Thermal performance of plate-fin vapor chamber heat sinks

Since vapor chambers exhibit excellent thermal performance, they are suited to use as bases of heat sinks. This work experimentally studies the thermal performance of plate-fin vapor chamber heat sinks using infrared thermography. The effects of the width, height and number of fins and of the Reynolds number on the thermal performance are considered. Experimental data are compared with corresponding data for conventional aluminum heat sinks. The results show that generated heat is transferred more uniformly to the base plate by a vapor chamber heat sink than by a similar aluminum heat sink. Therefore, the maximum temperature is effectively reduced. The overall thermal resistance of the vapor chamber heat sink declines as the Reynolds number increases, but the strength of the effect falls. The effect of the fin dimensions on the thermal performance is stronger at a lower Reynolds number. At a low Reynolds number, a suitable number of fins must be chosen to ensure favorable thermal performance of the vapor chamber heat sink. However, at a high Reynolds number, the thermal performance improves as the fin number increases.     

On the thermal cooling of central processing unit of the PCs with vapor chamber

An experimental investigation on the thermal cooling of vapor chamber for cooling computer processing unit of the personal computer is performed. Two different configurations of the vapor chambers with de-ionized water as working fluid are tested under the real operating conditions of PCs. Parametric studies including different aspect ratios, fill ratios, and operating conditions of PC on the CPU temperature are considered. It was found that the vapor chamber cooling technique has significant effect on the thermal cooling of CPU. Average CPU temperatures obtained from the vapor chamber cooling system are 4.1%, 6.89% lower than those from the conventional cooling system for no load and 90% operating loads, respectively. In additional, this cooling system requires 6.89%, 10.53% lower energy consumption for no load and 90% operating loads, respectively. The results of this study are of technological importance for the efficient design of cooling systems of the personal computers or electronic devices to enhance cooling performance.     

Study on the vapor chamber with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid for HDD cooling

The heat within the operating drive is mainly generated by the SPM, VCM, magnetic read/write head sensor, and windage loss. Temperature is often quoted as the most important environmental factor affecting disk drive reliability. The results of the investigation on the thermal cooling of vapor chamber with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid for cooling hard disk drive are presented. It was found that the vapor chamber cooling technique has a significant effect on the thermal cooling of hard disk drive. At the optimum condition (20% fill ratio of working fluid) that results in minimum HDD temperature, average HDD temperatures of VC with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid are 10.73% and 23.37% lower than those with water as working fluid and those without VC, respectively. The results of this study are of technological importance for the efficient design of cooling systems of the personal computers or electronic devices to enhance cooling performance.     

Heat transfer characteristics of high heat flux vapor chamber

To meet the challenge of heat spreading in electronic products, highly efficient high heat flux heat transfer vapor chambers have been manufactured and their heat transfer characteristics have been studied by a fast test system. A solid copper block with the same shape as the vapor chamber is used to compare the performance of the vapor chamber. The result shows that, it will take about 5min to achieve a steady state in the fast test system. The heat transfer characteristics of the vapor chamber are more superior to those of the copper block. In this paper, total thermal resistance of the test system is used to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics of the vapor chamber, because it has already been used to consider both the spreading thermal resistance and the flatness of the vapor chamber.     

Thermal investigations on LED vapor chamber-based plates

This study utilizes a thermal-performance experiment with the illumination-analysis method to discuss the thermal performance of three kinds of LED based plates comparing the experiments, theories, and simulation thermal resistances. The results show that the thermal performance of the LED vapor chamber-based plate is better than that of the LED copper-based plate with an input power above 5 W. And the experimental thermal resistance values of LED copper- and vapor chamber-based plate are 0.41 °C/W and 0.38 °C/W at 6 W respectively. And the illumination of 6 Watt LED vapor chamber-based plate is 5% larger than the 6 Watt LED aluminum-based plate. Thus, the LED vapor chamber-based plate has the best thermal performance above 5 W.     

Experimental investigation of a flat plate heat pipe performance using IR thermal imaging camera

This paper presents results and analysis of an experimental investigation into determining the thermal performance of a flat plate heat pipe using infra red (IR) thermal imaging camera. Steady state and transient temperature distribution of the evaporator surface of the flat plate heat pipe were measured using a single heat source with varied heat flux inputs. For performance comparison, the experimental measurements were also carried out on an identical flat plate heat pipe with a defect and on a solid copper block of similar dimensions. It was shown that temperature excursion on the surface of the fully functioning flat plate heat pipe is less than 3 °C for operating temperatures up to 90 °C and heat flux inputs ranging from 4 to 40 W/cm². Furthermore, the thermal spreading resistance of the flat plate heat pipe was found to be about 40 times smaller than that of the solid copper block and flat plate heat pipe with a defect.     

Analysis for diving regulator applying local heating mechanism of vapor chamber in insert molding process

This paper aims to use the local heating mechanism, along with the excellent thermal performance of vapor chamber, to analyze and enhance the strength of products formed after insert molding process. In the insert molding process, the metal insert is firstly placed into the mold, and then formed into an embedded plastic product named diving regulator by injection molding. These results indicate that, the product formed by the local heating mechanism of vapor chamber can reduce the weld line efficiency and achieve high strength, which passed the standard of 15.82 N-m torque test, with a yield rate up to 100%.     

Thermal performance of aluminium‐foam CPU heat exchangers

This study investigates the performance of existing central processing unit (CPU) heat exchangers and compares it with aluminium‐foam heat exchangers in natural convection using an industrial set‐up. Kapton flexible heaters are used to replicate the heat produced by a computer's CPU. A number of thermocouples are connected between the heater and the heat sink being used to measure the component's temperature. The thermocouples are also connected to a data‐acquisition card to collect the data using LabVIEW program. The values obtained for traditional heat exchangers are compared to published data to validate experiments and set‐up. The validated set‐up was then utilized to test the aluminium‐foam heat exchangers and compare its performance to that of common heat sinks. It is found that thermal resistance is reduced more than 70% by employing aluminium‐foam CPU heat exchangers. The results demonstrate that this material provides an advantage on thermal dissipation under natural convection over most available technologies, as it considerably increases the surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio. Furthermore, the aluminium‐foam heat exchangers reduce the overall weight. Copyright © 2005 John wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intermittent heat transportation by discharge of accumulated vapor

A heat transporting cycle already proposed by the authors was composed of the following processes: (A) accumulation of high-pressure vapor in an evaporator vessel, (B) discharge of the accumulated vapor from the evaporator followed by the condensation of a part of the vapor in the downstream condenser and the returning vapor–liquid two-phase flow from the condenser toward the evaporator, (C) return of the liquid to the evaporator after stopping of the flow through a check valve. In the present study, the flow and heat transport performances of a downward heat transport closed loop utilizing the above-mentioned cycle was investigated experimentally by using a setup of 3 and 5 m in height. The inner tube diameter was 10 mm. In the riser tube, high-speed upward two-phase flow with disturbance waves appeared. Experimental flow conditions and pressure drop for this annular flow were compared with the correlations of Fukano and Lockhart–Martinelli. In some cases the operation ceased due to the blockage of this two-phase flow by the tall condensate liquid column formed in the riser. A precise investigation showed that the vapor generation by flash evaporation in the evaporator during the period (B) played a very important role in avoiding this blockage effect.     

长距离环路热管传热性能实验研究

基于航空航天等领域对环路热管长距离传热的需求,设计制造了一套传热距离8.1m的圆柱型蒸发器环路热管,试验了不同加热功率、不同冷凝温度下该环路热管的启动和变工况运行性能,并对其热阻及最大传热能力进行了分析。研究结果表明：当其他条件一致、初始气液分布相同和不同时,加热功率由100W增大至160W后,本研究中的环路热管启动时间和启动温升均发生一定程度的下降;加热功率100W时,冷凝温度由10℃降低至-10℃使得环路热管启动时间增加,加热功率160W时,冷凝温度由10℃降至-10℃对环路热管的启动时间影响不大。在冷凝温度0℃下,该环路热管在100~500W范围内均能稳定运行,且200W时环路热管传热效率最高,传热温差最小,稳定运行温度最低;另外,由于系统传输距离较长,每个工况达到稳定所需要的时间也较长,分布于1000至3500S内。随着加热功率的增大,环路热管热阻先减小后逐渐增大,该环路热管传热热阻最大不超过0.09℃/W,最小为0.024℃/W;随着传热距离的增大,管路的热损失增加,总压降和热阻也变大。当传热距离基本相同时,蒸发器容积的大小、冷凝器的冷凝能力及气液管线的布置形状均在一定程度上影响环路热管的最大传热能力。     

Heat transfer enhancement in light-emitting diode packaging employing different molar concentration of magnesium oxide thin films as a heat spreader

To solve thermal management difficulties created by miniaturization of light-emitting diode package, magnesium oxide thin film was spin coated on the aluminum 5052-grade substrate and employed for heat spreading and improvement of the thermal path for heat removal from light-emitting diode parcel to ambient. Thickness of different films of magnesium oxide was prepared from 0.6M and 0.8M precursors to find out the effects of films thickness and molar concentrations towards perfect heat spreading. Results from X-ray diffraction (XRD) proves the MgO thin film as cubic with the crystalline orientations of (200), (220), and (222). Good results were highlighted through 20 layers (0.6M) MgO thin film in respect to its transient thermal analysis compared with other layers from 0.6M and 0.8M and bare Al substrate; this was due to its nonporous and evenly distributed particles size (56.0 nm), film thickness (301.7 nm), surface roughness (121 nm), higher thermal conductivity (26.3 W/mK), and free from internal cracks and defects. Lower total thermal resistance (11.4 K/W), lower junction temperature (98.8°C), optimal thermal impedance (36.43°C), higher illumination from light-emitting diode, and operation within safe operating temperature range (2700-3000 K) for high-power light-emitting diodes were all recorded at 700 mA from the tested light-emitting diode mounted on 20 layers (0.6M) magnesium oxide thin film. This study consequently proved magnesium oxide thin film as an alternative heat spreader in lighting technology packaging.     

微槽群平板热管散热器传热性能的研究

分别选择不同的翅片间距和高度,对一种新型微槽群平板热管散热器的翅片结构进行优化,得到了热管散热器的最佳整体结构。结果表明:翅片的间距为14mm、高度为60mm时,平板热管散热器的传热性能最好。将热管、管脚以及翅片的温度与实验结果进行对比,结果吻合良好。     

Effects of shield on thermal-fluid performance of vapor chamber heat sink

This work investigates the effects of a shield on the thermal and hydraulic characteristics of plate-fin vapor chamber heat sinks under cross flow cooling. The surface temperature distributions of the vapor chamber heat sinks are measured using infrared thermography. The thermal-fluid performance of vapor chamber heat sinks with a shield is determined by varying the fin width, the fin height, the fin number and the Reynolds number. The experimental data thus obtained are compared with those without a shield.Experimental results indicate that the maximum surface temperature of the vapor chamber heat sink is effectively reduced by adding the shield, which forces more cooling fluid into the inter-fin channel to exchange heat with the heat sink. However, using the shield increases the pressure drop across the heat sink. The experimental data also show that the enhancement of the heat transfer increases with the Reynolds number, but the improvement declines as the Reynolds number increases. When the pumping power and heat transfer are simultaneously considered, vapor chamber heat sinks with thinner, higher or more fins exhibit better thermal-hydraulic performance.     

An experimental study on vapor condensation of wet flue gas in a plastic heat exchanger

An experimental system investigating condensation heat transfer of wet flue gas was set up, and the heat transfer performance of vapor‐gas mixture with vapor condensation was discussed. The experimental results of laminar flow in a plastic longitudinal spiral plate heat exchanger were obtained and are in good agreement with the modified classical film model. It is shown that the plastic air preheater can avoid acid corrosion in the low‐temperature field for the boiler using fuel containing sulfur and recover latent heat of the water vapor of the wet flue gas. Also some SO₂ was scrubbed during the vapor condensing process in the heat exchanger. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(7): 571–580, 2001     

Experimental study of free convection heat transfer and condensation of vapor of humid air over an inclined cold tube

In this study condensation heat transfer on a cold inclined circular cylinder due to natural convection for various conditions is investigated experimentally. The cylinder is placed in an isolated test room to permit pure natural circulation of ambient air. Ambient temperature and humidity of the test room are controlled by a refrigeration cycle and humidifying. The ambient relative air humidity changed in the range of 30 to 50% and temperature from 25 to 35 °C. The ethylene‐glycol/water solution is used as a refrigerant to control and keep the temperature of the test section at a constant value. The cold surface temperature is varied from 2 to 6 °C. The condensation rate and heat flux are found to depend mainly on time, temperature difference between ambient air and cold surface, ambient relative humidity, and tube inclination. Results are plotted for various conditions with respect to time. The experimental results are used to propose a correlation to predict the condensate mass flow rate for free convection heat transfer. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21015     

Research on Marangoni condensation heat transfer for water and ethanol mixture vapor

A brass block was constructed as a test block to study the Marangoni condensation in this paper. The maximal temperature difference of the block surface on which pure steam condensed was 11^°C when the block was cooled by the normal temperature water. Regulations and modes of Marangoni condensation for mixture vapor with different mass fractions were studied when the speed of vapor was 0.3 m/s. As both temperature gradients and concentration gradients exist on the condensing surface, the experimental results indicate that the maximal heat transfer coefficient of mixture vapor can be 2.8 times that of pure steam when the Marangoni condensation of mixture vapor appears. The heat transfer coefficient of mixture vapor increases with the decrease of surface subcooling, and it appears a steep increase when the surface subcooling is small enough; the heat transfer flux has a maximum value as the surface subcooling rises; and the different modes of condensation are confirmed when the different ethanol concentration and different surface subcooling exist. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 33(8): 505–514, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20035     

Influence of water vapor on performance of co-planar single chamber solid oxide fuel cells

Influences of feeding gas compositions on the performance of co-planar, single chamber solid oxide fuel cells (SC-SOFCs) are investigated with emphasis on the role of water vapor. The maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) and peak power density are obtained at a methane-to-oxygen ratio of 3.5 under the wet gas condition, and a stoichiometric ratio of 2.0 for methane partial oxidation under the dry gas condition. In addition to the partial oxidation of methane on the anode and electrocatalytic reactions, both steam reforming and methane combustion occur on the anode and cathode, respectively, in the presence of water vapor. Local volume expansion and a rise in temperature associated with these parasitic reactions intensify inter-mixing of the reactant and product gases by which the OCV and power density drastically deteriorate with decreasing anode-to-cathode gap distance, as confirmed by impedance analysis for the LSM-YSZ|YSZ|LSM-YSZ symmetrical cell.     

Thermal performance of a single-row fin-and-tube heat exchanger

Experiments were carried out to study the heat transfer characteristics of a single-row aluminum fin-and-tube crossflow heat exchanger with an emphasis in the regime of low flow rate of the in-tube fluid. The Chilton-Colburn analogy, in conjunction with the least-squares power-law technique, was used to correlate experimental data. Both air- and water-side heat transfer correlations were developed in the form of the Nusselt numbers as a function of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The experimental observations are quantitatively compared to the predictions of correlations available in the published literature. Different transfer mechanisms were found to be operative in the ranges of water-side Reynolds numbers based on the hydraulic diameter. In a range of Reynolds number from 1,200 to 6,000, the water-side thermal resistance accounts for less than ten percent of the overall thermal resistance. The dominant thermal resistance is always on the air-side. On the other hand, the thermal resistance of water-side is nearly equal to that of air-side in a Reynolds number range from 500 to 1,200.     

Theoretical analysis of the dynamic interactions of vapor compression heat pumps

A detailed mathematical model of vapor compression heat pumps is described. Model derivations of the various heat pump components are given. The component models include the condenser, evaporator, accumulator, expansion device, and compressor. Details of the modeling techniques are presented, as is the solution methodology. Preliminary simulation results are also illustrated. The model developed predicts the spatial values of temperature and enthalpy as functions of time for the two heat exchangers. The temperatures and enthalpies in the accumulator, compressor and expansion device are modeled in lumped-parameter fashion. Pressure responses are determined by using continuity satisfying models for both the condenser and evaporator. The discussion of the solution methodology describes the combined implicit/explicit integration formulation that is used to solve the governing equations. The summary provides a list of future work anticipated in the area of dynamic heat pump modeling.