Comparative Performance Evaluation of Wire-bonded Micro Heat Pipes with Acetone and Water as Working fluid

Abstract

Thermal management of high-heat-flux dissipation-rate micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) using micro heat pipes is an exciting new field. Desktop computers are cooled using heavy metal sinks and fans. Wire sandwiched micro heat pipes are analysed computationally; they are a novel type of micro heat pipe that uses an array of wires sandwiched between two metallic plates to create the flow channels. Work fluid is carried through the system by the sharp corners between the wires and plates, which serve as liquid arteries. The temperature distribution in the micro heat pipes is obtained by solving the numerical model with a finite difference approach. By calculating effective thermal conductivity values from the temperature profiles, we can compare the heat pipe's performance using acetone and water as the working fluid. With an effective thermal conductivity of 168.83 kW/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> K, acetone shows substantial improvement over water in heat pipes.