Cooling of high heat flux miniaturized electronic devices using thermal ground plane: An overview

Thermal ground planes (TGPs) are considered to be one the most promising thermal management devices for cooling the high heat flux miniaturized power electronic devices. This article presents an overview of the latest advancement in the design and operation of TGPs and its applications to various fields. It also summarizes the recent experimental, numerical investigations on internally grooved, mesh wick, sintered wick, hybrid wick, electro hydro dynamic effect, micro pillared and metal foam embedded TGPs. The heat transfer characteristics and mechanisms involved when using different working fluids, wick structures and materials for enhancing the heat transfer performance and operating range of TGPs are discussed. This review also provides future scope and insight of using TGPs to increase the efficiency and reliability of modern power electronic devices in renewable resource sector and other related applications. • Internally grooved thermal ground plane improves hydrophilicity & capillarity. • Hybrid wick in thermal ground plane enhance permeability & rewetting characteristics. • Electro hydro dynamic effect enhances the operating range of thermal ground plane. • Micro pillars in thermal ground plane increase surface area & evaporation rate. • Thermal ground plane embedded with metal foams enhances heat transport capability.