To boost waste heat harvesting and power generation through a portable heat pipe battery during high efficient electronics cooling

Abstract

The power consumption of data centers (DCs) has increased dramatically due to the rising demand for computing power. However, a huge amount of low-grade electronic waste heat generated by these DCs is dissipated directly into the environment with the assistance of the energy-driven cooling system, thereby doubling the production of energy waste. Thus, innovative cooling and low-grade waste heat recovery technologies in DCs are urgently needed. In this study, we proposed a loop heat pipe battery (LHPB) with dual gradient wicks relay. According to the gradient wick relay strategy, the heat leakage at the evaporator inlet was alleviated, allowing the vapor inside to remove heat more rapidly and impact the micro-generator installed at the condenser inlet. Furthermore, two kinds of high-efficiency microgenerators were designed. The experimental results showed that under forced convection cooling of a 12 V fan, the cooling capacity of the LHPB with wicks relay was 288 W with a junction temperature maintained below 85 °C. The minimum total thermal resistance and nominal power usage effectiveness were 0.20 °C/W and 1.0015, respectively. The maximum rotor speed was 10,716 r/min and the maximum output power of the two generators was 195 and 280 mW. The LHPB with wicks relay demonstrated an innovative solution to promote low-grade waste heat harvesting during efficient electronics cooling and the potential to be a promising energy-saving device in future DCs. The proposed optimization strategy provides guidance for the evolution of the LHPB with wicks relay.