FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE INTEGRATION OF MICROFLUIDICS AND NEPCM FOR COOLING MICROELECTRONICS SYSTEMS

The growing demand for microelectronic systems to be smaller and faster has increased the energy released by these devices in the form of heat. Microelectronic systems such as laptop computers and hand held devices are not exempted from these demands. The primary traditional technologies currently used to remove heat generated in these devices are fins and fans. In this study, traditional methods were compared to more novel methods like cooling using forced convection in microfluidic channels and stagnant nanoparticle enhanced phase change materials (NEPCM). For this study, the difference between the surface temperature of a simulated microelectronic system without any cooling and with a particular cooling method was compared for several cooling scenarios. Higher Delta T values indicate more effective cooling. The average Delta T values for fans, fins, NEPCM and microchannels with water were 2 degrees C, 5 degrees C, 3 degrees C and 4 degrees C respectively. These results suggest that, separately, microchannel cooling and NEPCM are promising methods for managing heat in microelectronic systems. Even more interesting than NEPCM or microchannel cooling alone is the potential cooling that can be achieved by combining the two methods to achieve multimode cooling first by the phase change of the NEPCM and then by circulating the nanofluid (melted NEPCM) through microchannels A feasibility assessment, however, reveals that the combination of the two methods is not equal to the sum of the parts due to the viscosity and associated pumping power requirements for the melted phase change material. Nonetheless, the combination of the method still holds promise as a competitive alternative to existing thermal management solutions.