Study and realization of a high power density electronics device cooling loop using a liquid metal coolant

Thermal management became the limiting factor in the development of high power electronic devices and new methods of cooling are required. Due to the low thermal conductivity of classical liquids (water, alcohols, dielectric fluids…), in many cases, the standard liquid cooling techniques cannot achieve the required cooling performances. Therefore the use of liquid gallium alloys whose thermal conductivity (approx. 28W/m/K) is 40 times greater than thermal conductivity of water, is introduced. In the first part of this paper, we present a numerical modeling and an experimental study of a minichannel liquid metal cooler. In these experiments, the working fluid is moved via an electromagnetic pump. Numerical and the experimental results are compared. Then we present a numerical study showing that the cooler performances depend largely on the thermal conductivity of its constitutive material. In the last part we present a numerical study of a silicon chip cooling. Simulations with different flow rates and heat powers were performed. The cooling capacity of the liquid metal is compared with that of the water cooling and very attractive results were obtained. The concept discussed in this paper is expected to provide a powerful cooling strategy for high power density electronic devices.