High heat flux thermal management through liquid metal driven with electromagnetic induction pump

Abstract

In this paper, a novel liquid metal-based minichannel heat dissipation method was developed for cooling electric devices with high heat flux. A high-performance electromagnetic induction pump driven by rotating permanent magnets is designed to achieve a pressure head of 160 kPa and a flow rate of 3.24 L/min, which could enable the liquid metal to remove the waste heat quickly. The liquid metal-based minichannel thermal management system was established and tested experimentally to investigate the pumping capacity and cooling performance. The results show that the liquid metal cooling system can dissipate heat flux up to 242 W/cm² with keeping the temperature rise of the heat source below 50°C. It could remarkably enhance the cooling performance by increasing the rotating speed of permanent magnets. Moreover, thermal contact resistance has a critical importance for the heat dissipation capacity. The liquid metal thermal grease is introduced to efficiently reduce the thermal contact resistance (a decrease of about 7.77 × 10⁻³ °C/W). This paper provides a powerful cooling strategy for thermal management of electric devices with large heat power and high heat flux.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

high heat flux / liquid metal / electromagnetic pump / minichannel heat sink / thermal interface material

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52076213) and the 2115 Talent Development Program of China Agricultural University.

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2022 Higher Education Press