Effect of Flow Guide Integration on the Thermal Performance of High Performance Liquid Cooled Immersion Server Modules

Author(s):  
Joshua Gess ◽  
Tyler Dreher ◽  
Sushil Bhavnani ◽  
Wayne Johnson

Liquid immersion cooling technology, currently in its nascence as a commercially available solution for data center installations, is growing in popularity as the power density of next-gen electronics necessitates a matriculation to thermal management techniques capable of handling incredibly high heat fluxes reliably and efficiently. The use of boiling and single-phase convective solutions using dielectric fluids can result in dramatic reductions in chip temperatures, thus increasing reliability. The latter method is growing in popularity faster than the former but, as both of these approaches gain acceptance, packaging engineers will require insight into how coolant is distributed throughout the enclosure for either solution. More specifically, analytical and experimental techniques will be required to ascertain how thermal performance and system efficiency of more critical elements, such as processor chips, are affected by the auxiliary components, heated or not, that must exist within a computing device. These supplemental components, whether entirely passive or modestly heated, if placed strategically can be integrated in such a way to improve the thermal performance of the system by guiding the coolant through the liquid filled enclosure. To this end, flow guides, which simulate these auxiliary components, have been integrated into a small form factor high performance server module. The relationship between the surface temperature and the power dissipated by the primary heated elements within the device has been explored as well as the pressure drop experienced by the coolant flowing through the enclosure. Power dissipations near 450W have been achieved at a surface temperature of approximately 75°C with the use of flow guides, a near 50W improvement over previous results. Furthermore, this value was attained at a modest pressure drop of 0.71 psi for the dielectric fluid flowing through the cartridge. Slightly over 300W of power dissipation was achieved at an even lower pressure drop of 0.13 psi at a similar operating temperature. Pool boiling results have shown that passive elements can have a significant impact on thermal performance. Reductions of nearly 50W in the maximum power dissipation achieved have been shown when the largest flow guide is integrated. A PIV analytical method is proposed and applied to the current experimental facility to assess the effectiveness of the flow guide design proposed.

Author(s):  
Naveenan Thiagarajan ◽  
Daniel T. Pate ◽  
Sushil H. Bhavnani ◽  
Rory J. Jones

Advances in electronics such as chip level integration and die stacking have led to a bottleneck in further development since dissipation of the resulting high heat fluxes continues to be a challenge. Ongoing research in the field of flow boiling to meet the rising demands has resulted in the evolution of potential cooling technologies such as microchannel heat sinks. In an effort to understand the flow boiling in these micro-structures, experiments were previously conducted by the authors using 19 parallel, surface enhanced microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 253μm. Flow instabilities which can be attributed to channel-to-channel interaction and the effect of compressible volumes at channel exit and inlet were observed under certain subcooled boiling conditions although these were mitigated in saturated conditions by the presence of re-entrant cavities. To completely eliminate the instabilities, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms by isolating these causes. To achieve this, a study of flow boiling of dielectric fluid FC72 (C6F14) in a single microchannel test section of height 347 microns and width ranging from 100–400 microns was conducted. The base of the microchannel was augmented with reentrant cavities. The study was performed at mass fluxes ranging from 500–2000 kg/m2-s and inlet subcooling up to 20°C. The results include the parametric effects of inlet subcooling, mass flux, heat flux and number of cavities on the pressure drop. It was observed that the pressure drop oscillations in the subcooled boiling regime observed earlier in the multichannel configuration, were not observed in the subcooled regime in the single channel test device of width 100 microns. Further, adiabatic experiments were conducted to study the effect of channel size on the friction factor. These studies will help provide fundamental design input to enable the development of microchannel heat sinks.


Author(s):  
T. Valente ◽  
C. Bartuli ◽  
G. Visconti ◽  
M. Tului

Abstract Reusable space vehicles, which must withstand re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, require external protection systems (TPS) which are usually in the forms of rigid surface in areas of high or moderate working temperature. High heat fluxes and temperatures related to high performance hypervelocity flights also require the use of TPS materials having good oxidation and thermal shock resistance, dimensional stability, and ablation resistance. Components by these materials are usually fabricated, starting from either billets or plate stocks, by uniaxial hot pressing, and complex parts, such as low radius edges, are then obtained by electrical discharge machining technique. This article investigates an alternative fabrication technology, based on plasma spraying, to produce near net shape components. Results of experimental activities, such as optimization of plasma spraying parameters based on a DOE approach, are reported and discussed.


Author(s):  
Jianyun Shuai ◽  
Rudi Kulenovic ◽  
Manfred Groll

Flow boiling in small-sized channels attracted extensive investigations in the past two decades due to special requirements for transfer of high heat fluxes from narrow spaces in various industrial applications. Experiments on various aspects of flow boiling in narrow channels were carried out and theoretical attempts were undertaken. But these investigations showed large differences, e.g. up till now the knowledge on the development of flow patterns in small non-circular flow passages is very limited. This paper deals with investigations on flow boiling of water in two rectangular channels with dimensions (width×depth) 2.0×4.0 mm2 and 0.5×2.0 mm2 (corresponding hydraulic diameters are 2.67 mm and 0.8 mm). The pressure at the test section exit is atmospheric. For steady-state experimental conditions the effects of heat flux, mass flux and inlet subcooling on the boiling heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop are investigated. Flow patterns and the transition of flow patterns along the channel axis are visualized and documented with a video-camera. Bubbly flow, slug flow and annular flow are distinguished in both channels. Preliminary flow pattern maps are generated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 02073
Author(s):  
Patrik Nemec ◽  
Milan Malcho

This work deal with experimental measurement and calculation cooling efficiency of the cooling device working with a heat pipe technology. The referred device in the article is cooling device capable transfer high heat fluxes from electric elements to the surrounding. The work contain description, working principle and construction of cooling device. The main factor affected the dissipation of high heat flux from electronic elements through the cooling device to the surrounding is condenser construction, its capacity and option of heat removal. Experimental part describe the measuring method cooling efficiency of the cooling device depending on ambient temperature in range -20 to 40°C and at heat load of electronic components 750 W. Measured results are compared with results calculation based on physical phenomena of boiling, condensation and natural convection heat transfer.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. B. Sathe ◽  
B. G. Sammakia

The results of a study of a new and unique high-performance air-cooled impingement heat sink are presented. An extensive numerical investigation of the heat sink performance is conducted and is verified by experimental data. The study is relevant to cooling of high-power chips and modules in air-cooled environments and applies to workstations or mainframes. In the study, a rectangular jet impinges on a set of parallel fins and then turns into cross flow. The effects of the fin thickness, gap nozzle width and fin shape on the heat transfer and pressure drop are investigated. It is found that pressure drop is reduced by cutting the fins in the central impingement zone without sacrificing the heat transfer due to a reduction in the extent of the stagnant zone. A combination of fin thicknesses of the order of 0.5 mm and channel gaps of 0.8 mm with appropriate central cutout yielded heat transfer coefficients over 1500 W/m2 K at a pressure drop of less than 100 N/m2, as is typically available in high-end workstations. A detailed study of flow-through heat sinks subject to the same constraints as the impingement heat sink showed that the flow-through heat sink could not achieve the high heat transfer coefficients at a low pressure drop.


Author(s):  
Farzad Houshmand ◽  
Hyoungsoon Lee ◽  
Mehdi Asheghi ◽  
Kenneth E. Goodson

As the proper cooling of the electronic devices leads to significant increase in the performance, two-phase heat transfer to dielectric liquids can be of an interest especially for thermal management solutions for high power density devices with extremely high heat fluxes. In this paper, the pressure drop and critical heat flux (CHF) for subcooled flow boiling of methanol at high heat fluxes exceeding 1 kW/cm2 is investigated. Methanol was propelled into microtubes (ID = 265 and 150 μm) at flow rates up to 40 ml/min (mass fluxes approaching 10000 kg/m2-s), boiled in a portion of the microtube by passing DC current through the walls, and the two-phase pressure drop and CHF were measured for a range of operating parameters. The two-phase pressure drop for subcooled flow boiling was found to be significantly lower than the saturated flow boiling case, which can lead to lower pumping powers and more stability in the cooling systems. CHF was found to be increasing almost linearly with Re and inverse of inner diameter (1/ID), while for a given inner diameter, it decreases with increasing heated length.


Author(s):  
Gilberto Moreno ◽  
Sreekant Narumanchi ◽  
Xuhui Feng ◽  
Paul Anschel ◽  
Steve Myers ◽  
...  

Abstract Effective thermal management of traction-drive power electronics is critical to the advancement of electric-drive vehicles and is necessary for increasing power density and improving reliability. Replacing traditional silicon devices with more efficient, higher temperature, higher voltage, and higher frequency wide-bandgap (WBG) devices will enable increased power density but will result in higher device heat fluxes. Compact packaging of high-temperature WBG devices near low-temperature-rated components creates thermal management challenges that need to be addressed for future power-dense systems. This paper summarizes the thermal performance of on-road automotive power electronics thermal management systems and provides thermal performance and pumping-power metrics for select vehicles. Thermal analyses reveal that the package/conduction resistance dominates the total thermal resistance (for existing automotive systems). We model advanced packaging concepts and compare the results with existing packaging designs to quantify their thermal performance enhancements. Double-side-cooled configurations that do not use thermal interface materials are package concepts predicted to provide a low junction-to-fluid thermal resistance (compared to current packages). Dielectric-fluid-cooled concepts enable a redesign of the package to reduce the package resistance, can be implemented in single- and two-phase cooling approaches, and allow for cooling of passive components (e.g., capacitors) and bus bars.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2116 (1) ◽  
pp. 012052
Author(s):  
David Olugbenga Ariyo ◽  
Tunde Bello-Ochende

Abstract Deionized water at a temperature of 25 °C was used as the cooling fluid and aluminium as the heat sink material in the geometric optimization and parameter modelling of subcooled flow boiling in horizontal equilateral triangular microchannel heat sinks. The thermal resistances of the microchannels were minimized subject to fixed volume constraints of the heat sinks and microchannels. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS code used for both the simulations and the optimizations was validated by the available experimental data in the literature and the agreement was good. Fixed heat fluxes between 100 and 500 W/cm2 and velocities between 0.1 and 7.0 m/s were used in the study. Despite the relatively high heat fluxes in this study, the base temperatures of the optimal microchannel heat sinks were within the acceptable operating range for modern electronics. The pumping power requirements for the optimal microchannels are low, indicating that they can be used in the cooling of electronic devices.


Author(s):  
Matthew McCormack ◽  
Fengzhou Fang ◽  
Jufan Zhang

AbstractConjugate heat transfer is numerically investigated using a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics approach in various microchannel geometries to identify a high-performance cooling method for piezoelectric ceramic stacks and spindle units in high-precision machines. Straight microchannels with rectangular cross sections are first considered, showing the performance limitations of decreasing the size of the microchannels, so other solutions are needed for high applied heat fluxes. Next, many microchannel designs, focusing on streamwise geometric variation, are compared to straight channels to assess their performances. Sinusoidally varying channels produce the highest heat transfer rates of those studied. Thus, their optimization is considered at a channel width and height of 35 and 100 μm, respectively. Heat transfer increases as the amplitude and spatial frequencies of the channels increase due to increased interfacial surface area and enhanced Dean flow. The highest performance efficiencies are observed at intermediate levels of amplitude and frequency, with efficiency decreasing as these geometric parameters are increased further at the onset of flow separation. The sinusoidal channel geometries are then optimized with respect to minimizing the system’s pressure drop for all applied heat fluxes between 5690 and 6510 kW/m2. Doing so created an optimal geometry curve and showed that all geometries in this region had amplitudes close to 40 μm. Therefore, imposing a fixed heat flux requirement for a case study of cooling piezoelectric ceramics, the optimized sinusoidal geometry decreases the system pressure drop by 79% relative to a straight channel while maintaining a larger minimum feature size.


Author(s):  
Ganesh Guggilla ◽  
Arvind Pattamatta ◽  
Ramesh Narayanaswamy

Abstract Due to the advancements in computing services such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, high-performance computing systems are needed. Consequently, the increase in electron chip density results in high heat fluxes and required sufficient thermal management to maintain the servers. In recent times, the liquid cooling techniques become prominent over air cooling as it has significant advantages. Spray cooling is one such efficient cooling process which can be implemented in electronics cooling. To enhance the knowledge of the process, detailed studies of fundamental mechanisms involved in spray cooling such as single droplet and multiple droplet interactions are required. The present work focuses on the study of a train of droplets impinging over a heated surface using FC-72 liquid. The surface temperature is chosen as a parameter, and the Dynamic Leidenfrost point (DLP) for the present impact conditions is identified. Spread hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of these consecutively impinging droplets till the Leidenfrost temperature, are studied and compared.


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