FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE INTEGRATION OF MICROFLUIDICS AND NEPCM FOR COOLING MICROELECTRONICS SYSTEMS
Conference Name: ASME 2012 3rd Micro/Nanoscale Heat & Mass Transfer International Conference
Location: Atlanta, GA
Date: March 3-5, 2012
List of Authors:
Julaunica Tigner , Dr. Tamara Floyd,Smith
Abstract
The growing demand for microelectronic systems to be
smaller and faster has increased the energy released by these
devices in the form of heat. Microelectronic systems such as
laptop computers and hand held devices are not exempted from
these demands. The primary traditional technologies currently
used to remove heat generated in these devices are fins and
fans. In this study, traditional methods were compared to more
novel methods like cooling using forced convection in
microfluidic channels and stagnant nanoparticle enhanced
phase change materials (NEPCM). For this study, the difference
between the surface temperature of a simulated microelectronic
system without any cooling and with a particular cooling
method was compared for several cooling scenarios. Higher ΔT
values indicate more effective cooling. The average ΔT values
for fans, fins, NEPCM and microchannels with water were 2°C,
5°C, 3°C and 4°C respectively. These results suggest that,
separately, microchannel cooling and NEPCM are promising
methods for managing heat in microelectronic systems.
Even more interesting than NEPCM or microchannel
cooling alone is the potential cooling that can be achieved by
combining the two methods to achieve multimode cooling first
by the phase change of the NEPCM and then by circulating the
nanofluid (melted NEPCM) through microchannels. A
feasibility assessment, however, reveals that the combination of
the two methods is not equal to the sum of the parts due to the
viscosity and associated pumping power requirements for the
melted phase change material. Nonetheless, the combination of
the method still holds promise as a competitive alternative to
existing thermal management solutions.