Hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader
A liquid-cooled heat sink has three parts: the water block, the X-clamp, and a copper plate. The water block has an inlet connected to a resin shell. Inside the shell, a fractal inlet manifold divides the inlet coolant flow into several sub streams that eventually exit in the form of uniformly distributed liquid jets through small nozzles/microjets at the bottom of the shell. The union between the shell and the copper plate forms a flood chamber, where the jets impinge on the copper plate, dissipating the heat supplied to the copper plate in contact with the heat source. The warm liquid is removed from the flood chamber through an outlet manifold embedded with the resin shell.
1. A hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink, comprising:
a main manifold comprising an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold;
the inlet manifold comprising an inlet duct at one end and an array of microjets at an opposing end, the array of microjets disposed generally in a jet-plane, the inlet duct being bifurcated into a plurality of multi-level flow channels, the multi-level flow channels disposed between and connecting the inlet duct to the array of microjets, the multi-level flow channels each having a fractal distribution and a bifurcated branched pattern, the multi-level flow channels each adapted for uniform flow distribution of a fluid on each level of bifurcation, wherein the inlet manifold is adapted for delivering the fluid from the inlet duct to the array of microjets via the multi-level flow channels;
a heat exchange plate parallelly disposed at a distance from the jet-plane of the array of microjets, the heat exchange plate having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface comprising an array of area-enhancement features, the area-enhancing features selected from the group consisting of a round pin fin, a rectangular pin fin, and a square pin fin, wherein one or more of the microjets in the array are generally perpendicular to the first surface of the heat exchange plate;
a flood chamber defined between the jet-plane of the array of microjets and the first surface of the heat exchange plate, each of the microjets being adapted to produce a substantially perpendicular impinging jet of the fluid on the first surface; and
the outlet manifold comprising two outlet ducts at one end, a plurality of extraction ports on an opposing end and an out-of-plane network of channels for draining the fluid from the flood chamber, the out-of-plane network of channels connecting the plurality of extraction ports to the two outlet ducts, the plurality of extraction ports being disposed generally in the jet-plane and being interspersed among the plurality of microjets, and the outlet manifold being adapted to draining the fluid in an opposite direction to the impinging jets produced by the microjets.
2. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the array of microjets is configured to operate under turbulent flow conditions with the impinging jets on the first surface of the heat exchange plate.
3. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of multi-level flow channels are disposed in a channel-plane that is substantially parallel to the jet-plane.
4. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of multi-level flow channels has k number of levels, each of the k levels disposed in a respective channel-plane, and the respective channel-planes of each of the k levels of the plurality of multi-level flow channels are substantially parallel to each other and to the jet-plane.
5. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the number of microjets in the array of microjets are selected from the group of sixteen, thirty-two, and sixty-four.
6. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the main manifold is manufactured by an additive manufacturing technique.
7. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , further comprising a water block housing the main manifold and the flood chamber.
8. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 7 , further comprising a X-clamp for mounting the water block on an electronic component.
9. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the water block is detachably connected to the heat exchange plate.
10. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the number of microjets in the array is 2 k , wherein k is the total number of levels in the plurality of multi-level flow channels.
11. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the ratio between a diameter of each of the plurality of extraction ports and a diameter of each of
d
e
p
d
n
=
2
1
/
3
(
J
N
E
N
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,
the microjects is wherein d ep is the diameter of the extraction ports, d jn is the diameter of the jet nozzles, JN is the number of microjets in the array, and EN is the number of extraction ports in the outlet manifold.
12. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the out-of-plane network of channels of the outlet manifold has at least two levels of channels, each of the at least two levels of channels are disposed in a respective outlet-plane, and each of the respective outlet-planes are sustantially parallel to each other and to the jet-plane.
13. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the area-enhancing features are uniformly distributed and/or equally spaced on the first surface of the heat exchange plate.
14. The hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of extraction ports are uniformly distributed and/or equally spaced among the plurality of microjets.
15. A method of cooling an electronic component using a hybrid microjet liquid-cooled heat spreader/sink, comprising:
providing a main manifold comprising an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold, wherein the inlet manifold comprises an inlet duct at one end and an array of microjets at an opposing end, the array of microjets is disposed generally in a jet-plane, the inlet duct being bifurcated into a plurality of multi-level flow channels, the multi-level flow channels disposed between and connecting the inlet duct to the array of microjets, the multi-level flow channels each having a fractal distribution and a bifurcated branched pattern, the multi-level flow channels each adapted for uniform flow distribution of fluid on each level of bifurcation, wherein the inlet manifold is adapted for delivering the fluid from the inlet duct to the array of microjets via the multi-level flow channels;
providing a heat exchange plate and disposing the heat exchange plate parallelly at a distance from the jet-plane of the array of microjets, the heat exchange plate having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface comprising an array of area-enhancement features, the area-enhancing features selected from the group consisting of a round pin fin, a rectangular pin fin, and a square pin fin, wherein one or more of the microjets in the array are generally perpendicular to the first surface of the heat exchange plate;
providing a flood chamber defined between the jet-plane of the array of microjets and the first surface of the heat exchange plate, each of the microjets being adapted to produce a substantially perpendicular impinging jet of the fluid on the first surface;
providing the outlet manifold comprising two outlet ducts at one end, a plurality of extraction ports on an opposing end and an out-of-plane network of channels for draining the fluid from the flood chamber, the out-of-plane network of channels connecting the plurality of extraction ports to the two outlet ducts, the plurality of extraction ports being disposed generally in the jet-plane and being interspersed among the plurality of microjets, and the outlet manifold being adapted to draining the fluid in an opposite direction to the impinging jets produced by the microjets; and
pumping the fluid into the inlet manifold through the inlet duct and draining the fluid from the flood chamber through the outlet manifold for cooling the heat exchange plate/electronic component.
16. The method claim 15 , wherein:
the array of microjets is configured operate under turbulent flow conditions with the impinging jets on the first surface of the heat exchange plate; and
the step of providing the main manifold comprises disposing at least a portion of each of the plurality of multi-level flow channels in a channel-plane that is substantially parallel to the jet-plane.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of multi-level flow channels has k number of levels, each of the k level disposed in a respective channel-plane, and the respective channel-planes of each of the k levels of the plurality of multi-level flow channels are substantially parallel to each other and to the jet-plane.
18. The method of claim 15 ,
wherein the step of providing the main manifold comprises manufacturing the main manifold by an additive manufacturing technique;
further comprising a step of providing a water block, and housing the main manifold and the flood chamber in the water block.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the number of microjets in the array is 2 k , wherein k is the total number of levels in the plurality of multi-level flow channels;
the ratio between a diameter of each of the plurality of extraction ports and a diameter of each of the microjects is
d
e
p
d
jn
=
2
1
/
3
(
J
N
E
N
)
,
wherein d ep is the diameter of the extraction ports, d jn is the diameter of the jet nozzles, JN is the number of microjets in the array, and EN is the number of extraction ports in the outlet manifold; and
the out-of-plane network of channels of the outlet manifold has at least two levels of channels, each of the at least two levels of channels are disposed in a respective outlet-plane, and each of the respective outlet-planes are sustantially parallel to each other and to the jet-plane.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the area-enhancing features are uniformly distributed and/or equally spaced on the first surface of the heat exchange plate;
the plurality of extraction ports are uniformly distributed and/or equally spaced among the plurality of microjets; and
distribution of the plurality of extraction ports is configured to minimize cross-flow interference in the flood chamber.