Design and analysis of high-performance air-cooled heat exchanger with an integrated capillary-pumped loop heat pipe

Abstract

We report the design and analysis of a high-power air-cooled heat exchanger capable of dissipating over 1000 W with 33 W of input electrical power and an overall thermal resistance of less than 0.05 K/W. The novelty of the design combines the blower and heat sink into an integrated compact unit (4" x 4" x 4") to maximize the heat transfer area and reduce the required airflow rates and power. The device consists of multiple impeller blades interdigitated with parallel-plate condensers of a capillary-pumped loop heat pipe. The impellers are supported on a common shaft and powered with a low-profile permanent magnet synchronous motor, while a single flat-plate evaporator is connected to the heat load.

Modeling and Optimization of Superhydrophobic Condensation

“…Such surfaces may therefore enable (1) substantial reduction in industrial con- denser sizes and cost [51]; (2) overall performance enhancement of devices such as heat pipes and thermal ground planes for applications requiring maximization of evaporator area and minimization of condenser area [56]; and (3) use of cooling devices previously not possible for local high heat flux electronic devices [18,57].…”

Enhancement of convective heat transfer in an air-cooled heat exchanger using interdigitated impeller blades

“…These fixed geometries were chosen as optimal solutions from a 3D finite element simulation using ANSYS FLUENT [4,19], while taking into consideration realistic manufacturing and size constraints. These numerical results showed that the dominant parameters affecting performance of the layer were the channel and blade thicknesses.…”

“…This device (Fig. 1) is 10 cm  10 cm  10 cm and is targeted to consume less than 33 W of electrical power while dissipating over 1000 W of heat with a thermal resistance of less than 0.05 K/W [4].…”

Development and Characterization of a Loop Heat Pipe With a Planar Evaporator and Condenser

“…In the liquid reservoir, a high permeability (1.6*10 -12 m 2 ) copper wick forms a bridge that enables heat transfer from the Monel wick to the top surface of the evaporator body, which is convectively cooled by airflow. [3] The geometry of the multi-layer wicking structure was designed using COMSOL Multiphysics, for a heat input of 1000 W, a convective boundary condition at the top surface (h=136.5 W/m 2 K), and a temperature difference between the base and ambient air of 50 °C. The Monel evaporator frame was modeled with a footprint of 10 cm x 10 cm and wall thicknesses of 2 mm and 1mm, for the sidewalls and top surface, respectively.…”

“…A low-profile, permanent-magnet synchronous motor is mounted at the top of the stack to drive the impeller array. The target design consists of fifteen condensers to remove 1000 W with a 50 °C temperature difference between the evaporator base and the inlet air while keeping the electrical fan power to 33 W. Through the use of the LHP for near-isothermal finning and a narrow-clearance impeller array, a COP of 30 is expected [3].…”