High performance convective liquid cooling of electronics with nature-inspired microchannel networks filled with nanoparticle suspensions

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 8074.2;5 NMPP-NM

Short description (English)

High performance convective liquid cooling of electronics with nature-inspired microchannel networks filled with nanoparticle suspensions

Abstract (English)

Microelectronic devices with ever smaller features and faster operating speeds are driving increased thermal loads, requiring enhanced cooling. The conventional method for increasing heat dissipation is to augment the heat exchanging area, which is paired with an increase in size, weight, and pressure drop across the cooling device. In this project a novel cooling device will be developed with a nature inspired tree-like microchannel system to satisfy the technology requirement of significant increase in heat transfer while keeping the pressure drop across the cooling device to a minimum. Nanoparticles will be added to the coolant to enhance heat transfer performance characteristics further. The main areas of focus are: (1) Low cost fabrication of a compact form factor cooling system enhanced with a tree-like microchannel network, (2) Verification of reduced pressure drop, (3) Formulation and verification of nanoparticle coolant with improved heat transfer performance, (4) Verification of system performance with computer modeling, and (5) Creation of a prototype for qualification and lifetime testing on high-performance computer systems.