Micro-jet Impingement Boiling Array

This is a proposal for developing a novel boiling system to remove heat fluxes of up to 1kW/cm2, using an array of impinging micro-jets. The use of an array of micro-jets with diameters in the range of 200-500 microns, allows for removal of large heatfluxes at coolant flow rates, which can be up to one order of magnitude less than the coolant requirement for conventional-size (diameter of order of 2-5 mm.) impinging jets. Furthermore, each jet is configured to act independently of neighboring jets.Thus, the array size can be made arbitrarily large to match the size of the target area.Very high heat fluxes are generated in applications such as air- and space- based lasers, power generation systems, and high power T/R modules. These heat fluxes must be removed while maintaining the maximum temperature of cooled devices below a criticalvalue. This, in turn, translates to a maximum temperature at the device/heat sink interface. In boiling systems, the temperature at this interface can be controlled by the saturation temperature of the coolant, which can be varied over a wide rangethrough proper selection of the coolant type as well as the operating pressure of the system. Once developed, MIBA will provide low weight, low cost, compact heat exchangers with extremely high heat removal rate per weight and volume. We believe that MIBA will find applications in a wide range of technologies in both the military and commercialsectors such as electronic/photonic cooling and aerospace.Innovations in high-powered electronics/optics result in ever increasing demands on the cooling system. These demands require higher power densities, higher frequencies, increased functionality, improved reliability, lower cost, and are pulled by userdemand for higher power rating. The MJCA is able to reverse fit into many existing systems with little modification and will provide the system increased functionality, reduced cost, and improved reliability.In addition to the radar application targeted under this proposal the technology has applications in turbines, mechanical seals, hybrid electric vehicles, electric actuator drives, radar systems, and direct energy weapon/ high power lasers.