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    Solid State and Hybrid Circuit Breakers

    D20.2 - Thermal Design and Analysis of Phase Change Material Integrated SiC Based Solid State Circuit Breaker

    Monday, March 23, 2026
    12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CT
    Location: Poster 9
    Solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs) with SiC MOSFETs enable arc-free and ultra-fast fault interruption. They are well suited for DC systems in aviation, data centers, and EV infrastructure. A key challenge is thermal stress during overload, which can drive device junctions beyond safe limits. This work studies a SiC MOSFET-based multiport SSCB with phase change material (PCM) cooling. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate steady-state and transient thermal profiles. The effect of PCM volume on cooling performance is also analyzed. A prototype is built to validate the model. Results show that PCM reduces transient temperature rise and delays thermal runaway under overload. A mathematical model of PCM melting time is developed and agrees well with experiments. The study confirms that PCM integration improves SSCB thermal stability without major design changes, offering a practical solution for reliable high-power protection systems.