Abstract
<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Vehicle electrification is game changer for automotive sector because of major energy and environmental implications driven by high vehicle efficiency. However, EVs are facing challenges on life cycle assessment (LCA), charging, and driving range compared to conventional fossil-fueled vehicles. One of the key features that impacts the efficiency of an EV is its battery charging system which is done using an On-Board Charger (OBC). OBCs, are primarily used to convert DC-power from high-voltage battery pack to AC-power. They contain different power-electronic devices such as MOSFETs, diodes, magnetics etc. These devices generate a lot of heat and require an efficient thermal management strategy. Through CAE Thermal analysis it was identified that amongst these components, transformers and diodes are major source of heat. Temperature observed at these component locations were in the range of 90-105 °C, compared to other components (45-75°C). This results into formation of hot spots on enclosure surface. Currently for thermal management of OBC, aluminum-based heat-sinks enclosure is used to transfer the heat generated by these electronics to ambient. Aluminium alloy-ADC12 generally used for manufacturing of OBC-enclosure due to its light weight, easy castability and good thermal conductivity. Heat transfer from the components to ambient takes place due to through plane conductivity of aluminum alloy. However due to its limited in-plane thermal conductivity elimination of hot spots is negligible. An ideal solution for this problem can be to deploy a conductive coating on the enclosure that are capable of spreading the heat evenly on the surface from the hotspots using in-plane thermal conduction. Cu, DLC, AlN, h-BN etc. are the candidate coatings for this kind of application. In this paper AlN coating has been developed and applied on 800 W OBC enclosure through Physical Vapor Deposition process. Thermal performance evaluation was also conducted on coated and uncoated OBC. Minimization of hotspot and reduction of approximate 8 - 10 °C temperature was observed on coated OBC compared to bare OBC.</div></div>