Metal Foam Cold Plate for High Heat Flux Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cold plates struggle with effectively handling higher heat loads and heat fluxes generated by high-performance electronic devices, leading to increased wall superheat and reduced cooling efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The use of metal foam in the cold plate's fin bank structure, which promotes smaller bubble formation and quicker detachment, reducing wall superheat and enhancing cooling capacity through its open-cell structure and interconnected voids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If conventional cold plate structures are used, then manufacturing is simpler, but cooling capability is insufficient for high heat loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous metal foam material within the cold plate cavity to enhance heat transfer capability. The porous structure provides high surface area and interconnected voids that promote bubble formation and detachment, significantly improving cooling performance for high heat loads while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite construction by combining metal foam material with the cold plate body structure. This composite approach integrates the thermal management benefits of porous materials into the existing cold plate design, achieving enhanced cooling capability without completely redesigning the entire system
2Temperature
If conventional fin bank structures are used, then manufacturing is easier, but wall superheat increases at high heat fluxes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces or augments conventional fin bank structures with porous metal foam material that promotes efficient bubble formation and detachment. This porous structure reduces wall superheat by enhancing heat transfer at the liquid-vapor interface, addressing the thermal performance issue while the metal foam can be integrated through established manufacturing techniques
3Productivity
If metal foam is added to enhance cooling, then cooling efficiency improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent nests the metal foam material within the existing cold plate cavity structure. This nesting approach allows the porous material to be contained within the established device boundaries, enhancing cooling efficiency without requiring complete structural redesign or adding significant external complexity to the device
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 design improves the cooling capability of the cold plate, enabling more efficient heat absorption and temperature reduction in electronic devices, thus supporting higher performance operations without thermal limitations.
Implementation Method 1
metal foam in the cavity... promotes smaller bubble formation and quicker detachment
Implementation Method 2
metal foam... promotes smaller bubble formation and quicker detachment, reducing wall superheat
Implementation Method 3
enabling more efficient heat absorption and temperature reduction in electronic devices
Implementation Method 4
cold plate... enabling more efficient heat absorption
Data Source
AI summary
Cold plates and liquid cooling systems for electronic devices are disclosed herein. An example cold plate includes a body defining a cavity. The body has an inlet opening and an outlet opening fluidically coupled to the cavity such that a fluid passageway is defined between the inlet opening and the outlet opening. The cold plate also includes metal foam in the cavity.