Two-phase mini-thermosyphon electronics cooling, Part 2: Model and steady-state validations

Abstract

In the present study, a simulation code specifically developed to evaluate the thermal-hydraulic performance of thermosyphon cooling loops is validated through the experimental results obtained in the Part 1. It considers levels of heat load conventionally observed in real servers of datacenters, which means idle, normal and maximum clock speed of actual microprocessors. The thermosyphon is a very compact unit with a height of 15 cm and capable of safely operating up to a heat flux of 80 W cm-2. The loop basically is comprised of a riser, a downcomer, a micro-evaporator and a counter flow tube-in-tube condenser. The latter is cooled by cold water whose mass flow rate can be controlled through an external pump (speed control), so that parameters such as saturation temperature and/or condenser outlet subcooling can be adjusted for a pre-defined set point, and thus increasing the range of operability of the cooling loop. Other parameters were also explored experimentally, cooling looping overall performance, chip (junction) temperature, whilst the critical heat flux was estimated from a leading CHF method. Finally, the study showed that the passive two-phase closed loop thermosyphon cooling system is a safe and energetically viable technology solution for the next generation of datacenters.