Performance Analysis of a New Water-based Microcooling System

Abstract

In the electronic industry, dissipating the heat load becomes a critical factor for highly developed designs. These require higher power transfer in a more compact size. In the current study, a new microcooling system was developed and tested. It utilizes the enhancement in heat transfer characteristics associated with implementing a vortex promoter in the evaporator segment of a water-based heat pipe. The test evaporator was a cavity of 4-mm diameter and 23-mm length in an electrically heated aluminum block. A helical coil (of various diameters, namely 500, 300, and 250 μm) was introduced to the evaporator segment to act as a vortex promoter. Configurations of a new microcooling system based on a modified heat pipe technology were built and tested. The presented system proves to work efficiently in situations where a closed-loop thermosyphon encounters film boiling limitation. The most efficient configuration has a flow modifier diameter about one-tenth of the evaporator chamber gap, while the diameter of the return line was three-quarters of the evaporator gap. This configuration shows a stable operation characteristic and possesses high thermal efficiency. The maximum heat flux obtained by such a configuration was 305 W/cm2 when it runs at 103°C saturated temperature and 0.01°C/W thermal resistance. A uniform temperature distribution along the system was noticed.