Assessment of Two-Phase Cooling of Power Electronics Using Roll-Bonded Condensers

Author(s):  
Thomas B. Gradinger ◽  
Francesco Agostini

Two-phase thermosyphons with condensers from roll-bonded panels, short “roll-bond thermosiphons,” are attractive for power-electronics cooling. Using simulations, the performance of roll-bond thermosyphons and classical heat sinks is compared. The roll-bond thermosyphons are advantageous in terms of trade-off between thermal resistance, cooler volume or mass, and sound-power level. Under forced convection, where air-side heat-transfer coefficients are comparatively high, the classical heat sink suffers from low fin efficiency and limited heat spreading. By increasing the number of panels, the roll-bond thermosyphon enables low thermal resistances that cannot be practically reached with classical heat sinks. For free air convection, the roll-bond thermosyphon allows a significant reduction of thermal resistance and cooler mass.

Author(s):  
Mehmed Rafet O¨zdemir ◽  
Ali Kos¸ar

With the increasing speed and decreasing size of current microprocessors and microchips the dimensions of their heat sinks are continuously shrinking from mini size to micro size. The most extensively used and practical micro heat sinks are plain microchannels which find applications in many areas besides electronics cooling such as in microreactors, fuel cells, drug delivery, micropropulsion and automotive industry. Because of their widespread usage, they attracted the attention of many researchers, which gave rise to many studies on single-phase as well as on flow boiling. The proposed study aims at filling the gap in heat and fluid flow in microchannels at high mass velocities in the literature. For this purpose single-phase fluid (de-ionized water) flow was investigated over a broad range of mass velocity (1300 kg/m2s-7200 kg/m2s) in a microtube with an inner diameter of ∼ 250 μm. Besides comparing the experimental results in fully developed flow to the theory, the focus of this study is on thermally developing flows. Wall temperatures and pressure drops were measured and processed to obtain heat transfer coefficients, Nusselt numbers and friction factors. It was found that the existing theory about developing flows could fairly predict experimental data on developing flows in microscale for both laminar and turbulent conditions.


Author(s):  
Koichi Araga ◽  
Keisuke Okamoto ◽  
Keiji Murata

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the forced convective boiling of refrigerant HCFC123 in a mini-tube. The inner diameters of the test tubes, D, were 0.51 mm and 0.30 mm. First, two-phase frictional pressure drops were measured under adiabatic conditions and compared with the correlations for conventional tubes. The frictional pressure drop data were lower than the correlation for conventional tubes. However, the data were qualitatively in accord with those for conventional tubes and were correlated in the form φL2−1/Xtt. Next, heat transfer coefficients were measured under the conditions of constant heat flux and compared with those for conventional tubes and for pool boiling. The heat transfer characteristics for mini-tubes were different from those for conventional tubes and quite complicated. The heat transfer coefficients for D = 0.51 mm increased with heat flux but were almost independent of mass flux. Although the heat transfer coefficients were higher than those for a conventional tube with D = 10.3 mm and for pool boiling in the low quality region, they decreased gradually with increasing quality. The heat transfer coefficients for D = 0.30 mm were higher than those for D = 0.51 mm and were almost independent of both mass flux and heat flux.


Author(s):  
Bao H. Truong

Nanofluids are engineered colloids composed of nano-size particles dispersed in common fluids such as water or refrigerants. Using an electrically controlled wire heater, pool boiling Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of Alumina and Silica water-based nanofluids of concentration less than or equal to 0.1 percent by volume were measured. Silica nanofluids showed a CHF enhancement up to 68% and there seems to be a monotonic relationship between the nanoparticle concentration and the magnitude of enhancement. Alumina nanofluids had a CHF enhancement up to 56% but the peak occurred at the intermediate concentration. The boiling curves in nanofluid were found to shift to the left of that of water and correspond to higher nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficients in the two-phase flow regime. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images show a porous coating layer of nanoparticles on wires subjected to nanofluid CHF tests. These coating layers change the morphology of the heater’s surface, and are responsible for the CHF enhancement. The thickness of the coating was estimated using SEM and was found ranging from 3.0 to 6.0 micrometers for Alumina, and 3.0 to 15.0 micrometers for Silica.


2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipeng Duan ◽  
Y. S. Muzychka

Impingement cooling of plate fin heat sinks is examined. Experimental measurements of thermal performance were performed with four heat sinks of various impingement inlet widths, fin spacings, fin heights, and airflow velocities. The percent uncertainty in the measured thermal resistance was a maximum of 2.6% in the validation tests. Using a simple thermal resistance model based on developing laminar flow in rectangular channels, the actual mean heat transfer coefficients are obtained in order to develop a simple heat transfer model for the impingement plate fin heat sink system. The experimental results are combined into a dimensionless correlation for channel average Nusselt number Nu∼f(L*,Pr). We use a dimensionless thermal developing flow length, L*=(L∕2)∕(DhRePr), as the independent parameter. Results show that Nu∼1∕L*, similar to developing flow in parallel channels. The heat transfer model covers the practical operating range of most heat sinks, 0.01<L*<0.18. The accuracy of the heat transfer model was found to be within 11% of the experimental data taken on four heat sinks and other experimental data from the published literature at channel Reynolds numbers less than 1200. The proposed heat transfer model may be used to predict the thermal performance of impingement air cooled plate fin heat sinks for design purposes.


Author(s):  
Wenhai Li ◽  
Ken Alabi ◽  
Foluso Ladeinde

Over the years, empirical correlations have been developed for predicting saturated flow boiling [1–15] and condensation [16–30] heat transfer coefficients inside horizontal/vertical tubes or micro-channels. In the present work, we have examined 30 of these models, and modified many of them for use in compact plate-fin heat exchangers. However, the various correlations, which have been developed for pipes and ducts, have been modified in our work to make them applicable to extended fin surfaces. The various correlations have been used in a low-order, one-dimensional, finite-volume type numerical integration of the flow and heat transfer equations in heat exchangers. The NIST’s REFPROP database [31] is used to account for the large variations in the fluid thermo-physical properties during phase change. The numerical results are compared with Yara’s experimental data [32]. The validity of the various boiling and condensation models for a real plate-fin heat exchanger design is discussed. The results show that some of the modified boiling and condensation correlations can provide acceptable prediction of heat transfer coefficient for two-phase flows in compact plate-fin heat exchangers.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Lehmann ◽  
S. J. Kosteva

An experimental study of forced convection heat transfer is reported. Direct air cooling of an electronics packaging system is modeled by a channel flow, with an array of uniformly sized and spaced elements attached to one channel wall. The presence of a single or complete row of longitudinally finned heat sinks creates a modified flow pattern. Convective heat transfer rates at downstream positions are measured and compared to that of a plain array (no heat sinks). Heat transfer rates are described in terms of adiabatic heat transfer coefficients and thermal wake functions. Empirical correlations are presented for both variations in Reynolds number (5000 < Re < 20,000) and heat sink geometry. It is found that the presence of a heat sink can both enhance and degrade the heat transfer coefficient at downstream locations, depending on the relative position.


Author(s):  
Cheol Huh ◽  
Moo Hwan Kim

With a single microchannel and a series of microheaters made with MEMS technique, two-phase pressure drop and local flow boiling heat transfer were investigated using deionized water in a single horizontal rectangular microchannel. The test microchannel has a hydraulic diameter of 100 μm and length of 40 mm. A real time observation of the flow patterns with simultaneous measurement are made possible. Tests are performed for mass fluxes of 90, 169, and 267 kg/m2s and heat fluxes of from 100 to 600 kW/m2. The experimental local flow boiling heat transfer coefficients and two-phase frictional pressure gradient are evaluated and the effects of heat flux, mass flux, and vapor qualities on flow boiling are studied. Both the evaluated experimental data are compared with existing correlations. The experimental heat transfer coefficients are nearly independent on mass flux and the vapor quality. Most of all correlations do not provide reliable heat transfer coefficients predictions with vapor quality and prediction accuracy. As for two-phase pressure drop, the measured pressure drop increases with the mass flux and heat flux. Most of all existing correlations of two-phase frictional pressure gradient do not predict the experimental data except some limited conditions.


Author(s):  
Jason Chan ◽  
Brian E. Fehring ◽  
Roman W. Morse ◽  
Kristofer M. Dressler ◽  
Gregory F. Nellis ◽  
...  

Abstract A thermoreflectance method to measure wall temperature in two-phase annular flow is described. In high heat flux conditions, momentary dry-out occurs as the liquid film vaporizes, resulting in dramatic decreases in heat transfer coefficient. Simultaneous liquid and vapor thermoreflectance measurements allow calculations of instantaneous and time-averaged heat transfer coefficients. Validation, calibration and uncertainty of the technique are discussed.


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