Recent Advances in Thermal Modeling of Micro-Evaporators for Cooling of Microprocessors

Abstract

Cooling of microprocessors using flow boiling of low pressure refrigerants in multi-microchannel evaporator cooling elements is a promising technique for dissipation of footprint heat fluxes of over 300 W/cm2 while maintaining the chip safely below its maximum working temperature, providing a nearly uniform chip base temperature and minimizing energy consumption. The present invited lecture focuses on our recent experimental work and modeling of two-phase flow and boiling in single and multi-microchannels, covering: bubble dynamics, bubble coalescence, flow pattern recognition, diabatic flow pattern map, critical heat flux, hot spots, flow boiling heat transfer and two-phase pressure drops.