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Flat plate two-phase heat spreader on the thermal management of high-power electronics: a review

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Abstract

As the cooling capacity of the active cooling devices has reached their allowable heat flux limit, heat spreading technologies are becoming more remarkable in the thermal management of high-power electronics. Flat plate two-phase heat spreaders (FTHSs) are advantageous for the thermal management of electronic devices due to their simplicity, power-free operation, and high reliability. This review is based on understanding the working mechanism and limitations of FTHSs. As the power density of electronic devices increases, researchers focus on performance improvement to overcome their malfunctioned working conditions. This review summarizes the major parameters of FTHS that affect heat transfer performance. Moreover, recent advances in FTHSs suggest that new design concepts can extend the maximum operating heat flux of thermal management devices. This review can establish a direction for studying higher-performance heat spreaders and identifying the latest trends.

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Abbreviations

P cap.max :

Maximum capillary pressure

P V :

Pressure drop of vapor flow

P I :

Pressure drop of liquid flow

P g :

Hydraulic head

σ :

Surface tension

θ :

Contact angle

d p :

Pore size

K :

Permeablility

μ :

Viscosity

V :

Velocity

L :

Length

Cu :

Copper

Al :

Aluminum

SS :

Stainless steel

Ni :

Nickel

RU :

Recommended by past successful usage

RL :

Recommended by literature

PC :

Probably compatible

NR :

Not recommended

GNC :

Generation of gas at all temperatures

GNT :

Generation of gas at elevated temperatures

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Civil-Military Technology Cooperation Program of the Institute of Civil-Military Technology Cooperation, with a grant funded by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (Number 18CM5017) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea (Number NRF-2020R1A2C3008689).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, 16499, Korea

    Hyunmuk Lim & Jungho Lee

  2. Department of Mechanical and Information Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul, 02504, Korea

    Hyunmuk Lim

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  1. Hyunmuk Lim
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  2. Jungho Lee
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Correspondence to Jungho Lee.

Additional information

Hyunmuk Lim is a researcher at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea and a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Mechanical and Information Engineering, University of Seoul, Korea. He received his M.S. (2013) in Mechanical and Information Engineering from the University of Seoul, Korea. His research field is related to the thermal management of high-power electronics and two-phase heat spreaders.

Jungho Lee is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea. He received his M.S. (1994) and Ph.D. (1999) in Mechanical Engineering from POSTECH, Pohang, Korea. He is a member of KSME, ASME, ASM, and AUTSE. His research interests focus on phase-change heat transfer (boiling and condensation), thermal management, development in heat transfer devices such as heat pipe, vapor chamber, and thermal ground plane.

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Lim, H., Lee, J. Flat plate two-phase heat spreader on the thermal management of high-power electronics: a review. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 4801–4814 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-1042-x

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