Assessment of Two Phase Cooling of Power Electronics Using Roll Bonded Condensers

Abstract

Twophase thermosyphons with condensers from rollbonded panels, short “rollbond thermosiphons,â€‌ are attractive for powerelectronics cooling. Using simulations, the performance of rollbond thermosyphons and classical heat sinks is compared. The rollbond thermosyphons are advantageous in terms of tradeoff between thermal resistance, cooler volume or mass, and soundpower level. Under forced convection, where airside heattransfer coefficients are comparatively high, the classical heat sink suffers from low fin efficiency and limited heat spreading. By increasing the number of panels, the rollbond thermosyphon enables low thermal resistances that cannot be practically reached with classical heat sinks. For free air convection, the rollbond thermosyphon allows a significant reduction of thermal resistance and cooler mass.