Ultra-High Heat Flux Condenser for Electronics Cooling

Aspen Systems’ proposes a high heat flux condenser that contains to two key elements: 1) novel enhanced microchannel surfaces and 2) a viable condenser system configuration that provides an efficient, compact, and scalable arrangement for the system of microchannels. In Phase I, Aspen designed and demonstrated the feasibility of achieving over 60,000 W/m2-K overall heat transfer coefficient using novel enhanced microchannel surfaces to efficiently transfer heat from condensing R-134a to liquid water. Each of the three enhanced surfaces dramatically improves heat transfer with reasonable pressure drop while offering its own unique benefits. Furthermore, these novel microchannels were proven feasible within the framework of a working design concept for the condenser system. The proposed Phase II program is a technology and product development effort to demonstrate a very compact, lightweight, and efficient 5kW condenser for electronics cooling applications. To enable this result, ultra-high heat flux from refrigerant to water will be achieved by advancing the enhanced microchannel technologies that were demonstrated in Phase I for both two-phase condensing refrigerant and liquid water. This knowledge will then be used to design, build, and demonstrate an ultra-high heat flux condenser in a cooling system applicable to electrics cooling.