Ceramic Foam Cold Plate with Conductive Plugs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cold plates for cooling high power electronics and avionics are inefficient, leading to high coolant requirements and increased system penalties, with limited heat transfer capabilities and high pressure drops, which are inadequate for future high power electronics and avionics applications.
Innovation Solution
A cold plate design featuring ceramic foam strips with a pore size of no more than 50 micrometers and a porosity of at least 80 percent, combined with high thermal conductivity plugs, arranged within a housing to allow coolant flow through the width of the foam strips, enhancing thermal efficiency while minimizing pressure drop.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surface area density is increased to improve heat transfer effectiveness, then thermal effectiveness is improved, but pressure drop becomes unacceptably high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs ceramic foam with controlled porosity (30-70%) and pore size (10-100 micrometers) to create a porous structure that provides high surface area density for heat transfer while maintaining acceptable pressure drop characteristics. The porous ceramic foam structure allows coolant to flow through while providing extensive surface area for thermal exchange.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite construction combining ceramic foam strips with high thermal conductivity metal plugs (such as copper or aluminum) inserted into the foam structure. This composite approach combines the heat transfer surface area benefits of ceramic foam with the high thermal conductivity of metal plugs to achieve improved overall heat transfer effectiveness without excessive pressure drop.
2Reliability
If surface area density is increased to improve heat transfer effectiveness, then thermal effectiveness is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes pre-formed ceramic foam strips with controlled porosity and pore size that can be manufactured using established ceramic foam production processes. These strips are then assembled into cold plate configurations, avoiding the need for complex custom manufacturing while achieving the required heat transfer surface area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the cold plate into multiple ceramic foam strips that can be manufactured separately and then assembled together within the housing. This segmentation allows for simpler manufacturing of individual components while achieving the overall high surface area density required for effective heat transfer.
3Temperature
If conventional cold plates are used to cool high power electronics, then cooling is provided, but coolant flow rate must be significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs ceramic foam with optimized porosity (30-70%) and pore size (10-100 micrometers) to maximize the surface area available for heat transfer per unit volume. This high surface area density allows for more effective heat transfer from the electronics to the coolant, reducing the required coolant flow rate while maintaining adequate cooling capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines ceramic foam strips with high thermal conductivity metal plugs to create a composite heat transfer structure. The metal plugs provide high thermal conductivity pathways that enhance heat transfer efficiency, allowing the system to achieve better cooling performance with lower coolant flow rates compared to conventional single-material cold plates.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design significantly improves cooling efficiency, reduces the number of cold plates needed, and achieves higher thermal performance with minimal pressure drop, making it suitable for future high power electronics and avionics applications.
Implementation Method 1
Coolant flows through the cold plate from one end to the other end, wetting the enhanced heat transfer surface inside. This system cools PCBs mounted to the sides of the cold plate.
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of plugs made from a high thermal conductivity material. The plurality of plugs is inserted into the ceramic foam
Data Source
AI summary
A cold plate and method for cooling using the cold plate are disclosed. The cold plate includes a housing having hyperporous, microchannel ceramic foam strips disposed therewithin. A plurality of plugs formed from a high thermal conductivity material are disposed into the ceramic foam strips. Heat is transferred in an extremely efficient manner by leveraging the high thermal conductivity of the plugs to transfer the energy deep into a high internal surface area ceramic foam, which in turn transfers the heat to a coolant via convection. Channels between the foam strips form coolant inlet and outlet plenums, which results in minimal coolant pressure drop through the cold plate. In one example, an exemplary cold plate may provide cooling to one or two printed circuit boards. In another example, a cold plate may be disposed within a heat exchanger housing to provide cooling to a fluid.