ABSTRACT
Heat generation density from semiconductor devices has been increasing with the rapid development of electronic technology. The cooling system using boiling two-phase phenomena has attracted much attention because of its high heat removal potential. To develop compact and high-performance cooling systems, we conducted experiments on the increase of critical heat flux (CHF) for flow boiling in narrow channels by improved liquid supply. A large surface of 150 mm in heated length and 30 mm in width with grooves of an apex angle of 90 degrees , 0.5-mm depth, and 1 mm in pitch was employed. A structure of narrow heated channel between parallel plates with an unheated auxiliary channel was devised and tested by using water for different combinations of gap sizes and volumetric flow rates, where inlet of the main heated channel and the outlet of auxiliary unheated channel were closed to prevent the flow instability observed frequently at low flow rate for parallel two channels. For the total volumetric flow rate more than 4.5 x 10(-5) m(3)/s, higher values of CHF large than 2 x 10(6) W/m(2) were obtained for gap size of 2 mm. For gap sizes of 2 mm and 5 mm at high volumetric flow rate larger than 6.0 x 10(-5) m(3)/s, or mass velocity based on the cross section are of main heated channel 958.1 kg/m(2)s and 383.2 kg/m(2) s, respectively, the extension of dry patches was observed at the upstream location of the main heated channel resulting in burnout not at the downstream but at the upstream. By the increase in total volumetric flow rate, the pressure drop increased because of increasing in the flow rate passing through the sintered metal porous plates connecting both channels. The values of pressure drop for gap size of 2 mm were higher than that for gap size of 5 mm. When the performance of the cooling system was evaluated on the basis of pump power, ignoring its variation in the efficiency with volumetric flow rate, that is, the power defined as the product of the pressure drop and the total volumetric flow rate, higher values of CHF were obtained for gap size of 5 mm as far as the same pump power was concerned.
ABSTRACT
A new structure of cold plates, where an unheated auxiliary channel is installed to supply liquid directly to the bottom of coalesced flattened bubbles in a narrow heated channel, is tested to investigate the increase in critical heat flux. Assuming the application to the laser solar power system, a large heating surface with a length of 150 mm in the flow direction is employed, and a narrow channel structure is adopted to reduce the size of cold plates, where the gap sizes are selected as 5 mm and 2 mm. Experiments are performed for water as a test liquid at inlet subcooling of 15 K under near atmospheric pressure. Inlet liquid velocity is varied from 0.065 m/s to 0.6m/s for the upward flow on ground. A value of critical heat flux of 2.2 x 10(6) W/m2 is obtained for 5-mm gap size at the inlet velocity of 0.2 m/s. At low liquid flow rate, the structure realizes the CHF values larger by 2.5 times than those for the normal heated channel without additional liquid supply. A new method to evaluate the performance of cold plates is proposed to take account of the variation in the size of heating surface, inlet liquid velocity, and subcooling that influence the CHF values. The validity of the proposed structure of the cold plate for the increase in critical heat flux is confirmed.
ABSTRACT
A two-phase flow loop is a promising method for application to thermal management systems for large-scale space platforms handling large amounts of energy. Boiling heat transfer reduces the size and weight of cold plates. The transportation of latent heat reduces the mass flow rate of working fluid and pump power. To develop compact heat exchangers for the removal of waste heat from electronic devices with high heat generation density, experiments on a method to increase the critical heat flux for a narrow heated channel between parallel heated and unheated plates were conducted. Fine grooves are machined on the heating surface in a transverse direction to the flow and liquid is supplied underneath flattened bubbles by the capillary pressure difference from auxiliary liquid channels separated by porous metal plates from the main heated channel. The critical heat flux values for the present heated channel structure are more than twice those for a flat surface at gap sizes 2 mm and 0.7 mm. The validity of the present structure with auxiliary liquid channels is confirmed by experiments in which the liquid supply to the grooves is interrupted. The increment in the critical heat flux compared to those for a flat surface takes a maximum value at a certain flow rate of liquid supply to the heated channel. The increment is expected to become larger when the length of the heated channel is increased and/or the gravity level is reduced.
