Experimental evaluation of a thermal contact liquid cooling system for server electronics. (25th January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kheirabadi, Ali C.; Groulx, Dominic
• Is Part Of: Applied thermal engineering. Volume 129(2018)
• Page Start: 1010
• Page End: 1025
• Publication Date: 2018-01-25
• Subjects: High power electronics -- Thermal management -- Electronics cooling -- Liquid cooling -- Thermal contact heat exchanger; Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heating -- Equipment and supplies -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 621.40205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.10.098
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-4311

Abstract

Highlights: A thermal contact water cooling system is proposed and experimentally evaluated. The system eliminates leakage risks by replacing fluidic connectors with a heat exchanger. An experimental setup simulating heat dissipation from a single processor is constructed. The system requires inlet water at 53.2 °C to maintain a 300 W heat source below 85 °C. The system consumes 43% more power than conventional water cooling in warm regions. Abstract: This paper presents the outcomes of a research project aimed at designing and experimentally evaluating a thermal contact liquid cooling system for military applications. The proposed system replaces fluidic connectors found in conventional water cooling systems with a thermal contact heat exchanger. This approach enhances reliability by eliminating leakage risks; however, it also undermines thermal performance by adding thermally resistive heat transfer interfaces. Experiments were conducted to quantify the downgraded thermal performance and to establish whether it is a viable trade-off for enhanced reliability. An experimental setup was constructed in order to simulate heat generation by a single processor. Results showed that the proposed system requires inlet water as warm as 53.2 °C at a maximum heat load of 300 W. For comparison, it was also shown that the proposed thermal contact water cooling system would require 43% more energy than a conventional water cooling system if operating at ambient temperatures sufficiently higher than 50 °C.