Investigation on the Flow and Heat Transfer Performance of Micro/Mini-Channel Liquid Cooling Heat Sink for Nuclear Control Chips

Abstract

Abstract The “thermal barrier” problem of high-performance nuclear control chips is becoming more and more prominent with the increase of chip integration under the Moore’s Law, liquid cooling is an effective method to solve the problem of high power heat dissipation. This paper provides an analytical model of the flow and heat transfer performance of micro/mini-channel liquid cooling heat sink for high-end chips. The flow resistance model fully considers the friction loss along the way, the contraction and expansion pressure loss of the channel, and the local pressure loss at the entrance and exit; the thermal resistance model includes the spreading thermal resistance brought by the extension of the heat sink base, the conduction thermal resistance of the bottom plate, the convective thermal resistance between the coolant and the heat sink, and the capacity resistance of the coolant. Using this model, combined with numerical simulation, a typical liquid-cooling heat sink is analyzed, corresponding flow resistance and thermal resistance distribution characteristics are evaluated, and the optimal design configuration is given. The results in this paper can serve as valuable reference for the development of micro/mini-channel liquid cooling technology for high-performance chips.