HIGH HEAT FLUX DROPLET IMPINGEMENT HEAT TRANSFER

DURING THE LAST 25 YEARS THE DENSITY OF COMPUTER ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY HAS INCREASED BY FIVE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. THIS DRIVE TOWARD MORE DENSELY PACKAGED MICROELECTRONICS HAS RESULTED IN A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF WASTE HEAT WHICH MUST BE DISSIPATED. HEAT FLUX RATES IN CURRENT LSI CIRCUITRY ARE ALREADY AS HIGH AS 20 W/CM2 AND PROJECTED LEVELS FOR VLSI AND FUTURE ADVANCED CIRCUITRY CONFIGURATIONS ARE IN THE RANGE FROM 50 TO 1000 W/CM2. PRESENT COOLING TECHNIQUES CANNOT MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS AND THE DRIVE TOWARDS HIGH FUNCTIONAL DENSITY IS TODAY CONSTRAINED BY AVAILABLE THERMAL DESIGN AND HEAT REMOVAL TECHNIQUES. THEREFORE, THERE EXISTS AN URGENT NATIONAL NEEDTO ESTABLISH COOLING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF SUPERCOMPUTERS. A NOVEL COOLING CONCEPT BASED ON DROPLET IMPINGEMENT HEAT TRANSFER THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO INCREASE THE HEAT FLUX RATES THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE OR MORE OVER PRESENT COOLING TECHNOLOGIES IS PROPOSED. PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT WILL SUMMARIZE PREVIOUS WORK AND FORMULATE PRELIMINARY ANALYSES TO ESTIMATE THE EXPECTED PERFORMANCE BOUNDS AND IDENTIFY THE GAPS IN PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF THEPROCESS. BASIC RESEARCH TO ADVANCE THE SCIENCE OF DROPLET IMPINGEMENT COOLING WOULD BE PERFORMED IN PHASE II.