The main factor that drives the aging of power semiconductor modules is the thermally induced stress caused by the maximum temperature and temperature swings. This thermally induced stress is usually counteracted in passive designs with oversizing of components, which brings additional cost to the system. This is a major limitation of future power electronic systems that are required to be more reliable with reasonable cost and for many applications to be lighter and smaller. Active thermal control (ATC) is a possibility to reduce the thermal stress of components during real-time operation without the need to modify the expensive converter power stage. Many studies have shown the potential of ATC to not only extend the lifetime of power converters because of the reduced stress, but also to increase the converter devices utilization by pushing them into their thermal limits with proper control. This makes ATC an appealing way to realize the contradicting reliability, cost, and power density requirements. This paper provides an overview of the benefits and objectives, structure, and implementation possibilities of ATC. It also provides and overview of the limitations and disadvantages of many ATC strategies. Based on this discussion, it highlights key issues that must be addressed by future research. Among them is minimizing the impact of different ATC strategies on the power losses, operational cost, and output voltage and current quality.

中文翻译：

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电力电子主动热控制回顾：潜力、局限性和未来趋势

驱动功率半导体模块老化的主要因素是由最高温度和温度波动引起的热致应力。这种热引起的应力通常在无源设计中通过元件尺寸过大来抵消，这会给系统带来额外的成本。这是未来电力电子系统的一个主要限制，未来电力电子系统需要更加可靠、成本合理，并且许多应用需要更轻、更小。主动热控制（ATC）可以在实时运行期间减少组件的热应力，而无需修改昂贵的转换器功率级。许多研究表明，ATC 不仅可以因应力降低而延长功率转换器的使用寿命，而且还可以通过适当的控制将转换器器件推至热极限，从而提高转换器器件的利用率。这使得 ATC 成为实现相互矛盾的可靠性、成本和功率密度要求的一种有吸引力的方式。本文概述了 ATC 的优势和目标、结构以及实施可能性。它还概述了许多 ATC 策略的局限性和缺点。基于此讨论，它强调了未来研究必须解决的关键问题。其中包括最大限度地减少不同 ATC 策略对功率损耗、运营成本以及输出电压和电流质量的影响。