Research progress of the liquid cold plate cooling technology for server electronic chips: A review. (26th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Weinan; Dong, Kaijun; Sun, Qin; Luo, Weimin; Zhang, Bobo; Guan, Shengli; Wang, Guangwu
• Is Part Of: International journal of energy research. Volume 46:Number 9(2022)
• Page Start: 11574
• Page End: 11595
• Publication Date: 2022-04-26
• Subjects: heat transfer enhancement -- liquid cold plate -- microchannel -- server electronics chips; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Research -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1002/er.7979
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0363-907X

Abstract

Summary: A significant quantity of research has been dedicated to the application of liquid cold plates to eliminate the high heat flux in server electronic chips. Traditional parallel straight microchannel liquid cold plates suffer from low heat flux density with uneven flow distribution, which poses a serious challenge to high‐performance server chip heat dissipation. This paper reviews recent research progress in geometry optimization, interrupted structures, channel patterns, and two‐phase flow of liquid cold plates. The optimal geometry parameters of rectangular cross‐sectional microchannels including the aspect ratio, length, and hydraulic diameter are summarized. Inquest of higher thermal performance, various interrupted structures (ribs, pin fins, etc.), special channel patterns (wavy‐shaped, zigzag‐shaped, fractal, serpentine, and double‐layered microchannels, etc.), and two‐phase flow on the liquid cold plate are applied to promote fluid‐turbulivity and increase heat transfer area, meanwhile they lead to more pressure drop. Furthermore, it is an essential approach to commercialize liquid cold plates by applying the academic and prototype of the liquid cold plate to manufacturing and liquid cooling system solutions. In the end, this review provides a discussion about the limitations of current research on liquid cold plates and an outlook on future research directions. Abstract : The paper's novelty The effect of geometric parameters of the microchannels inside the liquid cold plate on thermal‐hydraulic performance are clarified. The influence of different methods of optimizing the overall performance of liquid cold plates under different flow conditions is discussed. The corrosion problems and liquid cooling solution optimization in the application of liquid cold plates are pointed out.