Development of Micro/Nano Engineered Wick-Based Passive Heat Spreaders for Thermal Management of High Power Electronic Devices

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Altman ◽  
Joseph R. Wasniewski ◽  
Mark T. North ◽  
Sungwon S. Kim ◽  
Timothy S. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Thermal Resistance ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Heat Spreader

Spreading of high-flux electronics heat is a critical part of any packaging design. This need is particularly profound in advanced devices where the dissipated heat fluxes have been driven well over 100W/cm2. To address this challenge, researchers at Raytheon, Thermacore and Purdue are engaged in the development and characterization of a low resistance, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)-matched multi-chip vapor chamber heat spreader, which utilizes capillary driven two-phase heat transport. The vapor chamber technology under development overcomes the limitations of state-of-the-art approaches by combining scaled-down sintered Cu powder and nanostructured materials in the vapor chamber wick to achieve low thermal resistance. Cu-coated vertically aligned carbon nanotubes is the nanostructure of choice in this development. Unique design and construction techniques are employed to achieve CTE-matching with a variety of device and packaging materials in a low-profile form-factor. This paper describes the materials, design, construction and characterization of these vapor chambers. Results from experiments conducted using a unique high-heat flux capable 1DSS test facility are presented, exploring the effects of various microscopic wick configurations, CNT-functionalizations and fluid charges on thermal performance. The impacts of evaporator wick patterning, CNT evaporator functionalization and CNT condenser functionalization on performance are assessed and compared to monolithic Cu wick configurations. Thermal performance is explained as a function of applied heat flux and temperature through the identification of dominant component thermal resistances and heat transfer mechanisms. Finally, thermal performance results are compared to an equivalent solid conductor heat spreader, demonstrating a >40% reduction in thermal resistance. These results indicate great promise for the use of such novel vapor chamber technology in thickness-constrained high heat flux device packaging applications.

Integrated Vapor Chamber Heat Spreader for Power Module Applications

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clayton L. Hose ◽  
Dimeji Ibitayo ◽  
Lauren M. Boteler ◽  
Jens Weyant ◽  
Bradley Richard
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Thermal Resistance ◽  
Power Electronics ◽  
Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Power Module ◽  
Heat Spreader

This work presents a demonstration of a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) matched, high heat flux vapor chamber directly integrated onto the backside of a direct bond copper (DBC) substrate to improve heat spreading and reduce thermal resistance of power electronics modules. Typical vapor chambers are designed to operate at heat fluxes > 25 W/cm2 with overall thermal resistances < 0.20 °C/W. Due to the rising demands for increased thermal performance in high power electronics modules, this vapor chamber has been designed as a passive, drop-in replacement for a standard heat spreader. In order to operate with device heat fluxes >500 W/cm2 while maintaining low thermal resistance, a planar vapor chamber is positioned onto the backside of the power substrate, which incorporates a specially designed wick directly beneath the active heat dissipating components to balance liquid return and vapor mass flow. In addition to the high heat flux capability, the vapor chamber is designed to be CTE matched to reduce thermally induced stresses. Modeling results showed effective thermal conductivities of up to 950 W/m-K, which is 5 times better than standard copper-molybdenum (CuMo) heat spreaders. Experimental results show a 43°C reduction in device temperature compared to a standard solid CuMo heat spreader at a heat flux of 520 W/cm2.

Nano-Structured Two-Phase Heat Spreader for Cooling Ultra-High Heat Flux Sources

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuo Hashimoto ◽  
Hiroto Kasai ◽  
Kazuma Usami ◽  
Hiroyuki Ryoson ◽  
Kazuaki Yazawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Copper Powder ◽  
High Heat ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Heat Spreader ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Evaporator Temperature ◽  
Sintered Copper ◽  
Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes

A two-phase heat spreader has been developed for cooling high heat flux sources in high-power lasers, high-intensity light-emitting diodes, and semiconductor power devices. The heat spreader targets the passive cooling of heat sources with fluxes greater than 5 W/mm2 without requiring any active power consumption for the thermal solution. The prototype vapor chamber consists of an evaporator plate, a condenser plate and an adiabatic section, with water as the phase-change fluid. The custom-designed high heat flux source is composed of a platinum resistive heating pattern and a temperature sensor on an aluminum nitride substrate which is soldered to the outside of the evaporator. Experiments were performed with several different microstructures as evaporator surfaces under varying heat loads. The first microstructure investigated, a screen mesh, dissipated 2 W/mm2 of heat load but with an unacceptably high evaporator temperature. A sintered copper powder microstructure with particles of 50 μm mean diameter supported 8.5 W/mm2 without dryout. Four sets of particle diameters and different thicknesses for the sintered copper powder evaporators were tested. Additionally, some of the sintered structures were coated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) that were rendered hydrophilic. Such nano-structured evaporators successfully showed a further reduction in thermal resistance of the vapor chamber.

scholarly journals A Method for Thermal Performance Characterization of Ultra-Thin Vapor Chambers Cooled by Natural Convection

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Patankar ◽  
Simone Mancin ◽  
Justin A. Weibel ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella ◽  
Mark A. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Natural Convection ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Numerical Model ◽  
Thermal Resistance ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Heat Spreader ◽  
Heat Spreaders

Vapor chamber technologies offer an attractive approach for passive cooling in portable electronic devices. Due to the market trends in device power consumption and thickness, vapor chamber effectiveness must be compared with alternative heat spreading materials at ultra-thin form factors and low heat dissipation rates. A test facility is developed to experimentally characterize performance and analyze the behavior of ultra-thin vapor chambers that must reject heat to the ambient via natural convection. The evaporator-side and ambient temperatures are measured directly; the condenser-side surface temperature distribution, which has critical ergonomics implications, is measured using an infrared camera calibrated pixel-by-pixel over the field of view and operating temperature range. The high thermal resistance imposed by natural convection in the vapor chamber heat dissipation pathway requires accurate prediction of the parasitic heat losses from the test facility using a combined experimental and numerical calibration procedure. Solid Metal heat spreaders of known thermal conductivity are first tested, and the temperature distribution is reproduced using a numerical model for conduction in the heat spreader and thermal insulation by iteratively adjusting the external boundary conditions. A regression expression for the heat loss is developed as a function of measured operating conditions using the numerical model. A sample vapor chamber is tested for heat inputs below 2.5 W. Performance metrics are developed to characterize heat spreader performance in terms of the effective thermal resistance and the condenser-side temperature uniformity. The study offers a rigorous approach for testing and analysis of new vapor chamber designs, with accurate characterization of their performance relative to other heat spreaders.

Application of Al2O3 Nanofluid on Sintered Copper-Powder Vapor Chamber for Electronic Cooling

2013 ◽  
Vol 789 ◽  
pp. 423-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandy Putra ◽  
Wayan Nata Septiadi ◽  
Ranggi Sahmura ◽  
Cahya Tri Anggara
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Base Fluid ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Electronic Cooling ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Processing Unit ◽  
Vapor Chamber

The development of electronic devices pushes manufacturers to create smaller microchips with higher performance than ever before. Microchip with higher working load produces more heat. This leads to the need of cooling system that able to dissipate high heat flux. Vapor chamber is one of highly effective heat spreading device. Its ability to dissipate high heat flux density in limited space made it potential for electronic cooling application, like Central Processing Unit (CPU) cooling system. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of Al2O3Nanofluid as working fluid for vapor chamber. Vapor chamber performance was measured in real CPU working condition. Al2O3Nanofluid with concentration of 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 3% as working fluid of the vapor chamber were tested and compared with its base fluid, water. Al2O3nanofluid shows better thermal performance than its base fluid due to the interaction of particle enhancing the thermal conductivity. The result showed that the effect of working fluid is significant to the performance of vapor chamber at high heat load, and the application of Al2O3nanofluid as working fluid would enhance thermal performance of vapor chamber, compared to other conventional working fluid being used before.

Development of a High Performance Vapor Chamber for High Heat Flux Applications

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Zhao ◽  
Chung-Lung Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Porous Network ◽  
Heat Spreader ◽  
Wick Structure

This paper introduces a high performance vapor chamber heat spreader with a novel bi-dispersed wick structure. The main wick structure is a sintered porous network in a latticed pattern, which contains not only small pores to transport liquid by capillary forces, but also many slots to provide large passages to vent vapor from heated surfaces. The copper particles have a diameter of approximately 50 μm; they produce an effective pore radius of approximately 13 μm after sintering. The slots have a typical width of approximately 500 μm. Unlike traditional bi-dispersed wick structures, the latticed wick structures provide undisrupted liquid delivery passages and vapor escape channels and thus greatly improve the heat transfer performance. Preliminary experimental tests were conducted and the results were analyzed. It was shown by the experiments that vapor chamber heat spreaders with the latticed wicks present three times improvement on heat spreading performance, comparing with a solid copper heat spreader, and much improved capacity to handle hot spots with local heat fluxes exceeding 300 W/cm2, which will have great impacts on extending heat pipe technology from traditional low to medium heat fluxes to high heat flux applications.

scholarly journals A Method for Thermal Performance Characterization of Ultrathin Vapor Chambers Cooled by Natural Convection

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Patankar ◽  
Simone Mancin ◽  
Justin A. Weibel ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella ◽  
Mark A. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Natural Convection ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Numerical Model ◽  
Thermal Resistance ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Vapor Chamber ◽  
Heat Spreader ◽  
Heat Spreaders

Vapor chamber technologies offer an attractive approach for passive cooling in portable electronic devices. Due to the market trends in device power consumption and thickness, vapor chamber effectiveness must be compared with alternative heat spreading materials at ultrathin form factors and low heat dissipation rates. A test facility is developed to experimentally characterize performance and analyze the behavior of ultrathin vapor chambers that must reject heat to the ambient via natural convection. The evaporator-side and ambient temperatures are measured directly; the condenser-side surface temperature distribution, which has critical ergonomics implications, is measured using an infrared (IR) camera calibrated pixel-by-pixel over the field of view and operating temperature range. The high thermal resistance imposed by natural convection in the vapor chamber heat dissipation pathway requires accurate prediction of the parasitic heat losses from the test facility using a combined experimental and numerical calibration procedure. Solid metal heat spreaders of known thermal conductivity are first tested, and the temperature distribution is reproduced using a numerical model for conduction in the heat spreader and thermal insulation by iteratively adjusting the external boundary conditions. A regression expression for the heat loss is developed as a function of measured operating conditions using the numerical model. A sample vapor chamber is tested for heat inputs below 2.5 W. Performance metrics are developed to characterize heat spreader performance in terms of the effective thermal resistance and the condenser-side temperature uniformity. The study offers a rigorous approach for testing and analysis of new vapor chamber designs, with accurate characterization of their performance relative to other heat spreaders.

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