
ibat iinv
– Reduce the size of SiC dies (lower cost) ia2

– Reduce phase and dc bus current Vbat iCbus

a1 ib1
a2
– Evaluate impact of insulation requirements Cbus
b1 b2
c1 c2 ib2

• Optimize dc bus bar designs: ic1

ic2
– Embedded and distributed capacitors
Symmetrical six-
– Direct cooling of dc busbars phase/segmented inverter

Dr. Gui-Jia Su (ORNL) – sugj@ornl.gov

32
Keystone Project #2
 Approaches to Reducing the Motor Volume

• New motor topologies

• High fidelity modeling
• Optimization
• Ultraconducting Copper

34
 High Speed Non-Heavy Rare-Earth Motor Candidates
Wound Rotor Synchronous Motor HRE-free Outer rotor Surface
Inner rotor Permanent Magnet
72 slots, 16 poles, 18 slots, 20 poles,
Distributed winding Concentrated tooth winding
§ Natural magnet retention by rotor yoke;
§ Non-permanent magnet:
§ Airgap radius is at the outermost possible, to
• Cost effective;
maximize the torque density;
• No demagnetization issue;
§ Tooth winding: high direct inductance for flux
§ Fractional 1.5 slot per pole per phase to weakening and low torque ripple;
reduce torque ripple (No skewing).
§ Halbach magnet arrangement:
• Maximize airgap flux density;
• Reinforce demagnetization resistance.

HRE-free Inner rotor Spoke HRE-free Outer rotor Slotless Surface

Interior PM Motor
72 slots,
16 poles,
Distributed winding
§ Reluctance torque helps maximize
torque density;
§ Low exposure of the lower coercivity
heavy rare-earth-free PMs to
demagnetizing armature field;
§ Fractional 1.5 slot per pole per phase
and rotor pole shaping to reduce torque
ripple (No skewing).
Permanent Magnet
120 slots, 20 poles,
Distributed winding
§ Natural magnet retention by rotor yoke;
§ Airgap radius is at the outermost possible, to
maximize the torque density;
§ Slotless winding: extremely low torque ripple;
§ Halbach magnet arrangement to maximize
flux density and to have a near sinusoidal
flux density distribution in the airgap.

35
 Ultra-Conducting Copper
Cu CNT
CNTs provide extraordinary electrical, thermal, & mechanical Electrical
properties compared to Cu Conductivity
59.6 MS/m 100 MS/m

Thermal
Ê ´1.7 higher electrical conductivity (along the tube axis) Conductivity
400 W/m-K 4000 W/m-K

Ê ´10 higher thermal conductivity (along the tube axis) Current

106 A/cm2 108 A/cm2
Density
Ê ´100 current density
ORNL UCC Multilayer
Architecture
Process challenges:
Cu-film (orange layers):
Any voids/porosity from the Cu/CNT matrix needs to be eliminated

CNT-layer:
● CNTs need to be aligned along the tape length (i.e, direction
of current)
● Organic processing chemicals (solvent & surfactants) used
during processing must be removed from the CNT matrix

36
 Impact of winding conductivity on power density
35
Spoke IPM Ideal case: No saturation
30

Volume Compared to
Flux density

copper Winding (%)

Reduction in Active
magnitude
[T]
25 Inner rotor spoke IPM

20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Increase in Winding Conductivity from Copper (%)

Ø The volume reduction is lower than the ideal forecast

because of the magnetic saturation effect in the steel.
Ø 10% reduction in active volume for 30% improvement in
UCC conductivity.
Ø UCC can help reduce the motor volume to meet the
power density target.
37
Keystone Project #3
 Integrated Electric Drive

Conventional Integrated Drive Current ORNL approach

Motor Drive

Radial Stator Axial Stator

Mount Mount

• Outer rotor motor has higher

• Easy mounting power density than the other
• Detachable for debugging variants

• Separate cold plate • Inverter can be embedded

inside the motor
• Shared cooling jacket • Easy mounting
• Separate casing
• Shared casing and cooling for
• Shared casing • Detachable for debugging
• Low power density due to tight integration
the geometry • Debugging is difficult • Shared casing
• Can be shared or separate
cold pate
Motor Power electronics

Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

39
 Outer Rotor Motor Integrated Drive Rotor

Stator

Rotating shaft

Stationary Shaft

Motor Casing

Outer rotor Surface Permanent Magnet

Concentrated tooth winding

Outer rotor motor is selected to achieve higher power density and due to the availability of the inner
hollow space for inverter integration

Dr. Shajjad Chowdhury (ORNL) – chowdhuryms@ornl.gov

40
MD/HD Electric Drives
 Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

• 4% of the vehicle population

• 9% of all vehicle miles traveled

• 26% of the gallons of fuel used

https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1101-september-30-
2019-mediumheavy-trucks-were-4-vehicle-population
42
 Higher Power Levels

• Higher voltage batteries (1000V-1500V possible)

– 1700V or 3300V power devices
– New traction inverter topologies
– New power modules
– High voltage insulation materials
– High voltage capacitors – new dielectric materials
• Higher current levels
– More device paralleling
– Higher conductivity metals/composites
– Multi-phase systems (6, 9 phases, higher number?)

43
 Durability and reliability

• Passenger vehicles – 0.3 million miles

• Focus on 1- 1.2 million miles

44
 Electric motors

• Non-heavy rare earth magnets

• Induction motors, switched reluctance type motors
• PE+EM integration + gears
• Stall torque – multi-start

45
Extreme Fast Charging
 Extreme Fast Charging (XFC)
• 350kW+ at 800V+ à the numbers will increase in the
future
• 800V battery. 800V electric drive.
• Medium Voltage Connection
– Transformer
– Solid-state transformer Tesla.com

Transformer and PE

Google Maps
Anaheim Superchargers
47
 XFC Challenges
• Charging cable and plug specifications will
be a challenge to meet for the voltage and
current needed – bulky cable
• Semiconductor technology limitation:
Currently, 6.5 kV is the max.
• Low efficiency due to high conduction losses
for low voltage systems
• Cooling system infrastructure will affect the
cost (operating and installation),
performance and energy requirements Electrek.co

• Peak demand charges

48
 60 Hz Transformerless HPFC

Power Plant

13.8 kV 60 Hz

ORNL 60Hz
Transformerless
Charging Station
Electric or Hybrid-Electric Heavy Vehicle

800 V+ Light
Duty
Vehicles
350 kW Wireless or
Wired Power Transfer
49
 High Power Static and Dynamic Wireless Charging

Optimized primary side inverter design -

DWPT
– 200+ kW operation at 85 kHz
– 305.6 mm x 290 mm x 71 mm
– 6.29 L à Power density ~ 31.78 kW/L
– Estimated efficiency ~ 99 %
– Custom designed and optimized PCB (bus-bar) Optimized 200 kW primary side
– Ceralink dc bus bar capacitors underneath the inverter for dynamic WPT project
PCB busbars
• Open-ended winding dual three-phase inverter
design for the primary side,
– 500 kW design, 9.16 liters, ~55 kW/liter specific
power
– Targeting 3C charge rates
– Achieved 0.905 and 1.53 MW/m2 surface power
density with 100 kW and 270 kW receivers
Primary-side high-
frequency inverter
– 500 kW peak power

50 Dr. Omer Onar (ORNL) – onaroc@ornl.gov Dr. Veda Galigekere – galigekerevn@ornl.gov

 Questions

51