Electronic cooling systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
The Leidenfrost effect, where a vapor layer forms on hot surfaces, hinders efficient cooling by preventing liquid droplets from coming into direct contact, thereby retarding heat transport and cooling efficiency in electronic and photoelectronic components.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system with a modified surface topography featuring pillars and trenches or a mesh, which forces the vapor layer to move through these features, allowing the liquid droplets to touch the surface for enhanced heat exchange, utilizing a compression container with a coolant that undergoes Joule-Thomson expansion to maintain a mixed phase of vapor and liquid droplets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cooling liquid is applied to a hot surface above the Leidenfrost point, then the liquid produces an insulating vapor layer that prevents rapid boiling, but the vapor layer retards heat transport and prevents proper cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The hot surface is segmented into multiple regions with varying temperatures through the use of micropillars and trenches. This segmentation allows different portions of the surface to interact with the cooling liquid in different ways, with some regions promoting vaporization and others promoting direct liquid contact, thereby resolving the contradiction between preventing rapid boiling and maintaining heat transport efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the surface are given different local properties through the micropillar-trench structure. The peaks and valleys create zones with distinct thermal characteristics, where some areas favor vapor layer formation while others enable direct liquid-surface contact. This local differentiation allows the system to simultaneously achieve both protection from rapid boiling and efficient heat transport
2Stability of the object's composition
If the liquid droplet hovers over the hot surface due to the Leidenfrost effect, then the liquid is protected from rapid vaporization, but heat transport is retarded and cooling is prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The problem is solved by transitioning from a two-dimensional flat surface to a three-dimensional structured surface with micropillars and trenches. This dimensional change creates new spatial relationships that allow the liquid droplet to maintain stability while simultaneously enabling heat transport pathways that were not available on a flat surface, thus resolving the contradiction between droplet stability and cooling rate
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
This approach lowers the vapor layer, enabling faster cooling by allowing the liquid droplets to directly contact the hot surface, thereby increasing the cooling rate and efficiency by overcoming the Leidenfrost effect.
Implementation Method 1
The bottom portion of the liquid vaporizes upon contact with the hot surface at temperatures above the Leidenfrost point
Implementation Method 2
heat transport
Implementation Method 3
the applied liquid produces an insulating vapor layer on the hot surface that keeps the liquid from boiling rapidly
Implementation Method 4
This phenomenon is called the Leidenfrost Effect
Implementation Method 5
A non-limiting example of a cooling system includes a compression container with a coolant that includes a fluid. A valve is arranged on the compression container through which the fluid is released from the compression container
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are cooling systems, methods of making cooling systems, and methods of cooling using cooling systems. A cooling system includes a compression container with a coolant that includes a fluid. A valve is arranged on the compression container through which the coolant is released from the compression container. The cooling system further includes a component positioned to receive droplets of the coolant. The component has a surface with a three-dimensional topography that includes a plurality of pillars and a plurality of trenches. The component is an electronic component or a photoelectronic component.