Experimental investigation of using thermoelectric cooling for computer chips

Thermoelectric devices are currently being used in many industrial applications for cooling devices and generating electricity. This paper mainly focuses on using thermoelectric for cooling applications, specifically to cool down computer chips. In this study, experimental tests were conducted using a commercial thermoelectric module to investigate its capabilities for cooling hotspot in chip at different heat rates. Two experimental tests were conducted at steady-state condition to cool down hotspot with two different values of heat rates of 10.8 W and 12.1 W. The former heat rate represents the case of hotspot with low heat flux, whereas the latter represents the case of hotspot with high heat flux. The test results showed that at hotspot heat rate of 10.8 W, using thermoelectric current of 5.5 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (111.4 °C) by 54.0 °C. However, at hotspot heat rate of 12.1 W, using thermoelectric current of 6.0 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (138.8 °C) by 61.1 °C. The test results showed that the optimum electrical current at high heat rate was always greater than that at low heat rate. The results provided in this paper is a part of a research project that consists of a number of phases in which the ultimate goal is to develop a simple tool for designing self-cooling framework to cool down chip hotspot at different operating conditions with minimal increase in the overall power requirements. A case study for self-cooling framework is provided in this paper to demonstrate that the chip hotspot at a given operating condition can successfully be cooled at an acceptable temperature with no need for additional power requirements.