Modeling Tools for Two-Phase Electronics Cooling Systems

The primary objective of the proposed Phase II study will be to develop fast and accurate computational tools for the design of two-phase cooling hardware for high-flux defense electronics. These tools will be developed for systems utilizing three different cooling schemes: micro-channel cooling, spray cooling and jet-impingement cooling. The proposed tools will incorporate physics-based models for two-phase sprays and jets that have resulted from the Phase I study, in addition to micro-channel cooling models developed at Purdue University. The Phase II study will be performed over three periods, a base period and two option periods. Efforts during the base period will focus on compiling and programming models for two-phase pressure drop, two-phase heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux for micro-channel flow. In addition, benchmark models for those same parameters will be programmed for comparison purposes. Predictions of the computer code will then be validated against select micro-channel databases. Work during the first option period will focus on programming the models for both spray cooling and jet-impingement cooling, and on validating the predictions of the computer code against select databases for both configurations. During the second option period, a critical Navy application will be identified for implementation of the proposed code. A systematic methodology will be developed for designing a cooling system for the selected application, and code predictions will be compared to existing databases for the same application.