Experimental and theoretical study of a pulsating heat-pipe cooler for power electronics

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 12962.1;7 PFIW-IW

Short description (English)

Experimental and theoretical study of a pulsating heat-pipe cooler for power electronics

Short description (French)

Experimental and theoretical study of a pulsating heat-pipe cooler for power electronics

Abstract (English)

The goal of this project is to characterize experimentally and theoretically a pulsating heat-pipe system to be used for the cooling of power electronics systems in order to identify good design rules. The main objectives of this project are: (i) measure heat transfer performances in such systems for refrigerants R-245fa and HFO-1234ze with different geometrical parameters using a high speed IR camera for temperature measurements together with a high speed digital camera for observation of the flow dynamics (ii) analyse the results of the experimental campaign to build theoretically-based pulsating heat transfer models for evaporation and condensation, (iii) implement these results into an updated prototype cooling system and then obtain operational and performance data as the final proof-of-concept prior to industrial application.

Abstract (French)

The goal of this project is to characterize experimentally and theoretically a pulsating heat-pipe system to be used for the cooling of power electronics systems in order to identify good design rules. The main objectives of this project are: (i) measure heat transfer performances in such systems for refrigerants R-245fa and HFO-1234ze with different geometrical parameters using a high speed IR camera for temperature measurements together with a high speed digital camera for observation of the flow dynamics (ii) analyse the results of the experimental campaign to build theoretically-based pulsating heat transfer models for evaporation and condensation, (iii) implement these results into an updated prototype cooling system and then obtain operational and performance data as the final proof-of-concept prior to industrial application.