Design and Thermal Performance Testing of a Vapor Chamber Containing a Wettability Patterned Condenser for High-Heat Flux Applications

Abstract

Vapor chambers with wettability patterned surfaces have shown a significant reduction in thermal spreading resistance and have a superior overall heat transfer coefficient. The thermal performance of the vapor chamber is limited by the evaporation and condensation process inside it. Due to the increasing power density of electronic devices, an opportunity to improve the performance of the condenser side of VC needs to be explored. Vapor Chamber utilizes the principle of a two-phase heat transfer process to spread and dissipate heat, and the introduction of wettability patterns on the condenser can improve the condensation process and liquid mobility by providing a more exposed surface for the condensation process. In such type of study, the thermal resistance network of the system plays a substantial role in thermal performance. Thus, in this paper, one-dimensional modeling of the vapor chamber considering thermal resistance network containing a wettability patterned condenser surface has been carried out to investigate the effect of biphilic patterns and their arrangement on the condensation process and fluid mobility. Arrays of flower-shaped hydrophilic patches are made on the hydrophobic condenser surface of a VC and the one-dimensional model was made, which accounts for the phase core pressure, and liquid mobility.