Nucleate Boiling and Critical Heat Flux From Protruded Chip Arrays During Flow Boiling

Abstract

The effects of chip protrusion on the forced-convection boiling and critical heat flux (CHF) of a dielectric coolant (FC-72) were investigated. The multi-chip module used in the present study featured a linear array of nine, 10 mm x 10 mm, simulated microelectronic chips which protruded 1 mm into a 20-mm wide side of a rectangular flow channel. Experiments were performed in vertical up flow with 5-mm and 2-mm channel gap thicknesses. For each configuration, the velocity and subcooling of the liquid were varied from 13 to 400 cm/s and 3 to 36° C, respectively. The nucleate boiling regime was not affected by changes in velocity and subcooling, and critical heat flux generally increased with increases in either velocity or subcooling. Higher single-phase heat transfer coefficients and higher CHF values were measured for the protruded chips compared to similar flush-mounted chips. However, adjusting the data for the increased surface area and the increased liquid velocity above the chip caused by the protruding chips yielded a closer agreement between the protruded and flush-mounted results. Even with the velocity and area adjustments, the most upstream protruded chip had higher single-phase heat transfer coefficients and CHF values for high velocity and/or highly-subcooled flow as compared the downstream protruded chips. The results show that, except for the most upstream chip, the performances of protruded chips are very similar to those of flush-mounted chips.