Experimental and numerical analysis of variable cross-section channel liquid cooling plate for server chips thermal management

Abstract

Utilizing high-performance chips results in increased heat generation, necessitating more effective heat dissipation method. To address challenges in microchannel liquid cooling plates for server chips cooling the study presents the variable cross-section channel liquid cooling plate designs. To investigate the effect of channel structure on the performance of liquid cooling plate, two types of samples, one featuring side wall ribs and bottom cavities (SC) and the other featuring side wall ribs and bottom waves (SW), are evaluated through experimental analyses under various heating power and flow rate conditions. Comparing their performance to a conventional rectangular channel (RC) liquid cooling plate, their heat transfer and flow attributes were assessed. Finally numerical analysis was conducted to investigate the flow behavior inside the channel and extreme performance prediction were made using the numerical study. Results demonstrate that the SC and SW designs outperform the RC in terms of heat transfer capabilities, despite having the weaker flow characteristics. Under 300 W heat source power, the SW variants enable the heat source surface temperature to stay below 77.8 °C with a 194 mL/min flow rate. Notably, the SW variant showcases lower average heat source surface temperature and demonstrates lower pressure drop compared to the SC variant. As the flow rate increases, the heat transfer efficiency of the SW variant is further amplified while simultaneously highlighting the relatively suboptimal flow behavior of the SC variant. Predictive numerical models underscore that the SW variants offers improved thermal performance when subjected to high heat source power scenarios. Remarkably, under the heat source power of 500 W, a mere augmentation in flow rate proves sufficient to reduce the heat source temperature below the prescribed threshold value. The combination design of side wall ribs and bottom waves should enable a low cost, simple and high efficiency electronics cooling.