On the Scalability of Liquid Microjet Array Impingement Cooling for Large Area Systems

Abstract

The necessity for an efficient thermal management system covering large areas is growing rapidly with the push toward more electric systems. A significant amount of research over the past 2 decades has conclusively proved the suitability of jet, droplet, or spray impingement for high heat flux cooling. However, all these research consider small heat source areas, typically about a few cm2. Can a large array of impingement pattern, covering a much wider area, achieve similar heat flux levels? This article presents liquid microjet array impingement cooling of a heat source that is about two orders of magnitude larger than studied in the previous works. Experiments are carried out with 441 jets of de-ionized water and a dielectric liquid HFE7200, each 200 μm diameter. The jets impinge on a 189 cm2 area surface, in free surface and confined jet configurations. The average heat transfer coefficient values of the present experiment are compared with correlations from the literature. While some correlations show excellent agreement, others deviate significantly. The ensuing discussion suggests that the post-impingement liquid dynamics, particularly the collision between the liquid fronts on the surface created from surrounding jets, is the most important criterion dictating the average heat transfer coefficient. Thus, similar thermal performance can be achieved, irrespective of the length scale, as long as the flow dynamics are similar. These results prove the scalability of the liquid microjet array impingement technique for cooling a few cm2 area to a few hundred cm2 area.