The Effect of Ship Tilt and Pitch on a Capillary Assisted Thermosyphon (CAT) for Shipboard Electronics Cooling

Author(s):  
E. H. Larsen ◽  
A. N. Smith ◽  
M. Cerza ◽  
C. Thomas Conroy

As microprocessors shrink in size and increase in power dissipation levels, the current need for advanced electronics cooling techniques is paramount. Power dissipation levels are rapidly exceeding the capabilities of forced air convection cooling. This paper reports an investigation of using a capillary assisted thermosyphon (CAT) for the shipboard cooling of electronics components. The CAT differs from the capillary pumped loop (CPL) or loop heat pipe (LHP) system in that the basic cooling loop is based on a thermosyphon. The capillary assist comes from the fact that there is a wicking structure in the flat evaporator plate. The wicking structure is there to spread the working fluid across the vertical flat plate evaporator to the areas under the heat sources. This differs from a capillary pumped loop in that the capillary pumping action of the wick structure does not produce the sole pumping head from the liquid return to the vapor outlet side of the evaporator. In fact, the liquid return and vapor outlet are almost at the same pressure. The forced circulation in the thermosyphon is caused by a gravity head between the condenser cold plate and the flat plate evaporator. An experimental facility for conducting research on a CAT was developed. In order to simulate the shipboard cooling water encountered at various locations of the ocean, the heat sink temperature of the facility was varied. A vertical flat plate, CAT evaporator was designed and tested with a thermal sink temperature of 21° C. The condenser cold plate cooling water flowrate was set at 3.8 lpm. The heat input was held constant at 1500 W for the independent tilt and pitch cases. For the extreme tilt and pitch combined case, the heat input varied from 400 to 2000 W. The flat evaporator plate was tilted from side to side over a range +/− 45 degrees from vertical and the plate was pitched fore and aft over a range of +/− 45 degrees. This tilt and pitch orientation was to simulate that orientation which a ship might undergo in various sea states. In addition an extreme case which consisted of a 45 degree tilt and a 45 degree pitch was tested and compared to the normal vertical geometry. Results indicate that the CAT loop was very robust and handled all geometric orientations with minimal degradation in operating temperature performance.

Volume 4 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. Larsen ◽  
M. Cerza ◽  
A. N. Smith ◽  
C. Thomas Conroy

As microprocessors shrink in size and increase in power dissipation levels, the current need for advanced electronics cooling techniques is paramount since power dissipation levels are rapidly exceeding the capabilities of forced air convection cooling. This paper reports an investigation of using a capillary assisted thermosyphon for the shipboard cooling of electronics components. The capillary assisted thermosyphon differs from the capillary pumped loop or loop heat pipe system in that the basic cooling loop is based on a thermosyphon. The capillary assist comes from the fact that there is a wicking structure in the flat evaporator plate, however, the wicking structure is there to spread the working fluid across the flat plate evaporator in the areas under the heat sources. This differs from a capillary pumped loop in that the wick structure does not produce a capillary pumping head from the liquid return to the vapor outlet side of the evaporator. In fact, the liquid return and vapor outlet are almost at the same pressure. The forced circulation in the thermosyphon is caused by a gravity head between the condenser cold plate and the flat plate evaporator. An experimental facility for conducting research on capillary assisted thermosyphon was developed. In order to simulate the shipboard cooling water encountered at various locations of the ocean, the heat sink temperature of the facility could be varied. A vertical flat plate, CAT evaporator was designed and tested under thermal sink temperatures of 4, 21 and 37°C. The condenser cold plate cooling water flow rate varied from 0.38 to 3 GPM. The heat input varied from 250 to 1500 W evenly spread over the area of the evaporator. The CAT flat plate evaporator performed very well under this range of heat inputs, sink temperatures, and cold plate flow rates. The main result obtained showed that as heat input increased the amount of subcooling between the evaporator vapor outlet line and liquid return line increased. This subcooling did not hinder thermal performance as measured by the internal operating temperature.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cerza ◽  
R. C. Herron ◽  
M. J. Harper

Abstract An experimental facility for conducting research on capillary pumped loop (CPL) systems was developed. In order to simulate shipboard cooling water encountered at various locations of the ocean, the heat sink temperature of the facility could be varied. A flat plate, CPL evaporator was designed and tested under various heat sink temperatures. The sink temperature ranged from 274.3 to 305.2 K and the heat input varied from 250 to 800 W which corresponds to heat fluxes up to 1.8 W/cm2. The CPL flat plate evaporator performed very well under this range of heat input and sink temperatures. The main result obtained showed that a large degree of subcooling developed between the evaporator vapor outlet line and liquid return line. This condensate depression increased with increasing heat input.


Author(s):  
V. Tudor ◽  
M. Cerza

The future capabilities of naval ships will be directly related to the electronic components used in advanced radar systems, fire control systems, electric propulsion and even electric weapons. The next generation of naval warships will fall under the concept of an all electric ship, where turbines convert all the power produced by the engine into electricity. This electrical power can then be distributed given the ship’s mission and operating profile. The current need for advanced electronics cooling techniques is paramount since power dissipation levels are rapidly exceeding the capabilities of forced air convection cooling. This paper reports an experimental investigation of the start-up and transient response to heat load change of a capillary assisted thermosyphon (CAT) for the shipboard cooling of electronics components. The capillary assisted thermosyphon differs from a capillary pumped loop or loop heat pipe system in that the basic cooling-loop is based on a thermosyphon. The capillary assist comes from the fact that there is a wicking structure in the flat evaporator plate. The wicking structure allows uniformly spread of the working fluid across the flat plate evaporator in the areas under the heat sources as well as providing additional capillary pumping assist to the loop. A vertical flat plate, CAT evaporator was designed and tested under a fixed thermal sink temperature of 21°C. The condenser cold plate cooling water flow rate was fixed as 3.785 liters per minute (i.e. 1 gpm). The heat input varied from 250 to 1000W — evenly spread over the area of the evaporator. The CAT flat plate evaporator performed very well under this range of heat inputs, sink temperature, and cold plate flow rate. The main result obtained showed that the CAT loop reached steady state operation within 10 min. to 15 min. The average plate temperature did not exceed 70°C for the maximum heat input of 1000W. The CAT evaporator operating temperature increased with increasing heat input for all conditions tested and reached 60°C at 1000W. The continuous and stable operation of the CAT loop during start-up, steady-state and during transient/sudden heat input variations indicates that the CAT loop is a viable solution for high flux electronics components cooling.


Author(s):  
V. Tudor ◽  
M. Cerza ◽  
A. N. Smith ◽  
C. T. Conroy

The future capabilities of naval ships will be directly related to the electronic components used in advanced radar systems, fire control systems, electric propulsion and electric weapons. Modern electronics continue to grow in speed and functionality but shrink in size and mass, causing the power density to dramatically increase. Thermal management is becoming a major issue for the modern electronic Navy. An experimental investigation on the effect of liquid charge in a capillary assisted thermosyphon (CAT) loop for the shipboard cooling of electronics components has been conducted. The employed CAT loop differs from the capillary pumped loop or loop heat pipe system, in that the basic cooling loop is based on a thermosyphon. A wick structure located on the walls of the evaporator plate provides the capillary assistance needed to spread the working fluid (i.e. water) across the flat plate evaporator in the areas under the heat sources. This differs from a capillary pumped loop in that the wick structure does not produce a significant capillary pumping head from the liquid return to the vapor outlet side of the evaporator. The forced circulation in the CAT loop is caused by a gravity head between the condenser cold plate and the flat plate evaporator. The influence of the liquid charge on the CAT loop performance was studied for a fixed sink temperature and a range of heat inputs from 250W to 1000W. The initial liquid charge was varied from 50 ml to 200 ml (i.e. 16% to 24% evaporator fill ratio). The evaporator fill ratio was defined in this study as the ratio of the initial charge to the total volume of the evaporator. The condenser cold plate cooling water flow rate was set to 63.088 ml/sec. The CAT flat plate evaporator performed very well under this range of heat inputs, sink temperature, and initial charges. The experimental results obtained indicated that as heat input and the liquid charge increased or decreased above/below an optimum value, the operating temperature in the evaporator increased. The CAT loop flow dynamics also changed as a function of the initial liquid charge. Overall these effects did not hinder the thermal performance as measured by the internal operating temperature of the evaporator. An optimal charge was observed at an evaporator fill ratio of 40% (i.e. 125ml).


2014 ◽  
Vol 960-961 ◽  
pp. 389-393
Author(s):  
Ya Ping Zhang ◽  
J.G. Wang

A trend towards increasingly dense and compact architectures has led to unmanageably high heat fluxes in electronic components. A novel heat pipe will be developed. Heat pipe designed is based on the flat plate heat pipe and pulsation heat pipe effective combination. Channel quantity is greatly increased ,as well as compact and homogeneous red copper pulsation plank is severed as the wick,dense and connected channels are served as the passage of the working fluid.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessel W. Wits ◽  
Gerben Groeneveld ◽  
Henk Jan van Gerner

The thermal performance and operating modi of a flat-plate closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (PHP) are experimentally observed. The PHP is manufactured through computer numerical controlled milling and vacuum brazing of stainless steel 316 L. Next to a plain closed-loop PHP, also one that promotes fluid circulation through passive Tesla-type valves was developed. Each channel has a 2 × 2 mm2 square cross section, and in total, 12 parallel channels fit within the 50 × 200 mm2 effective area. During the experimental investigation, the power input was increased from 20 W to 100 W, while cooling was performed using a thermo-electric cooler (TEC) and thermostat bath. Three working fluids were assessed: water, methanol, and ammonia. The PHP was charged with a 40% filling ratio. Thermal resistances were obtained for different inclination angles. It was observed that the PHP operates well in vertical evaporator-down orientation but not horizontally. Moreover, experiments show that the minimum operating orientation is between 15 and 30 deg. Two operating modi are observed, namely, the thermosyphon modus, without excessive fluctuations, and the pulsating modus, in which both the temperature and pressure responses oscillate frequently and violently. Overall thermal resistances were determined as low as 0.15 K/W (ammonia) up to 0.28 and 0.48 K/W (water and methanol, respectively) at a power input of 100 W in the vertical evaporator-down orientation. Infrared thermography was used to visualize the working fluid behavior within the PHPs. Infrared observations correlated well with temperature and pressure measurements. The experimental results demonstrated that the developed flat-plate PHP design, suitable for high-volume production, is a promising candidate for electronics cooling applications.


Author(s):  
Guohui Zhou ◽  
Ji Li ◽  
Lucang Lv

In this paper, a miniature loop heat pipe (mLHP) with a flat evaporator is illustrated and investigated experimentally, with water as the working fluid. The mLHP can be applied for the mobile electronics cooling, such as tablet computers and laptop computers, with a 1.2 mm thick ultra-thin flat evaporator and a thickness of 1.0 mm for the vapor line, liquid line and condenser. A narrow sintered copper mesh in the liquid line and a part of the condenser as the secondary wick can promote the flow of the condensed working fluid back to the evaporator. The experimental results showed that the mLHP could start up successfully and operate stably at low heat load of 3 W in the horizontal orientation, and transport a high heat load of 12 W (the heat flux of 4 W/cm2) with the evaporator temperature below 100 °C in different test orientations by natural convection, showing good operational performance against gravity field. The minimum mLHP thermal resistance of 0.32 K/W was achieved at the input heat load of 12 W in the horizontal orientation.


Author(s):  
Shwin-Chung Wong ◽  
Chung-Wei Chen

This work experimentally studied the evaporation characteristics in groove-wicked flat-plate heat pipes. The parallel, U-shaped grooves have a width of 0.25 mm and a depth of 0.16 mm. Uniform heating was applied to the copper base plate near one end, and a cooling water jacket was connected at the other end. The evaporation resistance was calculated based on the difference of the plate temperature and the vapor temperature respectively under and above the center of the heated zone. Water was used as the working fluid. With stepwise increase of heat load, the behavior of the working fluid in the grooves was visualized, and the evaporation resistances were measured. Above a certain heat load, longitudinal liquid recession can be visualized with a steep-sloped liquid front. Behind the short liquid front is the accommodation region where the meniscus appeared to anchor on the top corners of the groove walls. Under a thermally stable situation, longitudinal oscillations of the liquid front existed in many grooves. Also, the liquid motion in different grooves seemed independent, forming a constantly varying zigzag front line. With increasing heat load, the liquid fronts gradually left the heated zone, accompanied by increasing plate temperatures. The evaporation resistance data appeared larger and more scattered than those associated with mesh or powder wicks in our published experiments, presumably due to the relatively large groove size and surface roughness from etching. No boiling was observed in all present tests. The evaporation resistances for groove wicks increase monotonically in response to the gradually enlarged dryout region with increasing heat load.


Author(s):  
Atsushi Tsujimori ◽  
Masashi Kato ◽  
Hajime Morita ◽  
Maiko Uchida

In this study the capillary pumped loop was manufactured as a cooling device for the tower-type personal computer and the heat transport characteristics of this cooling device was investigated. The experimental equipment consisted of the evaporator, the condenser, the liquid tube, the vapor tube and the reservoir. The length and the diameter of the evaporator were 150mm and 27mm respectively and had capillary wick in it with equivalent diameter of 5μm. In the experiment, the heat flux to the evaporator and the cooling water temperature were changed. And the effects of enclosed quantity of the working fluid (R134a) in the reservoir and the evaporator height above the condenser on heat transport rate were also investigated. Experimental results shown that this capillary pumped loop was able to transport heat rate of 15 to 95W (heat flux of 995 to 6051 W/m2) with highest temperature of 343K and that the temperature difference in the loop was 16.7 to 43.9 K in the case of 2500mm in its heat transport length and cooling temperature of 293K. And it was derived that the working fluid enclosed rate affected the maximum heat transport rate. The computer code was also developed to evaluate the effect of the refrigerant enclosed rate and the wick thickness on the heat transport rate considering the pressure drop to the circumference direction in the wick.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Hu Xue ◽  
Wei Qu ◽  
Ming Hui Xie

Abstract Two high performance loop heat pipes (LHPs) are developed for direct cooling of the chips in supercomputer. The two LHPs using flat evaporator are: one called water-cooling LHP and another one called air-cooling LHP. The working fluid of LHP is ammonia. The water-cooling LHP can work well at a heat load up to 663 W and air-cooling LHP can work well at a heat load up to 513 W. The two LHPs applying to the real computer servers are realized and tested. The server test results with water-cooling LHP have shown that the operating temperature of central processing units (CPUs) can be controlled to about 67 °C to ensure the reliable operating and acceptable level for electronic chips, even at condenser-cooling water temperature of 40 °C with low water flowrate of 0.055 m3/h. The server test results with air-cooling LHP have shown that the operating temperature of CPUs can be controlled to about 51 °C even at condenser-cooling wind temperature of 30 °C with wind flowrate of 41.88 m3/h.


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