Miniaturization and system integration are at the forefront of automotive electronics development, which in turn is driven by the need for vehicles with greater fuel efficiency, improved safety, seamless connectivity and autonomous capabilities. As a result, circuit designs have evolved to meet the demands of greater energy efficiency.
With smaller electronic components and higher energy density, vehicle thermal management is becoming an issue.
Dissipating heat from these systems remains an operational and safety challenge because smaller devices have less surface area as heat sinks.
Thermal management is an evolving branch of vehicle design that uses advanced thermal interface materials (TIMs) to better dissipate heat from circuits.
Thermal management in vehicles
Some of the most important heat-generating electronic components in a vehicle include:
In-vehicle infotainment system.
These highly integrated, powerful multi-monitor systems allow drivers to control Bluetooth, GPS, audio and more.
Challenge: Today's infotainment systems contain numerous circuits and LED chips that generate a lot of heat, requiring proper thermal management.
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
ADAS integrates multiple systems throughout the vehicle, such as sensors, cameras, connectivity features, and most importantly, a data module that combines information received from various components.
Challenge: The high data performance of these systems requires efficient cooling to ensure lasting reliability and functionality.
Thermal management outside the cabin
Outside the cabin, thermal management becomes more complex as components are exposed not only to higher operating temperatures but also to various environmental factors such as humidity, salt, corrosive vapors and extreme weather conditions.
They are usually sealed for mechanical and physical protection, making heat dissipation and cooling more difficult.
These components include:
Engine Control Unit (ECU).
The ECU controls all electronic aspects of the vehicle, from the powertrain to the central locking system. The ECU relies on an uninterrupted flow of data between input sensors and output components to control engine functions.
Challenge: Because these systems generate large amounts of information, thermal management is critical to ensure functional integrity and continuity.
Brake system control
These and other classes of sensors are other systems located outside the passenger cabin that generate heat.
The challenge: Fast and efficient heat dissipation from these systems is critical to the smooth and safe operation of any vehicle.
E-mobility poses even greater thermal management challenges
The rise of companies like Tesla has forced automakers to redefine their business strategies and adapt to market demand driven by new consumer preferences. Increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is creating new design challenges for automakers to reduce manufacturing costs, increase battery range, reduce weight, and improve safety and reliability.
Like internal combustion engines, powertrains are at the heart of electric vehicles. The main components in electric vehicles are
- the battery pack,
- the electric motor and
- the energy conversion system.
One of the biggest challenges in electric vehicle development is maximizing power output while minimizing battery size and weight.
One strategy is to combine the energy conversion system and electric motor into a single unit while reducing the size of each component. While this approach improves the power density and efficiency of the e-drive, it increases the risk of motor failure due to overheating. Therefore, thermal management in both components is critical.
Electric motors
Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and are one of the main components of EV powertrains.
Challenge: Heat can reduce a motor's performance and shorten its life. Therefore, it is important to quickly and efficiently conduct heat away from the motor.
Power Conversion Systems
The vehicle's power electronics is the part of the powertrain that controls and transmits electrical energy to the other systems and controls engine speed and torque. It consists of three main electronic components:
- the on-board charger (OBC),
- the inverter system (IGBT modules) and
- the DC/DC converter.
To save space and reduce overall weight, thereby increasing range, the design strategy focused on downsizing and consolidating the components.
The challenge: These components operate at high voltages and consume a lot of energy, which helps reduce charging time. However, the heat generated is difficult to regulate because the reduced size of the components provides less surface area for heat dissipation.
Battery systems
The design of these systems has a major impact on the range, power density, charging time and long-term performance of an electric vehicle.
One challenge: As with all electronic components, thermal management becomes more difficult as battery packs get smaller. In addition to thermal management, the structural integrity of the cell-to-cell and cell-to-pack connection must be guaranteed.
Solutions for automotive thermal management
To solve these multiple design challenges, and also to provide options for our OEM partners, we have developed a wide range of advanced thermal materials, including gap pads, thermal conductive pastes, thermally conductive adhesives (TCAs) and thermal encapsulants.
Our thermal conductive pastes and gap fillers displace air at the interface between the component and heat sink to aid in heat dissipation. Our gap fillers, which have one of the highest thermal conductivities in the industry, are a promising choice for efficiently conducting heat from battery cells out of battery modules and then out of the battery packs themselves.
Thermal conductive adhesives perform a similar function, but provide additional structural integrity by creating a permanent bond at the interface of mating surfaces. They are commonly used in infotainment, autonomous and ADAS systems in vehicles. In electric vehicles, they are commonly used for cell-to-cell and cell-to-pack connections to provide structural integrity and pack cooling.
Finally, our thermal compounds help protect components from overheating while providing excellent protection from shock, impact and other environmental effects. They have proven to be extremely effective in the thermal management of ECU sensors and LED lights.
In electric vehicles, our potting compounds are reliable thermal management materials that help manufacturers build smaller yet more reliable electric motors with higher power density.