Design and analysis of liquid cooling plates for different flow channel configurations

A number of thermal management devices are used to actuate concentrated electronic appliances in an efficient way. A liquid cooling plate acts as a heat sink enclosed by materialized walls. This work aims to carry out design of liquid cooling plates such that the heat diffused by the electronic equipment is removed while their temperatures levels remain within safe limits. The liquid cooling plates expose “cold surfaces” to electronic appliances. The performance of a cooling plate is estimated depending upon heat carrying capacity, associated heat transfer rates and concentrated thermal regions on the plate surface. For this study, the design of liquid cooling plate was done with SOLIDWORKS. Pure water was used as a working fluid in test channels. A comparative analysis of flow distribution, temperature contours, pressure drop and pumping power for different channel configurations was carried out with ANSYS. It was observed that a channel configuration is of key importance in liquid cooling plates. The findings from this study are beneficial for the optimum design of cooling systems for high heat flux applications, i.e., in electronic devices, computer processors and automotive engines.