DOWSIL™ TC-6015 Thermal Encapsulant

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DOWSIL™ TC-6015 Thermal Encapsulant is preferred 1.5 W/mK Thermal Conductive Encapsulant for Energy Storage Systems (ESS), Inverters, High-power units, etc. 1.5W/mK encapsulant is suitable for use in advanced applications including inverters, power modules, power supply, and electric vehicles (EV). TC-6015 offers breakthrough combination of low viscosity, no filler sedimentation, room temperature cure with primerless adhesion, good thermal conductivity, and low density. TC-6015 thermally conductive encapsulant, a 2-Part silicone formulation, helps minimize total costs of ownership with its low viscosity and, importantly, no filler settling. It cures to form thermal conductive and flame retardant elastomer. Conventional materials simply did not have the combination of these properties.

The main impact of TC-6015 is providing exceptional thermal management with no filler sedimentation, primerless self-adhesion, lower density, and long-term reliability. These advantages provide sustainability in manufacturing and application. No filler sedimentation, even with very low viscosity, is accomplished by patented “physical gel” rheology promoters, eliminating the conventional need to redisperse before application. This is significant as redispersion is difficult for large packaging sizes and typically risks air entrapment. Any air bubble incorporation can be highly detrimental to module thermal management. Compared to traditional 1.5 W/mK encapsulant which have specific gravity of ~ 2.65, TC-6015 can offer a lighter solution with specific gravity of only 2.25 and still maintain good thermal conductivity. The device using TC-6015 can be ~ 20% lighter which can mean energy saving accumulation, especially in Electric Vehicles. TC-6015 was designed to have robust self-adhesion properties against many common substrates, which enables customers to eliminate extra step of applying solvent-based primers on the entire module. The self-priming properties of TC-6015 help save time and money and are also environmentally beneficial.

DOWSIL™ TC-6015 Thermal Encapsulant was launched in April 2021 and has been qualified by multiple customers with many diverse applications, signifying the pervasive interest and the scarcity of choice in such materials. Main application is photovoltaic inverter in high-power modules. As the power of modules increases from 100W to 200-300W, more effective thermal encapsulants are required to maintain the temperature of critical IGBTs. Use of TC-6015 was found to reduce IGBT temperatures by 10ºC, a significant decrease in operating temperatures needed to maintain 25-year device lifetime. This represents an exceptional step forward in thermal engineering. Over the next decade, it is estimated that TC-6015 will be used to safely remove heat and improve functioning of inverters used in generation of 530 GWs of Renewable Energy. The ability to provide primerless adhesion is computed to save 15 min per module, as well as limit exposures to solvent-based primers. This, along with lower dispense time due to high flowability, has greatly improved manufacturing efficiency. TC-6015 has also been used in power inverter for energy storage, wind, and Electric Vehicles (EVs). With adoption at a major auto OEM EV Battery inverter, lower weight of TC-6015 alone is expected to overall save 200 MW٠h over 10-year vehicles life. TC-6015 will have a significant impact on lowering cost of power sourcing from renewable energy.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Linfei Wang
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    R&D: Yan Huang, Dorab Bhagwagar
    Process R&D: Linfei Wang
    TS&D: Fred Feng
    Marketing: Tong Wu, Elsa Xie
    Sales: Cliff Li, Terry Tang, Khan Zhang
    M&E: Frank Wang, Emily Zhao, Cathy Tang, Nick Fan
    Sponsor: Zhihua Liu
  • Profession:
    Scientist
  • Linfei is inspired by:
    With increasing powder density of Batteries, Power Invertor and other power electronic units, there is growing demand for thermal encapsulants with low density for weight and cost reduction, along with differentiated properties such as low viscosity, minimal filler settling and low temp primerless adhesion. Current commercial 1.5 W/mK thermal encapsulants have higher density at 2.6 g/cm³ and performance unable to meet new applications. Moreover, all competitive products have filler settlement issue. The filler anti-settling is required from customer side which can providing lower cost-of-ownership. It’s also an key needs for 1.5 W/mK thermal encapsulants. DOWSIL™ TC-6015 is positioned as leading 1.5W/mK thermal encapsulant widely used for potting power conversion electronics.
  • Patent status:
    pending