Liquid Metal-Cooled
Active Heat Sinks
The development of the next generation of electronic and photonic devices requires corresponding improvement in thermal management technologies to enable handling of extremely high heat fluxes.
To address this need, Aqwest developed a novel, ultra-low thermal resistance active heat sink (AHS) using liquid metal flowing at high speed in a miniature closed and sealed loop within a self-contained package. Liquid metal flow is maintained electromagnetically without any moving parts. Velocity of liquid metal flow can be controlled electronically to vary temperature.
We have successfully demonstrated AHS operation with a heat load over 200 W at a heat flux in excess of 800 W/cm2. AHS can be radiation hardened and space-qualifiable. AHS development was in-part supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation and contracts from the US Air Force.
Applications
High-power chips in DC-AC inverters in hybrid electric vehicles
New generation of wide band-gap semiconductors
Power amplifiers in phase array radars
High-power laser diodes
Chips in high-performance computers
References
- J. Vetrovec, “Thermal management technology,” a course given at Solid-State and Diode Laser Technology Review – A Directed Energy Professional Society, Broomfield, June 12, 2012
- J. Vetrovec, “Active heat sink for automotive electronics,” SAE Paper No. 2009-01-0965, 2009
- J. Vetrovec, “High-performance heat sink for solid-state lighting,” Proc. of SPIE paper no. 7231-25, 2009
- J. Vetrovec, “Improved cooling for high-power laser diodes,” Proc. of SPIE vol. 6876, 2008
- J. Vetrovec, “Quasi-passive heat sink for high-power laser diodes,” Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7198, 2009
- J. Vetrovec, “Electronically controlled heat sink for high-power laser diodes,” Proc. of SPIE vol. 7325, 2009
- J. Vetrovec, “Progress in the Development of Active Heat Sink for High-Power Laser Diodes,” Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7583, 2010
- J. Vetrovec, “High-Performance Heat Sink for Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Inverters,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle and Tire Technologies, Symposium 5, August 15-18, 2010, Montreal, Canada
- J. Vetrovec, “High-Performance Heat Sink for Interfacing Hybrid Electric Vehicles Inverters to Engine Coolant Loop,” SAE paper No. 2011-01-0349, April 2011.
- J. Vetrovec, A. S. Litt, and D. A. Copeland , “Liquid Metal Heat Sink for High-Power Laser Diodes,” SPIE vol. 8605-13, February 2013.